Weeds can hide your crops and camouflage pests and diseases. Weeding your lawn regularly will improve the health of your yard – and your plants will love you for it.
Here are 7 benefits you’ll experience when weeding your lawn:
Your Lawn Gets the Nutrients It Needs
Weeds have an only child mentality despite having thousands of siblings. If left to their own devices, they will rob your lawn’s soil of the moisture and nutrients it needs to survive. Research shows that 60% of your lawn’s yield is dependent on soil and fertility. By weeding regularly, you can maximize your crop’s yield potential and enjoy a lush, green lawn.
Your Yard Gets Access to Sunlight
While weeds are absorbing water and nutrients, they’re also stealing sunlight. Plants and many other organisms require sunlight for photosynthesis. Without sunlight, plants cannot make their own food and will starve in the shade.
Your Crops Can Be Found
Weeds grow at a faster, more aggressive rate than your crops. Not only do they steal nutrients, water, and sunlight, they can also become tall enough to make finding your crops difficult.
If you’re not weeding your lawn, pollinators will have more trouble cross-pollinating your garden. Pollen is essential because it provides your crops the food their need during the flowering phase. Weeds also run the risk of being more attractive to these pollinators, making them ignore your crops altogether.
Pests and Diseases Are More Easily Detectable
When your plants are harder to find, they’re also harder to care for. Crops that are struggling to absorb nutrients aren’t going to appear as healthy as they normally would. They may also be suffering from diseases and fighting off dangerous pests that can fester and damage your plants.
Weeds only exacerbate this problem by helping pests and diseases camouflage these symptoms, leaving your plants to suffer unnoticed. Some weeds even act like parasites by feeding directly on their vital nutrients.
Weeding your lawn can prevent weeds from assisting these pests and diseases. You can also use pesticides to kill the pests that are infecting your plants.
Weeding Allows for Deeper Root Penetration
Some plants and grass types can establish deep root systems if the soil is in good condition. If your yard has weeds that haven’t been dealt with, these plants and grasses will have to compete with them to establish these root systems. They’ll often struggle, become stressed, less effective – and worse – susceptible to diseases and pests that can circumvent the process.
When you’re weeding, pull weeds not root and stem. Your yard’s ecosystem will thank you for it.
Getting Ahead of the Problem Requires Less Work
Weeding consistently throughout the year means that you’ll have fewer and fewer weeds to manage. Your lawn and garden will also look much healthier because it’s had to fight less for the essentials it needs to grow and thrive.
Weeding Regularly Makes Your Life Easier
Weeding 2-3 times a month, all year round, will make your life much easier. Whether you’re pulling them out by hand, mulching, digging, hoeing, tilling, or using herbicides, we recommend staying on top of your weeding efforts.
By weeding regularly, you can remove weeds before they flower and set seed. This means that you’re preventing hundreds – maybe even thousands – of weeds from sprouting for years to come.