How to Get Rid of Buttercups in Your Lawn

Many small, yellow flowers go by the name “Buttercup.” Most are small, inconspicuous types of yellow woodland flowers or non-invasive, decorative ranunculus. Not so with “creeping buttercup” or Ranunculus repens. This plant, though classed as a wildflower, is not native to the United States and can quickly take over any open field, lawn, or pasture.

However, what works to get rid of one type of buttercup can be used to get rid of any type of buttercup in your lawn. Given that buttercups exist in all parts of the US, knowing how to manage buttercups could be an essential skill for anyone with a lawn.

How to Get Rid of Buttercups in Your Lawn

Creating unfavorable conditions for the buttercups is the best way to get rid of them and prevent them from coming back. This technique, though time-consuming, is the most proven way to manage all species of buttercups once they have infested your lawn.

How Do You Get Rid of Buttercups in Grass?

There are four primary categories when it comes to any weed management strategy. You could try a natural herbicide, a more commercial herbicide, the manual method, or you could change the environment to be unfavorable to that weed. With buttercups, the most effective method, given its naturalized but not invasive status, is to make environmental changes- though that’s not your only option.

Natural Herbicides That Kill Buttercups in Grass

There are, at present, no natural or DIY fertilizers that do much against any type of buttercup.

Commercial Herbicides that Get Rid of Buttercups in Grass

Selective herbicides are what kills buttercups but not grass. Herbicides that target “broadleaf” weeds will manage all types of buttercups. However, they may not completely kill creeping buttercup. This means that after a few weeks you could see your problematic buttercups return. Unless you use this strategy in combination with environmental changes.

Manual Methods to Remove Buttercups from Lawns

It is completely possible to manually dig out every bit of all buttercup weeds from your lawn. However, this may require you to dig up most of your lawn in the case of creeping buttercup. No one wants to do that.

Instead, it’s best to remove the largest clumps of buttercup or remove the buttercup from any area where it has taken over a chunk of your yard instead of intermingling with the grass. If you can strengthen your grass and encourage its growth, you should be able to use this as a way to drown out the buttercups.

Changing the Environment to Prevent Buttercups from Coming Back

Buttercups and most varieties of grass used to create lawns are relatively incompatible. Put simply: Buttercups love things that lawns don’t. There are three simple things you can do to improve your lawn right away and help decrease the number of buttercups you have to deal with.

• Aerate – First, aerate your lawn. Buttercups of all types love compact soil and have a tough time growing in soft, aerated soil.
• Alkalize – Next, check the pH of your soil. If the pH is acidic, consider adding lime to your yard to increase the pH. Buttercups like acidic soil but find it harder to grow in even lightly alkaline soil.
• Overseed – Last, remove large buttercup clumps to give your lawn a headstart and then fertilize and overseed. This can help your grass crowd out the buttercups and prevent them from growing back as quickly, if at all.

These three steps are time-consuming, but they are also good steps to include in any lawn management routine or schedule. With no known natural treatment and even the most potent selective herbicides needing as many as 3 treatments before they are effective against creeping buttercup, this may be your best buttercup removal strategy.

How Do You Kill Buttercups Naturally

As noted above, the best natural herbicide when it comes to buttercup removal is, well, nothing. As of this writing, creeping buttercup is proving to be remarkably resilient. Detergents, borax, white vinegar- none of these have any noticeable effect and the buttercups will keep coming back.

The good news is that the best-known way to get rid of buttercups for good in a lawn is by improving the health of that lawn. This is the ultimate solution to the question, “How do you kill buttercups without killing grass?”

Creeping buttercup likes heavy soil with poor mineral content. Most buttercups of any kind love soil with poor drainage, and all buttercups prefer soil with a low PH. Most lawns, on the other hand, have the opposite set of preferences. If conditions for the grass type that makes up your lawn are improved, the lawn should be able to crowd out the buttercups over time. Manual removal of buttercup clusters can speed this process along.

How Do You Get Rid of Buttercups in Grass Effectively?

“How do you get rid of buttercups in grass?” The best answer is that you make it hard for them to live there. The healthier your lawn is, the less likely buttercups are to stick around. Though not as simple as using a spray, this is the best method for long-term removal and prevention of problematic weeds in the buttercup family.