If you have a lawn anywhere in the Midwest, you are probably familiar with crabgrass. The nasty little weed invades your lawn every summer ruining your once weed free lawn. But crabgrass control is available.

Tips to Keep Crabgrass Under Control

1. Prevention - The best medicine! The most effective control for crabgrass is a quality pre-emergent crabgrass control applied in early spring. Earl May Crabgrass Preventer contains the most effective crabgrass control available for homeowners. Use it along with a professional quality lawn food.
2. Mow High – Keep your lawn mowed as high as possible in late spring and early summer. This helps shade the soil, reducing the germination of weed seeds like crabgrass.
3. Fertilize – A well fertilized lawn is much thicker and helps choke out weeds.
4. Aerify – Spring and fall aeration using a core aerifier helps reduce compacted soils. Compacted soils lead to thin lawns, which is a breeding ground for weeds.
5. Earl May’s Total Weed Control - This quick fix does a great job of killing young crabgrass seedlings, plus other annual grassy weeds. Total Weed Control also kills most common broadleaf weeds as well, including clover, dandelions, oxalis, plantain, and more.

When it comes to lawn care products, like crabgrass preventer, looks can be deceiving. A pretty bag doesn’t always mean what’s inside is your best value. Large companies and discount chains cheapen their products with inferior ingredients and don’t understand the needs of Midwest lawns. Earl May is an expert in lawn care, spending years testing products to provide our customers with premium products specially formulated to deliver superior results.

Benefits of Crabgrass Preventer plus Lawn Food

Superior active ingredients

The “crabgrass control” in a crabgrass preventer comes from the active ingredient formulated into the fertilizer. Discount products use active ingredients that may last 30-60 days. Earl May uses Prodiamine - the best available with control up to 90 days. It is also the most stable product, meaning it does not break down and become ineffective after excessive heavy rainfall like cheaper products.

Made for the Midwest

Midwest soils are unique and require additional nutrients. Earl May adds extra iron and sulfur to feed the soil providing exactly what is needed to grow a dark green lawn. These nutrients are often in very small amounts or completely lacking in cheaper products.

High rate of active ingredients

The higher the rate of active ingredients in a product, the better the results. Poor quality products skimp on these amounts, while Earl May adds a higher rate to insure customer success. We know there is nothing more frustrating than a lawn full of crabgrass.

Extended Release Fertilizer

Poor quality lawn fertilizer contains a high amount of Urea fertilizer. This type of fertilizer works quickly to green up a lawn, but it does not last long. After 3 weeks of near constant mowing, your lawn will run out of gas and turn yellow again. Earl May uses a sulfur coated Urea instead. This type of fertilizer is time released, slowly feeding your lawn over time, lasting up to 2 months or more.

More Fertilizer per Bag

The fertilizer analysis on our bag of crabgrass preventer reads 27-0-3. This refers to the percent of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, respectively in the bag. To determine the amount of Nitrogen you need to multiply the percentage by the bag weight. An 18lb bag of Earl May Crabgrass Preventer has over 5 pounds of Nitrogen in each bag! Make sure to check the weight of the bag along with the percentage of Nitrogen when shopping. Higher percentages with smaller weight bags means less fertilizer for your lawn.

For more information on Earl May’s Lawn Products, visit our online store.