Monday, February 2, 2026

Snow Gone - Weed Control Time!


Weed Free Zone


Horticulture Hotline 02/02/2026

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The perfect snow in the Lowcountry! Here one day and gone the next!

After a snow event, the winter weeds really stand out in the grass and should be managed before the go into the reproductive stage of their life cycle when they are harder to kill and they are producing more plants for you to manage the following year.

 

Weed Free Zone (liquid), Vexis (granular) and Dollar Weed Control (granular) are three great products for now. Atrazine (granular or liquid) containing products also are available. These products control weeds in lawn areas. Read the label closely before you decide on a product because they are all different and have certain cautions that you would want to be aware of before using.

 

Weed Free Zone is a liquid workhorse, controlling many weeds. Aster (White Heath And White Prairie), Bedstraw, Beggarweed (Creeping), Bindweed, Black Medic, Broadleaf Plantain, Buckhorn Plantain, Bull Thistle, Burclover, Burdock, Common Buttercup, Creeping Carpetweed, Chickweed, Common Chicory, Cinquefoil, Clover, Compassplant, Curly Dock, Dandelion, Dayflower, Deadnettle Dock Dogfennel English Daisy False Dandelion (*Spotted Catsear And Common Catsear) Field Bindweed (*Morningglory And Creeping Jenny) Field Oxeye-daisy (*Creeping Oxeye) Filaree, Whitestem And Redstem Florida Betony Florida Pusley Ground Ivy (*Creeping Charlie) Groundsel Hawkweed Healall Henbit Innocence (Blue-eyed Mary) Lambsquarters Lawn Burweed Lespedeza, Common Mallow, Common Matchweed Mouseear Chickweed Old World Diamond Flower Oxalis (*Yellow Woodsorrel And Creeping Woodsorrel) Parsley-piert Pennsylvania Smartweed Pennywort (*Dollarweed) Pepperweed Pigweed Pineappleweed Plantain Poison Ivy Poison Oak Prostrate Knotweed (*Knotweed) Puncturevine Purple Cudweed Purslane Ragweed Redweed Red Sorrel (*Sheep Sorrel) Shepherdspurse Spotted Spurge Spurge Thistle Veronica (*Corn Speedwell) Virginia Buttonweed White Clover (*Dutch Clover, Honeysuckle Clover, White Trefoil And Purplewort) Wild Carrot Wild Garlic Wild Geranium Wild Lettuce Wild Mustard Wild Onion Wild Strawberry Wild Violet Yarrow Yellow Rocket. Read the label before applying!

 

Dollar Weed Control should not be used on dormant centipede grass; however, if you do not have centipede, it is labelled to kill some hard to control weeds - Controls: Chickweed, Clover (Hop, Red & White), Dandelion, Dollar Weed, English Lawn Daisy, False Dandelion, Florida Betony, Ground Ivy, Lespedeza, Black Medic, Parsley-Piert, Broad leaf Plantain, Buckhorn Plantain, and Virginia Buttonweed. This centipede grass restriction illustrates why you should always read and follow product labels.

 

Vexis is a great newer product that controls hard to kill weeds and nutsedges. Vexis has an interesting (to me – maybe not to many others) statement on it’s label. To avoid injury to improved varieties of St. Augustinegrass or Centipedegrass, apply when night-time temperatures are above 50°F for 7 consecutive nights. As you can see, Vexis controls some tuff weeds. Sedges, Kyllinga, and Rushes (including ALS resistant annual sedges): Yellow Nutsedge, Purple Nutsedge, Annual Nutsedge, Green Kyllinga, False Green Kyllinga, Cockscomb Kyllinga, Annual Kyllinga, Path Rush. Broadleaf Weeds: Buckhorn Plantain, Common Chickweed, Dollarweed (Pennywort), False Dandelion, Florida Betony, Ground Ivy (Creeping Charlie), Hairy Bittercress, Henbit, Lawn Burweed, Purple Deadnettle, Rough Fleabane, Virginia Buttonweed, Wild Garlic, Wild Onion.  Reentry Statement: Do not enter or allow people (or pets) to enter the treated area until dust has settled. Nice not to have to water in product before reentry to area. Great product! As always, read and follow the product label.

 

Get ahead of small-seeded summer annual weeds with a preemergent herbicide in about two weeks.

 

With “spreader season” beginning make sure your spreader is ready for action before you put product in the hopper because spreaders are known to rust over the winter.

 

The cold weather has forced many rodents to seek refuge under and inside many homes in the Lowcountry. To avoid smelling the dead varmint, snap traps and glue boards are the way to go. Baits are very effective; however, you might have to smell a dead animal for a few days if they die in a crawl space or wall void.

 

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com.