How to Fix Overgrown Lawn Overrun with Weeds | Weed Lawn Care
You can fix overgrown weeds in three simple steps: clean, mow, and apply herbicide. Preventing lawn weeds is vital to lawn care, as it prevents pests and keeps your lawn fresh and well-kept. While 78 million households in the U.S. use home and garden pesticides, many people overlook mowing as an effective method for preventing lawn weeds.
We're Mowrator, creators of the S1 Remote Control Lawn Mower 4WD. We've written this article to help you understand how to fix a lawn overrun with weeds, identify different types of weeds, and manage pre-emergent weeds.
Key Takeaways
- To fix an overgrown lawn, you’ll need to clean up debris, mow at proper heights, apply selective herbicides, as well as optionally aerating and overseeding to promote healthy grass growth.
- Regular lawn maintenance, including proper mowing, aeration, and overseeding, helps prevent weeds from returning and reduces reliance on chemical herbicides.
- Identifying weed types and using targeted herbicide treatments ensures effective control while preserving the health of your lawn.
How to Fix Overgrown Weeds | Step-by-Step Guide
To fix a lawn overgrown with weeds, you must prepare your yard, mow and trim the weeds, apply weed killer, and use aeration and overseeding to revitalize your new lawn. Take a look at our step-by-step guide for how to fix a yard overgrown with weeds:
| Step | Description |
| 1. Clean Up Your Yard | Start by cleaning your yard to identify problem areas, remove debris, and pull young weeds out by hand, or use a hoe for larger patches to prevent regrowth. |
| 2. Trim and Mow Your Lawn | Mow your lawn at a higher setting first, then lower it for a second pass. This helps create mulch, weakens weeds, and improves herbicide effectiveness. |
| 3. Apply Herbicide | Choose a selective herbicide based on your lawn's weed type to prevent damaging grass. Apply it carefully, and wait 24 hours before watering for optimal absorption. |
| 4. Aerate Your Soil (Optional) | Aeration improves grass growth, reduces weeds, enhances nutrient absorption, and prevents soil compaction, with core aeration especially beneficial in high-traffic areas. |
| 5. Overseed Your Lawn (Optional) | Overseeding helps crowd out weeds and rejuvenate your lawn by evenly distributing compatible grass seeds. It’s especially useful after using nonselective herbicides or planning new growth. |
Step 1: Clean Up Your Yard
Cleaning up your yard is the first step for fixing a lawn overgrown with weeds. While cleaning your lawn, you can survey the most problematic areas, throw away any litter, and rake up branches and leaves that may obstruct your mowing.
As you assess the type of weeds you're dealing with, pull out any young weeds by hand and remove their roots to prevent regrowth. Using a hoe for larger patches is the best way to uproot broadleaf weeds during lawn maintenance.
Step 2: Trim and Mow Your Lawn
Trimming and mowing your lawn is critical to fixing your overgrown weed problem. Not only does mowing help create mulch for your turf that allows new grass to grow, but it also cuts weeds down to their roots and makes your weed killer more effective. Adjust a few of the following settings on your mower to achieve the best results when mowing weeds in your lawn:
- Increase the mower height to a higher setting, around 3 inches.
- Consider a second pass at a lower mower height once you've mowed your lawn at this high setting.
- Section out your lawn into manageable regions from most problematic to least problematic.
- If you have a remote-controlled lawn mower, practice using the controls for mowing grassy weeds.
Once you're happy, the lawn mowing can commence. Take your time to carefully mow your landscape, mowing as many weeds as possible before applying the herbicide.
Step 3: Apply Herbicide
Herbicide helps curb the growth of pre-emergent weeds after you've mowed your lawn. To effectively remove weeds, you must choose the correct type of weed control. You should start by identifying the most common types of weeds in your lawn (broadleaf, sedge, or grassy) to pick the correct herbicide.
You should always pick a selective herbicide that only targets specific types of weeds while leaving your grass unharmed. Accidentally selecting a nonselective herbicide (such as glyphosate) will kill all the grass growing in your lawn, unless you plan major-scale renovations. Instead, you should keep the weeds at bay using a selective herbicide.
After applying the herbicide (using a sprayer or granules), wait at least 24 hours before watering or disturbing the area. This gives the weed killer and pest control time to fully absorb.
Step 4: Aerate Your Soil (Optional)
Aeration helps keep your weeds at bay by fostering grass seed growth. Cultivating grass to grow better will stop weeds from sprouting, and you’ll enjoy healthier grass blades, reducing the need to fix an overgrown lawn with weeds in the future. Aerating your grass turf once or twice a year can also increase nutrient absorption and minimize soil compaction and thatch layers.
You can core aerate by removing cylinders of soil to allow air and water to reach the roots of your grass. Aerate in rows, focusing on common lawn pathways and zones with frequent foot traffic.
Step 5: Overseed Your Soil (Optional)
Overseeding your soil helps to rejuvenate your lawn by introducing new seeds to your garden that crowd out weed seeds. Like aeration, overseeding your soil isn't necessary to achieve a pristine lawn but can help if you have a nonselective weed killer or plan to plant new grass. If you plan to overseed your soil, choose a compatible grass type that matches your lawn (usually warm- or cool-season grass).
You should overseed your lawn using a broadcast spreader to distribute the seed across the lawn evenly. Typically, you should aim for a rate of 5 to 10 pounds of seed for every 1,000 square feet.
What are the Most Common Types of Weeds in the USA?
The most common types of weeds found in the USA are dandelions, crabgrass, chickweed, creeping Charlie, quack grass, and white clover. The table below shows you where you might find these weeds and how difficult it is to fix an overrun lawn with them.
| Type of Weed | Where is it Found? | How Difficult is it to Remove? (Scale 1 to 10) |
| Dandelion | Found throughout the U.S. in lawns and gardens | Difficulty: 8/10 Dandelions have deep taproots (up to 10 inches / 25 cm) that make complete removal challenging |
| Crabgrass | Common in southern and central U.S. lawns, particularly in warm climates | Difficulty: 6/10 While it can be removed by hand, it often regrows quickly from seeds and roots left behind |
| Chickweed | Widely distributed in northern states; prefers cooler climates and moist conditions | Difficulty: 5/10 Generally easy to pull out, but can spread rapidly if not managed early |
| Creeping Charlie | Found across the U.S., especially in the Midwest and Northeast, thriving in shady areas | Difficulty: 7/10 Creeping growth habit makes it challenging to eradicate once established |
| Quackgrass | Predominantly found in northern states, especially in the Midwest, but thrives in various habitats | Difficulty: 8/10 Deep rhizomes make it challenging to control; requires persistent effort to remove completely |
| White Clover | Common across the U.S., particularly in temperate regions; grows well in lawns and meadows | Difficulty: 4/10 Relatively easy to remove by hand but can regrow from remaining roots if not entirely eradicated |
Use the latest and greatest lawn care technology from Mowrator to prevent weeds from sprouting. Boasting a 21-inch cutting width and four powerful Beast™ motors, our S1 Remote Control Lawn Mower 4WD can comfortably mow 20-inch grass and weeds. You don't need a professional lawn care company when you have an easy-to-use remote control lawn mower — shop today.
How to Fix Overgrown Lawn Weeds | FAQs
What is the best tool to clear overgrown weeds?
The best tool to clear overgrown weeds is a powerful remote-controlled lawn mower like the Mowrator S1 4WD, specifically designed to tackle tall grasses and weeds efficiently. For smaller areas or more precise work, a heavy-duty string trimmer with a brush-cutting blade attachment can also be highly effective, because it allows you to navigate tight spaces while cutting through thorny vegetation.
Is there anything that kills weeds permanently?
No, there isn't any way to permanently kill weeds and stop them from appearing in your garden. The best way to remove weeds includes regular lawn maintenance and chemical herbicides, which target and destroy weed plants at the root level. Additionally, natural methods such as soil solarization, applying vinegar, and smothering weeds with mulch or tarps can also prevent weed regrowth by depriving them of sunlight and moisture.
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