Question
Hello,

I live in Huntington, WV and I'm not sure what Zone this is pertaining to plants, trees, shrubs, etc.  But my questions pertains specifically to weeds in my lawn.

Our local extension agent has a weekly TV show and I recently heard him mention that it is a good idea to cut the lawn lower in the fall before weeds "go to seed", because they don't automatically regemerminate unless they reseed themselves from year to year.  

I didn't hear exactly when the best time to do this was, and I was wondering if it's too late now (Oct. 16).  Can you tell me when weeds 'go to seed', so I can set my mower a little bit lower to take care of those pesky weeds before they do this?

Thanks,
Gary in WV

Answer
Hi Gary,

The local TV guy was using a mell meaning, but ill informed strategy. Cutting the weeds short to prevent them from going to seed would be like stopping a person from dumping a bucket of water into the ocean for fear that the ocean would overflow.

Your lawn soil already has abundant weed seed in it. That's nature, and that's unavoidable. Trying to stop a few additional seeds from getting in will have virtually no effect and would be a waste of time and effort.

Your efforts would be much better spent just trying to balance soil fertility and pH.

Good luck!

-C.J. Brown
www.thelawncoach.com