Cary’s Corner

What’s in a Name?

Pre-emergent or Grassy Weed Preventer

UPDATED SPRING 2026 – Shakespeare wrote, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
And a pre-emergent by any other name would still only prevent grassy weeds.

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard, “Make sure you get my pre-emergent down so I don’t get any dandelions,” I’d probably have around $100. I lost count somewhere around 1,942 times back in 2004.

So years ago I quietly decided to stop calling it pre-emergent and start calling it what it really is:

Grassy Weed Preventer.

Because that’s exactly what it does.

Where the confusion comes from

Across the lawn care industry, we’ve accidentally trained customers to believe that a spring pre-emergent prevents all weeds. It doesn’t.

Grassy Weed Preventer helps stop grassy weeds like:

Crabgrass
Foxtail
Goosegrass

It does not prevent broadleaf weeds like:

Dandelions
Clover
Henbit
Chickweed

Two completely different weed families.

Broadleaf vs. Grassy weeds (the simple version)

I could get technical and talk about monocots and dicots… but let’s keep it simple.

Broadleaf weeds usually look like little flowering plants.
Grassy weeds look like grass — just the wrong kind of grass.

The confusion happens because weeds like crabgrass have wider blades than your turf, so people naturally think “broadleaf.” Totally understandable… but botanically, they’re still grass.

Why Grassy Weed Preventer matters so much

Once grassy weeds like crabgrass show up, they are much harder to control than most broadleaf weeds.

Broadleaf weeds are usually easy to manage once they appear.

Grassy weeds? Not so much.

They’re genetically very similar to your turfgrass. Trying to control them without harming your lawn is like trying to invent a potion that you and your cousin can both drink… but it only affects your cousin.

It’s way easier to prevent grassy weeds than deal with them later.

So how do you prevent broadleaf weeds?

Short answer: you mostly don’t.

The best “prevention” for broadleaf weeds is a thick, healthy lawn.
Dense turf leaves fewer open spaces for weeds to move in.

Of course, even great lawns get a few weeds. That’s where targeted weed control helps clean things up as the season goes along.

Final thought

Here’s one more unnecessary Shakespeare reference for you. Hamlet once said,
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

I may be mistaken, but I believe he was trying to say that any plant growing in an unwanted area is a weed.

At ClassicLawns, we believe all plants are beautiful… as long as they are growing where we want them to grow.

Thanks for reading,
Cary

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