Oxalis weed is a perennial weed that appears with flowers in the lawn. These weeds are invasive in lawns and can change the overall pH of the lawn grass.
The wide leaves weeds are one of the few unique weeds in the lawns. Their removal is as important as other weeds.
Oxalis removal from the lawn
There are a few similar-looking weeds like Oxalis weed that may confuse you in lawns. So before starting their removal, you should aware of their features and identification factors. Let's understand them one by one.
Identification of oxalis
- Leaves- wide at the tip and sharp at the vertex
- Size- 1 to 1.5 feet
- Color- Light green to dark green
- Flowers- Yellow
- Nature- Invasive
Requirements to remove
Tools required
Like every lawn weed removal, everyone needs some specific tools to clean and prevent them. In my opinion, the following tools are enough for a small to medium size lawn-
- Mowing machine
- Aeration machine
- Dethatching tool
- Weed-picking tool
- Safety gloves
Weed removing herbicides
Generally, I don't suggest you use non-organic weed-removing herbicides or any other weed killer. But using organic, authorized, and legal herbicides are good sometimes for matured and difficult weeds.
Method of removing oxalis from lawn
Although oxalis removal can be done permanently and temporarily but in my opinion, you should remove them permanently if you want a healthy and only lawn turf.
It can disturb the overall pH, invade lawn grass, can create brown patches at some stage, and be very tough to remove permanently just by removing it with hands or machines.
So, you can remove them with the hand-picking method temporarily but for permanent removal, you need to take some extra steps.
I faced oxalis in my lawn in past and here I'm sharing my method of permanent removal of those. The following steps will help you to remove oxalis from the lawn in the easiest way-
Step 1- Inspect and mark the affected area
First, take an ordinary inspection of the oxalis-affected area. Distinguish if matured or early oxalis weeds are growing separately. If they are mixed then mark them whole.
Step 2- Remove with the hand-picking method
Wear safety gloves and prepare for the removal of oxalis weeds with your hands. Grab the weeds and pick them up directly with the roots.
Repeat this in the entire affected areas. In the end, you will have a cleaned area left from oxalis weed but that doesn't mean that you're done and grass will be recovered.
Step 3- Now take a soil test
Pick up a slice of the soil(include if the turf is present in that area). Take a pH test of the soil and check the depth of the roots. If the roots are not growing well then you need to recover them first. You can confirm it if the roots are getting shorter(less than 4 to 5 inches). If soil is too acidic or too alkaline, you need to treat soil first.
Step 4- Prepare for grass recovery
Now, prepare your tools for various processes you are going to implement in the lawn like mowing, aeration, dethatching, and fertilization.
Step 5- Aerate and dethatch the soil
After soil testing, now dethatch the soil first before aeration. Clean all the collected waste from the dethatching. Aerate the entire affected and cleaned area from oxalis weed. Don't aerate the entire lawn until it is not necessary.
Step 6- Fertilize and moist the soil
Now, according to the condition of the soil, use organic fertilizers only to balance the soil's nature. Before fertilization, bring the moisture in the soil and level it with the other areas.
Step 7- Reseed or returf the soil
Now, you are on the final steps of recovering your lawn grass. You can repeat the basic method of reseeding and returf with the same lawn grass seed and turf.
Step 8- Keep eyes regular on growth
Keep your eyes regular on the reseeded or returfed. Check moisture, and growth, and mow regularly.
Step 9- Enjoy the recovered turf
After a couple of weeks, you will have proper green turf in your lawns. You can enjoy it with your pets and family.
Natural way to prevent oxalis from lawn
A natural way to remove weeds generally means indicates prevention. Prevention is always better in case of weeds in the lawn. Still, I promised to tell you things in more detail to avoid any confusion. The following steps will help you to prevent the oxalis weeds from the lawn-
Step 1- Have proper drainage in the lawn
If you have proper drainage in your lawn then you can save it from moss, oxalis weeds, and a few other kinds of weeds that appear in lawns.
Step 2- Remove the early oxalis plants
Even after the prevention of oxalis weed causes, if your lawn still has some oxalic plants, then it is always better to remove them in their early growth stages.
Step 3- Regular mowing
Keep the mowing regular to prevent the weeds. If you can cut them even with stems, their growth can be controlled and slow down more effectively.
Step 4- Aeration and dethatching
Don't let your soil be compact and weed-friendly. Dethatch your lawn every spring and try to keep the aeration every year or for a year and a half.
Step 5- Overseeding
Overseed the entire lawn in spring. It will help to overshadow the weeds in the lawn specially oxalis weeds.
Step 6- Restrict the birds
If you can restrict the birds in your lawn then they can't bring weed seeds or turf into the lawn. You can use some dummies on the trees or on the rooftop of the house to fly them away.
Step 7- Clean or prevent neighbor weeds
If possible, then clean and prevent the nearest oxalis weeds or other weeds. If your neighbor has such weeds then there is a high chance that they may appear on your lawn. If there is a meadow then oxalis weeds can appear on your lawn too. So be aware of multiple factors.