Have you noticed little electric purple flowers dotting your lawn? If you live in the Southeastern US, then there is a good chance that it’s Henbit. You will recognize it by its leaves - serrated, coarse, hairy, and rounded - and in the spring, a bright purple flower. It can also be mistaken for Purple Deadnettle which has triangular leaves and the lower leaves grow on petioles (the stems that come off of the main stalk).
Weeds have their important place in our environment, but we realize that many people do not want them on their lawns. If you notice Henbit in your grass, there are a few things that you can do:
-Since it lives in sparse, shady grass, keep your grass lush and full to make it not thrive in your yard.
-Identify and hand-pull the Henbit.
-If those first two options aren’t successful, it’s easily controlled by most common herbicides. Some good ones to try are strong 3-way chemicals such as Bayer Advanced Southern Weed Killer for Lawns Concentrate or Ortho Weed B Gon Weed Killer for Lawns Concentrate.
At RLC, our first way to control against Henbit is a properly timed pre-emergent in September since it germinates during the early fall into the winter. If some still germinates, then our late winter herbicide application (October through April) will kill the Henbit before it can become well-established and set seed in late spring through early summer.
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