Weed Control · New Mexico
How to Kill Creeping Charlie and Wild Violet in New Mexico
Creeping Charlie and wild violet shrug off standard three-way weed killer for two different reasons. Both answer to triclopyr — and to October, not spring.
Regional Hub
New Mexico Lawn Care
Lawn care built for New Mexico: Bermuda maintenance, regional weed and disease control, and a season-by-season calendar for USDA zones 4b–9a.
Dominant Grass
Bermuda
USDA Zones
4b–9a
Soil
Calcareous desert soils across the basins and mesas, with caliche — a cemented lime hardpan — at shallow depth in much of the state; deeper alluvium along the Rio Grande and the river valleys
Humidity
Arid to semi-arid with very low humidity most of the year, broken by the monsoon — and the elevation range means Chama and Las Cruces share almost nothing climatically
Weed Control in New Mexico
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Weed Control · New Mexico
Dallisgrass vs Crabgrass: One Comes Back Every Year in New Mexico
Dallisgrass and crabgrass look alike and need opposite strategies: crabgrass dies at frost, dallisgrass comes back from the same crown for years.
Weed Control · New Mexico
How to Get Rid of Crabgrass: Timing Beats Chemicals in New Mexico
Crabgrass is a timing problem — but one pre-emergent pass is not a whole season. UF/IFAS: season-long control takes a second application 6–9 weeks later.
Weed Control · New Mexico
How to Get Rid of Nutsedge: One Pull Does Nothing in New Mexico
Nutsedge ignores ordinary weed killer because it is a sedge. UC IPM: one pull does nothing — but pulling every 2 to 3 weeks drains the tuber underneath it.
Weed Control · New Mexico
Kill Dandelions Without Killing Grass — For Good in New Mexico
Killing dandelions without killing grass comes down to the taproot: the selective herbicides that reach it, and the month they actually work.
Weed Control · New Mexico
Spring Weed Control: Soil Temp, Not the Calendar in New Mexico
Spring weed control is decided by soil temperature, not the calendar — a pre-emergent applied two weeks late does nothing at all. The trigger, and the plan.
Lawn Diseases in New Mexico
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Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Voles in the Lawn: The Runways Fix Themselves in New Mexico
Melting snow reveals the runways, and the voles usually left with it. Illinois says the lawn regrows by summer — the damage worth acting on is on your trees.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Lawn Disease After Flooding: What Follows the Water in New Mexico
Flooding moves the pathogen, stresses the plant and leaves the leaf wet. The hour thresholds that trigger Pythium and brown patch, and why nitrogen cuts both ways.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Dollar Spot Treatment: The Disease Nitrogen Fixes in New Mexico
Dollar spot is the one lawn disease caused by too little nitrogen, not too much — the exception to every other fungus guide here. The hourglass lesion confirms it.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Armyworms and Sod Webworms: Which Ate Your Lawn? in New Mexico
Green to brown in two days means armyworms; closely cropped patches mean sod webworms. Both are caterpillars — which rules out most grub products.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Chinch Bugs: How to Confirm Them and What Kills Them in New Mexico
Chinch bugs: two species, two grass families, and a float test that confirms them in five minutes. Plus the documented resistance nobody prints on the bottle.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Fire Ants in Lawns: Kill the Colony, Not the Mound in New Mexico
Treating fire ants in lawns by drenching the mound kills workers and moves the colony. Bait reaches the queen — that difference is why most attempts fail.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Lawn Grubs: How and When to Kill Them in New Mexico
Most lawns never reach the grub treatment threshold, so count before you buy — and curative products only work from August through October.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Brown Patch Treatment: Fungicide Alone Won't Fix It in New Mexico
Brown patch treatment needs two things: the right fungicide, and the summer nitrogen habit that caused it. Fungicide alone buys you a repeat next July.
Lawn Diseases · New Mexico
Snow Mold Treatment: It Grew Under the Snow in New Mexico
Snow mold treatment is mostly about the autumn before: gray and pink snow mold grew under the snow, so what you see in March is already finished damage.
Grass Types in New Mexico
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Grass Types · New Mexico
Buffalograss: Weeds Mean You Are Doing Too Much in New Mexico
Buffalograss lawn care inverts the usual advice: K-State says weeds are a sign it is overmanaged, so the fix is less water and later feeding, not herbicide.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Fine Fescue Lawn Care: The Grass That Wants Less in New Mexico
Penn State lists high nitrogen among the conditions fine fescue is not adapted to — beside heavy traffic. It is the one lawn grass you can spoil.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Perennial Ryegrass: The Fastest Grass, and Its Price in New Mexico
Penn State: it germinates in 5 to 7 days and is very competitive with other turfgrasses. Both halves decide what care this lawn costs you.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Zoysia Grass Care: The Grass Nobody Defaults To in New Mexico
Zoysia is a secondary grass in 25 states and the dominant one in none. You choose it deliberately — and three of its costs are never on the sod invoice.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Kentucky Bluegrass Care: It Repairs Its Own Damage in New Mexico
Kentucky bluegrass repairs its own damage and browns in August for the same reason — rhizomes. Mow at 3 inches, feed in autumn, count the dormancy weeks.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Tall Fescue Lawn Care: Deep Roots, No Self-Repair in New Mexico
Tall fescue lawn care is one trade-off: the most heat-tolerant cool-season grass, but it never repairs itself and brown patch waits every summer.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Growing Grass in Shade: The Two-Hour Minimum in New Mexico
Growing grass in shade has a hard floor: fine fescue is the most shade-tolerant lawn grass and still needs two hours of direct sun. Below that, no seed works.
Grass Types · New Mexico
Bermuda Grass Care: Mow It Lower Than You Think in New Mexico
Bermuda grass care starts with mowing lower than feels right — 1 to 2 inches. Plus when to scalp, how much nitrogen it takes, and the schedule that works.
Grass Types · New Mexico
St. Augustine Care: Mow High, Watch for Chinch Bugs in New Mexico
St. Augustine grass care: mow high, watch for chinch bugs, and know it cannot be seeded — only sod, plugs or sprigs. Plus the herbicides that damage it.
Grass Types · New Mexico
St. Augustine vs Zoysia: Shade or Traffic Decides in New Mexico
St. Augustine vs zoysia comes down to two questions: how much shade, and how much foot traffic. One tolerates each — and they are not the same grass.
Fertilizer in New Mexico
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Fertilizer · New Mexico
Winterizer Fertilizer: Right Idea, Wrong Bag in New Mexico
Purdue backs late-fall nitrogen and faults the bags: rates run too low, the potassium needs a soil test to justify — and warm-season lawns should skip it entirely.
Fertilizer · New Mexico
Lawn Soil pH: When to Lime, When to Add Sulfur in New Mexico
Lawn soil pH decides whether lime or sulfur is the fix — and the right answer inverts between Georgia and Arizona. What the soil test number means.
Fertilizer · New Mexico
When to Weed and Feed: Two Bags Often Beat One in New Mexico
Weed and feed does two jobs on two different calendars, so one bag rarely times both right. The month it works, and the lawns the label forbids.
Fertilizer · New Mexico
When to Fertilize: Autumn Matters More Than Spring in New Mexico
When to fertilize a lawn: autumn matters more than spring for cool-season grass, the reverse for warm-season — plus the state laws that close the window.
Fertilizer · New Mexico
Why Is My Lawn Yellow? 9 Causes, Not Just Nitrogen in New Mexico
Your lawn is yellow and nitrogen is only one of nine causes — feeding the wrong one wastes a season. Diagnose by pattern, blade and timing first.
Lawn Care Guides in New Mexico
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Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Dormant Seeding: The Backup Window After You Missed Fall in New Mexico
Purdue's data: dormant seeding beats spring and trails September only slightly. The rule is cold enough not to germinate — Thanksgiving through March, not October.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Lawn Recovery After Flooding: The Clock Starts Underwater in New Mexico
How long turf survives underwater, why the damage shows up days later, the 1-inch silt rule, and the survival percentage at which replanting beats rescuing.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Lawn Ruts After Storm Cleanup: What Repairs, What Doesn't in New Mexico
Shallow ruts take a ¼-inch topdressing; deep subsoil compaction from heavy equipment on saturated ground is, in Penn State's words, practically permanent.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Waterlogged Lawn: Test It Before You Fix It in New Mexico
Water standing after every rain has four possible causes and they need different fixes. A 15-minute hole test tells you which one you have before you spend money.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
When to Stop Mowing the Lawn: Watch 50°F, Not the Calendar in New Mexico
Cool-season grass stops growing when daytime highs stay below 50°F — that's the last-mow trigger. Too tall into winter invites disease; scalping is worse.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Winter Lawn Care: The Damage Happens in February in New Mexico
Penn State: crown hydration is the most common and destructive winter injury, and it happens in late winter after thawing and freezing — not in the deep cold.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Summer Lawn Care: What Helps and What Hurts in New Mexico
Summer lawn care inverts by grass type: feeding a warm-season lawn is routine; feeding a cool-season lawn is the classic mistake.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Fall Lawn Care: What to Do, and in What Order in New Mexico
Fall lawn care is the one season when doing more genuinely pays — for cool-season grass. On a warm-season lawn, autumn is mostly about stopping.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
How to Aerate a Lawn: Spike Tools Make It Worse in New Mexico
How to aerate a lawn, and when not to: spike tools compact the soil they punch through, core aeration pulls plugs out, and most lawns need it rarely.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
How to Fix Bare Spots in a Lawn — Or Leave Them in New Mexico
A bare spot smaller than your fist closes on its own. The bigger ones are a symptom — and the shape of the spot tells you which cause to fix first.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Lawn Mowing Height: Your Deck Setting Is Lying in New Mexico
Your deck setting is not your lawn mowing height — measure it once and most people find they cut lower than they think. The real number by species.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Should You Bag Grass Clippings? It Costs Nitrogen in New Mexico
Bagging grass clippings throws away up to a quarter of your lawn's nitrogen — and clippings do not cause thatch. The three times bagging is still right.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
Spring Lawn Care: Do Less, and Do It Later in New Mexico
Most spring lawn damage is done in March by people being helpful. Spring lawn care runs on soil temperature, not the calendar — and the order matters.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
When to Overseed Your Lawn — and When Not to Bother in New Mexico
When to overseed: late summer beats spring for cool-season lawns, most warm-season lawns should not be overseeded at all — and pre-emergent blocks your seed.
Lawn Care Guides · New Mexico
How Often to Water Your Lawn: Twice Beats Daily in New Mexico
How often to water a lawn: twice a week beats every morning, and one inch a week beats guessing. Measure your own sprinkler — the timer is not telling you.
Product Reviews in New Mexico
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Product Reviews · New Mexico
Best Weed Killer for Lawns: Match It to the Weed in New Mexico
There is no best weed killer for lawns, only the right one for your weed: the seven chemistries that matter, what each kills, and the one that kills grass too.
Product Reviews · New Mexico
Organic Weed Killer for Lawns: The One That Works in New Mexico
The organic weed killer that works on lawns is iron — it burns broadleaf weeds and moss in hours without harming grass. What it won't do: kill the roots.
New Mexico Lawn Calendar
What your Bermuda lawn needs, season by season.
Spring
- Pre-emergent on soil temperature — February in Las Cruces, May in Taos, and treating those as the same date is the commonest mistake here
- Check the depth to caliche with a probe or a shovel before planning any irrigation change; it sets how deep a soaking can physically go
- Do not lime, ever, unless a test asks: pH here is held up by calcium carbonate already in the soil
- Audit the irrigation system before the pre-monsoon heat, not after it
Summer
- NMSU's water figures are the ones to plan against: cool-season turf uses about 0.26 to 0.50 inch a day in summer, roughly 1.8 to 3.5 inches a week, and about 38 inches over a year, against about 24 inches for warm-season turf
- Schedule irrigation for the driest quarter of the lawn rather than the average — residential systems here average a lower-quarter distribution uniformity around 0.50, so half the lawn gets far less than the timer suggests
- During the monsoon, turn the controller down: heavy convective rain on caliche runs off, but it still resets the soil moisture the system is watering for
- If the lawn is yellow, treat it as iron availability before nitrogen, and buy EDDHA-chelated iron rather than EDTA
Fall
- Cool-season lawns in the north: late August into September is both the seeding window and the most valuable feeding
- Warm-season lawns in the south: last feeding well before dormancy, and expect colour loss from the first frost regardless
- Take a soil test and specify the New Mexico set — Olsen phosphorus, saturated paste EC, sodium adsorption ratio and percent lime
- Reduce irrigation gradually rather than stopping it; a dry autumn here is normal and turf goes into winter thirsty
Winter
- Warm-season lawns are dormant and brown from first frost until the ground warms; that is normal, not winterkill
- Water occasionally through a dry, windy winter — especially in the north, where an open winter desiccates turf with the ground frozen
- Spot-treat winter annual weeds on dormant bermudagrass during mild spells
- Plan species honestly against water: the 38-inch cool-season figure against 24 for warm-season is the whole argument in a state that gets 8 to 15 inches of rain
Official New Mexico resources
Three things every guide here eventually sends you to do — and all three answers are specific to New Mexico rather than national: test your soil, read your own land-grant programme, and check whether the state has added anything to a product's federal label.
Soil testing
There is no public university lab for homeowners here — the state points residents at private labs instead:
NMSU-referred private laboratories (the university's own SWAT soil testing lab closed in 2012)NMSU's Soil, Water and Agricultural Testing laboratory closed in June 2012, so samples go to private labs — but the more useful thing the university still publishes is Guide A-146, which names the analyses appropriate for New Mexico soils rather than the ones a lab defaults to: Olsen (sodium bicarbonate) phosphorus, electrical conductivity by saturated paste extract, sodium adsorption ratio, and percent calcium carbonate. Ask for those by name.
Why the number matters more than the bag: soil pH in New Mexico.
Turfgrass research
Every guide here defers to your own land-grant programme somewhere. This is it:
NMSU Extension turfgrass publicationsNew Mexico State University, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
NMSU draws the state's dividing line explicitly: cool-season grasses work anywhere north of Socorro, plus the Cloudcroft, Ruidoso and Silver City areas, while warm-season grasses suit the south. Its irrigation circular (CR-660) carries the numbers that decide the species choice — about 38 inches a year for cool-season turf against 24 for warm-season.
Where their advice and a national rule of thumb disagree, follow theirs — they trialled it in 4b–9a.
Pesticide regulation
Pesticide authority sits with the state department of agriculture:
New Mexico Department of AgriculturePesticide Compliance
Unusually, NMDA is administratively part of New Mexico State University, which is why its pesticide pages live on the university domain. The practical consequence is that the regulator and the Extension service are the same institution here.
Restrictions we found printed on labels: New Mexico product restrictions.
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