Getting Into Beds: Weed Control

Imagine you are a homeowner or a property manager for a commercial building, and you’re walking toward the front door of your building on a nice early summer day. As you’re coming up the front walk, you’re admiring the blooming annuals in beds on either side of the door – an eye-catching area you and the rest of your family or your employees walk past at least once every day.

All of a sudden, you notice the impatiens and begonias aren’t alone as the only flowering plants in the beds. In fact, the dandelion seems to be in full flower. Or if you’re located in a warmer climate, perhaps there is some bermudagrass or sedge trying to “get into bed” with those plants.

At this point, regardless of the type of property these weeds have appeared on, the lawn care operator responsible for the property can expect a phone call from a less-than-happy customer. Many contractors have come to accept that they will receive some of these phone calls ever year because no matter what they do as lawn care professionals, weeds will find their way into landscape beds and customers will notice them.

“Weeds can show up in a lawn, but the customers won’t always notice them because people don’t pay as close attention to turf as they do to beds, and weeds blend in with turf better,” related Ken Wentland, production superintendent, Lied’s Landscape Design & Development, Sussex, Wis. “But people look at the beds on their property because the beds have the flowers and the shrubs, and the bedds tend to be located near entranceways and other high-traffic areas. And people don’t want to see weeds in these beds.”

The question then becomes what has to be done to keep the weeds out of the beds?

STOPPING THE START. Without question, the best way to stop weeds from growing in a bed is to never let the weed seeds get into the bed. And a little extra preventive effort could go a long way to reducing your curative costs.

“The key to keeping beds clean is getting them under control as soon as possible,” according to Sharon Shank, president, Busy Bee Lawn Care, Charlotte, N.C. “If we inherit a contract that has beds with some real weed problems, then we’ll pull out the shrubs, haul away the contaminated soil and start with new soil. Customers aren’t generally excited about that idea when we tell them our plans, but we explain to them that replacing the entire bed will usually be more cost effective than having us try to get the weeds under control.”

“We do everything we can to try to inhibit weed growth in beds,” agreed Michael Gaffney, general manager, Landscape Maintenance Group (LMG), Kennesaw, Ga. “We put down a granular formulation of a preemergence herbicide early every year, and we look for a product with the broadest weed-control label available.”

As with weed control in turf, Gaffney said application timing is critical for success.

“We don’t make blanket preemergence applications to all of the properties we manage because the beds shouldn’t need as much preemergence work once you get them under control,” he said. “But beds that do get the preemergence application have to receive the application before the weeds start to germinate or else you’re just wasting your time and your money.”

Wentland echoed Gaffney’s and Shank’s emphasis on preventive strategies, but he also recognized that putting preemergence herbicides in areas that are supposed to include ornamental plants can be tricky.

“We’ll apply some preemergence herbicides to beds in the fall for the next season because the product won’t break down that much over the winter, but we plant a lot of bulbs and annuals. We haven’t found an herbicide yet that controls the weeds without affecting the ornamentals that we want to grow in the beds,” Wentland said. “Having the weeds show up in the spring isn’t any good, but customers don’t like it when the plants don’t show up, either.”

Color changeouts that take place throughout a year can also incite weed growth in beds.

“Any time you’re planting in a bed you’re going to disturb the soil and turn up some weed seeds, so you have to be ready and watch those areas closely after planting,” Wentland noted. “The other tricky area is managing new beds that were installed a year or two ago. A lot of the weed seeds in that soil that was delivered by a landscape installation company or disturbed during the planting may take a year or two to germinate, and then the client will blame the maintenance contractor for weeds that the maintenance contractor had no control over.”

UNWANTED GUESTS. Try as you might, the odds are slim that you’ll be able to eliminate all weed problems in beds. An important question then becomes: “How do I get rid of these weeds?”

Just as with weeds that develop in turf, postemergence products are the answer. And just as with turf, proper attention should be given to product selection and application to maximize effectiveness.

“We try to control weeds that are less than 2 inches tall with a nonselective herbicide, and then we’ll manually pull the weeds taller than 2 inches,” related Shank. “Obviously, the key is not doing anything that will kill the plants in the beds.”

When the question of making the application comes up, most contractors favor backpack sprayers, and they also recommend carefully deciding who makes these applications.

“We primarily use backpack sprayers for postemergence applications into beds, but we’ve also used some other methods, such as long, plastic tubes that dispense the herbicide a few drops at a time so you can control where the pesticide is applied,” added Wentland. “Tools like that tube are generally only used in areas where the weed is too close to the plant to spray or pull effectively.”

“Each of our maintenance crews carries a backpack sprayer and a non-selective herbicide to spray into beds on a weekly basis, if need be,” said Gaffney, adding that problem sites requiring more thorough applications are handled by a dedicated spray technician. “Crews fill out a work order every time they visit each of our maintenance properties, and the back of that form includes an area for them to record any pesticide use that was required so we can track that.”

Gaffney also related that the foreman on each crew is responsible for making the postemergence applications while the other crew members handle the mowing and trimming. “I want the most experienced crew person doing the work that calls for the most precision or technical expertise,” he said.

Gaffney went on to explain that LMG’s backpack sprayers are equipped with adjustable cone-tip nozzles. Anyone using one of the sprayers in a postemergence situation is instructed to use as little pressure as possible with the sprayer and to make sure the beds have been edged with a steel edger before the herbicide applications are made.

“Using less pressure helps avoid the fogging effect that can let the product drift on to the ornamental plants,” he pointed out.

The sprayer operators are then instructed to hold the spray wand down toward the ground with the nozzle pointing toward the bed to protect the turf. “Then making the application is just a matter of making sure you don’t point the nozzle at the ornamentals,” Gaffney explained.

THE MANUAL APPROACH. Weed control isn’t limited to just pesticide-based strategies, particularly in beds. Of course, there is always the labor-intensive hand-pulling, which can be quite successful so long as the entire root of the weed is removed.

Contractors also reported having success limiting weed growth by establishing effective edges between beds and turf areas or by using use of some material to cover the soil, such as mulch or pine straw.

“I think proper edging is very important, especially when you’re trying to keep bermudagrass out of beds,” related Shank. “We start off the spring by using a mechanical bed edger that cuts a nice V-shaped edge between the bed and the turf, and then we manually edge the turf side of the ‘V’ every week and fill that area with mulch.”

“We want all of our clients to mulch their beds at least once a year to help us control weed growth,” explained Gaffney, although the company doesn’t have any clauses in its contractors for clients who don’t.

Shank also noted that there are times when the best solution for weed control is pulling the weeds out manually, and Wentland said this type of work is what often separates the average contractors from the good contractors.

“There are a lot of contractors who sell based on low price, and they’re not going to spend a lot of time caring for areas like beds,” he pointed out. “Professional contractors realize the importance of attention to detail, however, so they know how important work like manual weeding can be.”

The author is Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.