How to Get Rid of Dollarweed in a Florida Lawn (For Good)

Round, glossy, silver-dollar-sized leaves spreading across the lawn in patches, usually in the same low spot every year. That is dollarweed — also called pennywort — and it is one of the most common weeds we deal with in Lakeland, Winter Haven, and the older neighborhoods around Lake Hollingsworth and Lake Parker where the ground stays damp.

Here is the part most homeowners do not want to hear: dollarweed is a symptom. It is a wetland plant. It can literally grow in standing water. It is thriving in your yard because some part of that yard is staying wetter than turf grass wants. You can spray it into oblivion and it will come right back next year, because the condition that invited it never changed.

Identify it correctly first

Dollarweed is regularly confused with dichondra, and the two need different handling. The difference takes one second to check:

	Dollarweed (pennywort)	Dichondra
Leaf shape	Round, glossy, scalloped edge	Kidney-shaped, with a notch
Stem attaches	In the center of the leaf — like a tiny umbrella	At the notch, on the edge of the leaf
Growth	Spreads by rhizomes, seeds, and tubers	Low creeping mat
Tells you	Soil is too wet	Often just thin turf

Center-attached stem equals dollarweed. That center attachment is the reason the leaf looks like a little green parasol.

Why it is in your lawn

Dollarweed shows up where there is consistent excess moisture. In Polk County, that is almost always one of these:

• Overwatering. The most common cause by far. A controller set to run three or four days a week, year-round, on a lawn that needs deep watering twice a week.
• A broken or misaimed sprinkler head soaking one zone while the rest of the lawn is fine. If your dollarweed is a distinct patch rather than everywhere, walk the irrigation while it runs and watch that spot.
• Poor drainage or a low spot where water collects after our rainy-season downpours and sits.
• Compacted soil that will not let water move down, so it perches near the surface.
• Shade plus moisture — a shaded area dries far more slowly, so the same irrigation schedule that is fine in full sun keeps a shaded patch permanently damp.

Local tip: Map your dollarweed. Take a picture of the lawn from an upstairs window or a phone held overhead. The patches will almost always trace out either a low spot, a sprinkler head's throw pattern, or a shade line. That picture tells you more about the cause than any herbicide label will.

Fix the water first

Before you spend a dollar on chemistry, do the free work:

• Cut irrigation frequency. Most Central Florida lawns need deep, infrequent watering — roughly three-quarters of an inch to an inch per application, not a light daily sprinkle. Our Florida watering guide covers the Polk County SWFWMD day restrictions and how to calibrate your zones with tuna cans.
• Shut the system down in the rainy season. From June through September, afternoon storms often deliver everything the lawn needs. Running irrigation on top of that is how you grow dollarweed on purpose.
• Fix the broken head. A leaking or sunken head that floods one corner is a dollarweed factory. See our guide on sprinkler system repair in Lakeland.
• Address the low spot. Regrading, a swale, or a French drain fixes it permanently. Topdressing a shallow depression to bring it up to grade works for minor dips.
• Relieve compaction. Core aeration lets water move down instead of pooling. Our aeration guide explains when it is worth doing in sandy Florida soil.

Then, and only then, treat it

Dollarweed is genuinely hard to kill, for structural reasons. Its leaves have a waxy cuticle that repels spray, and it spreads by rhizomes, seeds, and underground tubers. Killing the visible leaves does not necessarily kill the tubers, which is why it comes back from an area you were sure you had cleared.

What matters in practice:

• The turf type dictates the product. This is not optional. Herbicides safe on Bahia can severely damage or kill St. Augustine and Zoysia. St. Augustine in particular is sensitive, and there are products sold at big-box stores that will take out your lawn along with the weed. Always read the label for your specific grass.
• Temperature limits are real. Many broadleaf herbicides carry label restrictions above roughly 85–90°F because heat plus product equals turf burn. In a Lakeland July, that rules out most of the day. Spring and fall applications are far safer and usually more effective.
• Expect repeat applications. Because of the tubers and the waxy leaf, one pass usually is not enough. A follow-up several weeks later is normal.
• Spot-treat, do not blanket-spray. Treating only the patches uses far less product and keeps chemistry off healthy turf.

The real long-term answer: thick turf

Dollarweed, like every weed, needs an opening. A dense, properly mowed St. Augustine lawn at 3.5 to 4 inches shades the soil surface so effectively that dollarweed seedlings struggle to establish. Combine correct mowing height (see how often to mow in Florida), a sane feeding program (our fertilization schedule), and correct watering, and dollarweed largely stops being a story. Our broader Florida weed control guide covers the other invaders that show up alongside it.

Let us fix the cause, not just the symptom

If dollarweed keeps coming back in the same spot year after year, spraying harder is not the answer. Luxury Lawns USA looks at the irrigation, the grade, and the turf density together — across Lakeland, Winter Haven, Auburndale, Bartow, and Plant City — and treats the weed as part of fixing the lawn. Request a free estimate or call us at (863) 279-7724.