How To Remove Daisies From Your Lawn

How To Remove Daisies From Your Lawn

Okay, we’ll admit it: we have a real thing for daisies. And it’s not just because of the way they announce summer is here or the way a simple daisy chain becomes a core memory for every child. No, daisies are awesome for a whole bunch of other reasons, such as:

1. Their name means Day’s Eye: which refers to the way they close their petals in the evening, and open again at dawn.

1. They’re small but mighty: daisies make up almost 10% of all flowering plants on the planet.

1. Beautiful yet tough: daisies can adapt to almost any environment, including high up in the mountains. In fact, the only place they don’t live is Antarctica. 

The problem is, the daisies that are now popping up across your lawn. The ones that are thriving even in that part with really compacted soil are pretty good at causing unwanted harm to your lawn. Yepp. Because they can grow in almost any soil conditions. Daisies can start crowding out your grass plants, spreading across your lovely, lush turf. They form thick mats of foliage, spreading out more and more by producing seeds as they go. 

Of course, you may be thinking, but I love seeing daisies pop up in my garden, they look so dreamy. We get it. They do look dreamy, like a little dollop of wildflowers in a quintessential English garden, creating a sense of cohesion between your plants and your lawn. On the other hand, you might be thinking but my lawn is a masterpiece that’s taken blood, sweat and tears to perfect and I want it to be daisy free. Which we also get. 

That’s why we’ve pulled together this no-nonsense guide on how to remove daisies from your lawn. 

Daisy Removal Method No.1: Daisy Grubber

Okay, quick caveat: we don’t recommend using a daisy grubber if you’re staring at a lawn with thousands of daisies. Unless you’re really bored or have way too much time on your hands. If you only have a couple of daisy patches, however, then this is probably the technique for you. 

Essentially, a daisy grubber is just a long, narrow, two-pronged hand tool that’s designed to lever out long-rooted weeds with ease. You simply push the two-pronged fork into the ground where the daisy’s growing out of and lever them out without any hassle. 

Pro tip: try levering your daisies from every side to loosen up the soil and remove the whole daisy – root and all – in one piece. 

Daisy Removal Method No.2: Weed Killer

If you’re not up for hand digging each of your daisies out because you’re already too busy trying to:

• Get eight hours sleep a day
• Walk ten thousand steps
• Eat five bits of fruit and veg
• Work a full-time job
• Cook
• Clean
• Socialise
• Meditate
• Do laundry
• Shower

But you only have a few daisies, your best bet will probably be to use a selective weed killer as a spot treatment. 

Daisy Removal Method No.3: Treat Your Whole Lawn

If you look out of whichever window looks out onto your garden and you can see daisies and dandelions running riot across your lawn, it’s pretty safe to say that hand pulling them or spot treating them won’t work. Instead, what you want to do is treat your whole lawn with a weedkiller concentrate that will wipe out your weeds without harming your grass. 

To do this correctly, it’s all about getting your water to weed killer concentrate ratio right. Translation: if you dilute your weed killer too much, those daisies will laugh in your face and continue to spread out across your lawn. But if you don’t dilute it enough, well, you’re putting your lovely lawn at risk, so make sure you read the bottle and follow the instructions.

The Best Ways To Stop Daisies From Returning

Here’s the thing about weeds: killing or removing them is only half the battle. The other half is about preventing them from coming back, which is best done by growing a super-healthy lawn that can defend itself and crowd out any unwanted weeds that try to stake a claim. Here’s how to do that:

• Mow more regularly: Cutting your grass more often – with the mower deck set a little higher than normal. This will mean your grass grows slightly horizontally, which not only helps it produce new leaves. But will help improve its density meaning there’s no space for daisies to do their thing.

• Fertilise your soil: Daisies (like every other weed) can pretty much survive in any soil conditions. Unlike your grass which will stop growing if the oil isn’t fertile enough. The answer: use a fertiliser that’s packed full of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorous. This will give your grass everything it needs to grow up nice and strong.

• Deal with soil compaction: soil compaction is part of life with a lawn. Whether it’s your kid’s playing football out there, you walking to your garden shed twice a day, the route the Amazon delivery driver takes to get to your door, or whatever. The point is, when your soil gets compacted, your grass’ roots struggle to get all the air, water and nutrients they need to thrive. This results in a weak and patchy lawn. Luckily, a simple aeration treatment once or twice a year will be enough to stop this from happening and grow a nice, healthy, weed-preventing lawn instead. 

Thanks for reading our no-nonsense guide to removing daisies from your lawn. For more lawn care tips and tricks, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.