Any products that kill crabgrass in fescue lawns?

Your best bet is to prevent the crabgrass with pre-emergent application of Scott’s or another brand. In So Cal, you’d need to apply the prevention products in December.

Since you already have the crabgrass, you’ll need to use post-emergent killer. You can do that anytime, but you’ll need to be mindful of drought/heat. Do not use any lawn weed herbicide product when the temperature is above 85 degrees. Ideally, you’d apply either early AM or close to sunset.

You could use a pre-emergent product now to prevent the crabgrass that has yet to sprout. Pre-emergent products work best at helping you completely rid yourself of the crabgrass overtime (meaning you’ll see more results next year and the following year, not ASAP).

Since you have fescue, you’ll need to read the bags of Crabgrass Killers (these will most likely need to be applied seperately from a Weed & Feed product…they’re rarely an all-in-one application) to be certain the product you choose isn’t going to harm your lawn. I looked up the organic products…all of them say they’ll damage Bluegrass & Fescue.

It looks like you’ll need to go with Scott’s or a local brand. Some of our landscape companies have their own brands that work just as well as the name brands but for a fraction of the cost. You may want to talk to a local nursery to see what they recommend.

Overall, I’d recommend you build up the turf you have to inch out weeds. A healthy turf will take care of itself. Don’t cut your lawn too short, feed it, water it and you should notice you’ll naturally have less weeds.

Pre-emergent crabgrass control is the way to go, for sure.

Prevention is the best course, and you do that by applying a pre-emergent that is formulated for crabgrass. Make sure that it is for crabgrass prevention, there are other pre-emergents (such as Preen) that are for other weeds. Scotts makes a crabgrass preventer that contains Halts (which is the active ingredient), and I believe Ortho makes one, too. There are other brands. It is best to apply this before the weather warms up. In northern California, this means late January or early February at the latest.

If you’ve already got crabgrass, you can use a crabgrass-specific weed killer. It will say so on the label. I think Lilly Miller makes one. However, you probably cannot use it on fescue lawns, as it will kill the lawn also. At least the part that it comes in contact with. You may have to dig out the crabgrass manually.

If you live in one of colder parts of the country, it might still be in time to apply the pre-emergent, but you must do so ASAP!

@Charles And no, regular Scotts Weed and Feed will not kill crabgrass. You have to use the Scotts formulation that contains Halts.

Great info folks.
Thanks