10 Best Crabgrass Killers 2024 in the US

If you are trying to maintain a nice lawn, you’ve probably encountered crabgrass, as well as other weeds that ruin your lawn’s appearance. But crabgrass is more invasive than that. If left untreated, a single crabgrass plant distributes as many as 150,000 seeds throughout your lawn! That’s 150,000 potential plants that will pop up next spring! And since crabgrass is more sensitive to cold weather, it will die more quickly in the autumn than other grasses. The result will be that your lawn will have “bald spots”, which will require a lot of effort to restore.

A simple approach is to start digging the crabgrass out of your lawn or garden. Another suggestion is pouring boiling water on weeds, or using a salt solution or vinegar on the crabgrass spots. But if the problem is already too invasive, you’ll have to turn to a herbicide that targets crabgrass in particular.

We’ve composed this buyer’s guide to help you make the right decision when selecting a crabgrass killer. It'll help you:

• Choose the right type of crabgrass killer,

• See useful tips about that type of crabgrass killer,

• Read reviews of different crabgrass killers, and what customers are saying,

• Select the right brand of the best crabgrass killers, and

• Compare prices and find the best deals.

• Pre-emerging herbicides: These are meant to stop root development after and during the times when crabgrass seeds germinate. (They won’t actually work against persistent annual plants that have germinated from last year and have left seeds behind.) These should be applied around two weeks before the ground temperature reaches 55 degrees, which is when the crabgrass seed starts to germinate.

• Post-emerging herbicides: Once the crabgrass has taken root and started to emerge in your lawn or garden, you’ll need more aggressive methods. Ortho Weed B Gon and Bayer Advanced All-In-One Lawn Weed and Crabgrass Killer use the active ingredient Quinclorac. These are selective herbicides, that kill only certain weeds, but leave your grass alone. (There are very aggressive herbicides, such as Bayer’s Roundup, which will kill both wanted and unwanted plants. So you can only apply it to the precise location where crabgrass is growing.)

• Read directions before application: It should go without saying that you should read the directions on the crabgrass killer before applying it. This is because some compounds will kill even desirable grasses. For example, the Bayer Advanced All-in-One Weed and Crabgrass Killer should not be used around carpet grass, centipede grass, or St. Augustine grass. If your consists of these grasses, then you have to seek out another product.

• Some products must be mixed: There are also solid herbicides for use on crabgrass, such as the Quali-Pro MSM Turf Herbicide. You mix 0.25-0.5 ounces of the compound in one gallon of water per acre. But you’ll probably prefer products that don’t require mixing such as the Bayer All-in-One Lawn Weed and Crabgrass Killer.

• Kills other broadleaf weeds: The Bayer and Ortho weed killers are effective on other weeds that grow extensive roots, such as dandelion and clover. Crabgrass will typically require 2-3 applications, while other weeds are gone in one application.

• Growing cycles of plants: It’s important to understand the enemy when trying to eradicate crabgrass and other weeds. There are three (or four) different types of plant growing cycles, and there is a difference between trying to control grasses and weeds with different growing cycles. Identifying the types of weeds that afflict your lawn will help define a plan of action to get rid of them:

  • Annuals: An annual plant completes its life cycle in one year. That means that you have to plant seeds, or cuttings, next year to get it to regrow. Flowers like marigolds or zinnias are in this category--and so is crabgrass. These can be controlled since they don’t leave roots from year to year.

  • Biennials: These have a two-year life cycle. They grow leaves, stems, and roots that are dormant in winter sprout up again next year. These can also be controlled, although they can be more persistent than annuals.

  • Perennials: These are hardy plants that live for at least 3 years, and come back year after year. This is because they leave their roots in the ground, and just are dormant in the winter. Some even manage to keep their leaves, and are called "evergreen perennials". The grass that you want in your lawn is usually an evergreen perennial--so seeing what your lawn looks like after November will give you a good idea of what grasses are supposed to be there. If you see certain grasses in the winter that look out of place, these are perennial weeds that will have to be dug out, or killed by an aggressive formula like RoundUp.

  • Tender perennials: These are plants that act like annuals in cold climates, and die and disappear in the winter. But, the same plant will be a perennial in warm climates.

• How to identify crabgrass: Crabgrass is distinguished from other grasses by its wide leaves with pointed tips. Also, it tends to form in clumps, and spreads out horizontally, parallel to the ground. It is an annual plant, which typically dies in sub-freezing temperatures, but comes back to life when the ground temperature gets over 55 degrees.

• Get a meat thermometer: Even if the temperature outside is spring-like, that doesn’t tell you about the ground temperature. Crabgrass seeds are dormant in ground temperatures below 55 degrees. So it’s recommended to get a meat thermometer, which you stick in the ground a few inches. This will give you a reading of the ground temperature, and tell you when to apply a pre-emerging herbicide.

Inserting a meat thermometer to find the ground temperature

• Application: Depending on the product, there are several ways to apply crabgrass killers. If you only need to apply it to particular areas, some products, such as the Ortho Weed B Gon can be sprayed directly onto crabgrass patches. If you have to treat a much bigger area, you can hook up a garden hose to the valve on the container. A 32-ounce container can be applied in this manner over a lawn as big as 5000 square feet!

Applying Ortho Weed B Gon with a garden hose

• Apply at least one hour before rainfall: The best crabgrass killers need only be applied once a year. That means that rainfall will not influence their effectiveness. But there is one precaution: When using the Ortho Weed B Gon, make sure that you apply the product at least one hour before watering or any rainfall. That will prevent the compound from getting diluted prematurely.

• Ortho is a brand of the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Scotts was founded by O.M. Scott in Marysville, Ohio in 1868, as a distributor of lawn seed. Ortho is their division of bug control products for the lawn and home, as well as weed killers.

• Bayer is a German pharmaceutical company, founded in 1863. Their product lines include medicines for the health of humans, animals, and plants. Their crop science products include biological and chemical pest management solutions.

• Gordon is a maker of products to eliminate weeds, brush, and insect pests from lawns, gardens, and farmland. They were founded in 2010 in Shawnee, Kansas. Their compounds can be applied by spray or in a hose-end application. They focus on the undesirable weeds, without harming other lawn plants.