What is Chickweed and How Do I Control It?

While chickweed is edible and is sometimes used to feed livestock (like chickens), it can be quite a nuisance when you're trying to maintain a beautiful lawn. The sooner you tackle your chickweed problem the better, as this weed is quite invasive and will aggressively establish its presence in your lawn if given the chance.

What is Chickweed?

Chickweed is a common annual weed that appears uninvited all across North America. Featuring white, star-shaped flowers, chickweed also sports pairs of green leaves and straggling stems. It grows densely and close to the ground, and likely won't get much taller than a couple of inches. While chickweed prefers moisture-rich soils, it will grow in nearly any type of soil and under most conditions. What's more, a single chickweed plant can produce an impressive 800 seeds in a single season -- but that's not the only way it spreads. This weed can even sprout new roots from the nodes on its stem and take over your lawn that way.

Follow these 3 steps to get rid of chickweed and keep your lawn looking lush.

1. Don't Hand-Pull

   It's probably not worth your time to pull chickweed by hand. Not only does it take a long time, but if you leave even a tiny bit of root behind, the plant will regrow and launch a fresh assault on your lawn.




2. Grab the Roundup® For Lawns

   Roundup® For Lawns is specially designed to help you conquer the chickweed without harming your lawn (when used as directed, of course). For random pop-up weeds, reach for a ready-to-use version, but for chickweed infestations, a ready-to-spray or concentrate product is a better choice.




3. Maintain Your Lawn

   A tried-and-true defense against chickweed is to keep your lawn thick and lush. Regularly feeding your lawn (4 times per year) and mowing at the right height for your grass type help ensure that your lawn grows thick and tall to help crowd out chickweed. Also, if your lawn is prone to chickweed, try to keep your soil on the dry side since chickweed prefers a damp environment. Remember, most lawns only need an inch of water per week, so rely on Mother Nature as much as possible.