What is Hairy Bittercress?

Hairy Bittercress, is a Winter Annual Weed. As a winter annual, it germinates sometime in the late fall and becomes visible in the spring.  It's quick growth and white flowers make it very recognizable in the spring.

Why do I have Hairy Bittercress?

A little Hairy Bittercress is normal.   A lot of Hairy Bittercress indicates that either you’re mowing too short in the late summer and early fall; or that your lawn is just not thick enough or healthy enough to compete with it; or that your grass types might not be strong enough to compete with it.  Hairy Bittercress has become much more prolific in the last 2-3 years.  What can I do about Hairy Bittercress?

Since Hairy Bittercress will die soon anyway, the bulk of your effort should go into improving your lawn to prevent it next year. If it really bothers you, you can pull it out very easily when you first see it in the spring.

Preventing Hairy Bittercress next year

Hairy Bittercress and other annual weeds will emerge where your lawn is not competing. It could be that you’re just mowing your lawn too short and keeping the grasses from competing.  It could also be that the grass types you have are weaker older grasses that just don’t fight that well. If you have older poor grasses, a total renovation might be the best choice. If you don’t want to go that far, simply Super Seeding what you already have may really help.  If Hairy Bittercress is a problem, we'd recommend Fall Liquid Aeration instead of traditional Core Aeration. Fall Core Aeration exposes soil and weed seeds just when Hairy Bittercress is germinating.