Are you tired of finding weeds on your lawn? Rather than treating the weeds as they appear, you should consider applying a pre-emergent herbicide. This type of chemical preparation can be applied to your lawn to kill weed seeds and keep weeds from germinating in the first place. In order for it to be effective, though, you will want to adhere to a few guidelines when applying it.

Dilute the product as instructed.

Since you need a large volume of herbicide to treat an entire lawn, most of these products are sold in a concentrated form. You may have to dilute the product yourself before applying it. Make sure you read the label very carefully before diluting the herbicide and measure carefully. If you make the product too strong, it may harm your grass. If you make it too weak, it may not effectively keep weeds from growing.

Apply the product early in the spring.

The best time to apply a pre-emergent herbicide is early in the spring when things are just beginning to germinate. You can then follow up with additional applications every month or so, but make sure your first application is early in the spring. If you wait too long, there will already be a lot of weeds germinated, and you will have to use much more post-emergent weed killers, too.

Water the product in.

Your instinct may be not to water the lawn after applying a weed treatment, but remember, this is not your standard weed treatment. You do not want it to stay on the leaves and blades of grass. You want it to get washed down into the soil where the seeds and roots are located. After you apply the herbicide, water your lawn well. Alternatively, apply the per-emergent herbicide right before it is going to rain outside.

Avoid mowing for a while.

Do not mow your lawn for at least a week after applying the herbicide. This way, the product will have more of a chance to wash down into the soil where it can be active. If you can wait more than a week to mow, do so, especially if rain has been scarce.

If you follow the tips above when applying a pre-emergent weed killer, you should have good success. You should notice fewer weeds in the lawn as the weeks go on and as additional weeds stop germinating. Contact a pre-emergent herbicide spraying service for more information.