A green and healthy lawn is the crown jewel in every garden. To make it look spectacular, you have to take care of every detail, including proper seeding, watering, fertilizing, aerating, and mowing. Unfortunately, even when you put in all your efforts, your lawn can still be affected by various diseases.

However, the worst nightmare for every lawn owner are stubborn weeds. Luckily, there are numerous ways to fight them. You can use some of the best weed killers or try to get rid of them naturally. If the second option sounds more appealing, why don’t you reach for sugar to eliminate them? 

If you have never used sugar for weed control, let us explain why it's a good idea to start putting it on your lawn.

How Does Sugar Kill Weeds?

dandelion

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Sugar is very effective in fighting weeds because it causes the grass and weeds to fight over limited nitrogen in the ground. Sugar is a good alternative to weed killer because it contains no chemicals. Thanks to this characteristic, when applied to plants non-adaptive to these conditions, it prevents them from growing.

When you spread it on your lawn, you encourage the grassroots to look for nitrogen in the soil since the sugar lowers its levels. Because of this, weeds start to starve since there isn’t enough nitrogen for them under the ground. This, in turn, causes lawn grass to grow stronger and healthier.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t put sugar on grasses that require a high level of nitrogen such as Bentgrass varieties. If you use sugar, this type of grass won’t have enough of this crucial mineral nutrient for their stable growth. 

How To Apply Sugar To Your Grass 

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Applying sugar on your lawn is very easy. There are just a few steps, allowing you to get rid of weeds with this method. These simple steps include:

Step one: Choose the Right Sugar.

Sugar in a wooden spoon on the table

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The best sugars for weed control are granulated and powder ones. If you have never used either of them before select both sugars to see which one works best in your garden. When weeds appear after some time, pick up the sugar that worked better on your lawn and get to work!

Step two: Putting Sugar On Your Lawn

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You can carry out this task with your hands, but this method will make it difficult for you to apply the correct amount of sugar. That’s why if it is possible, try to use a lawn spreader

The best proportions are one pound of sugar applied on ten and a half square feet of your lawn. It’s best to do this slowly, to cover the whole area. Also, make sure that your lawn is dry during this process. 

Step Three: Watering

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After you spread the sugar over your lawn, it’s time to water it. You can do it using your garden hose or sprinkler. The trick here is to add enough water to soak your lawn but not overwater it. Try to water it about one inch deep for the best results. 

Step Four: Repeat The Whole Process

Lawn care - Lawn Spring Fertilization tool

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You should repeat the whole process every three to four months. The logic behind this is that after some time, the nitrogen levels will naturally start to increase, and you want to keep them low at all costs, so the weeds won’t have a chance to grow. Do this as long as weeds stop appearing for good on your lawn.

Other Benefits Of Putting Sugar On Your Lawn

Spring lawn care.

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Besides being an effective and natural weed controller, sugar also has a few other benefits when put on your lawn:

  • It improves the health of your lawn - by breaking down organic materials and layers of dead grass accumulating on it.
  • It makes your lawn greener - by forcing grassroots intake of more nitrogen from the soil. 
  • It doesn't harm your lawn - by being a natural product that doesn’t have any chemicals

Now Give Me Some Sugar!

If you battle weeds growing on your lawn, you might want to try using any means to get rid of them. One of the natural ways to fight off these harmful plants is sugar. It lowers the nitrogen levels in your soil, making the grassroots look for it. Because of this, weeds start to starve since there isn’t enough of this mineral nutrient for them to grow.

Additionally, it improves the health of your lawn by breaking down organic material and dead grass layers. It makes grass greener by forcing grassroots to intake more nitrogen. It also doesn’t harm your lawn because it contains no chemicals. 

Let us know what you think about this method and if you have already used sugar in combating weeds on your lawn. If you have any tips and tricks, we'd love to hear them!