How to Kill Weeds in a Desert Landscape

Use a pre-emergent herbicide such as dithiopyr or prodiamine to kill known weeds before they grow. Be careful if you have rocks in your landscape like many desert gardens do because some herbicides, such as oryzalin, stain. Read the label of the pre-emergent carefully to learn which weeds it kills and how to apply. You will likely need to water the herbicide in with at least 1/2 inch of water. In addition, reapplication will be necessary, as indicated on the label, to effectively kill all the weeds in your landscape.

Use a post-emergent herbicide, such as glyphosate or sethoxydim. These are applied directly to the weeds, but read the label carefully because some will also kill your desired plants if they come in contact with them. Continue to use an appropriate post-emergent herbicide as necessary until all the weeds in your landscape are dead.

Grow a garden that starves the weeds to death. For example, grow low-growing ground covers, such as trailing acacia and bush morning glories, that fill in the space quickly and need very little water. If you don't need to water your garden very much, the weeds will die. In addition, as the ground covers grow, they shade out the weeds that need sunlight to grow.

Hand pull the weeds and their roots. This works well for a garden with just a few weeds, or in conjunction with another weed management option.