Yardeners in America really hate weeds. I would guess that weeds in the lawn cause as much stress among serious lawn yardeners as is caused by family problems or work problems. We really don't like weeds.
Therefore in this section we give you just about every tool and product available to the consumer to kill weeds. If you go through every button you will note there are a whole bunch of products designed to kill weeds.
Now, before you dive in with glee to find the exact perfect means to kill your weeds, let us give our bias on this whole weed issue.
We don't feel weeds need to be a problem at all - anywhere in the home landscape; at least after spending a year or two following the advice we give in Yardener's Helper. Here is on oversimplified list:
Weeds in the lawn are eliminated in two to three years by overseeding the lawn several times and getting the lawn thick enough to choke out any weeds.
Weeds in the garden beds, under the shrubs, around the trees, and along the fence line are all easily controlled by a 3 to 4 inch layer of organic mulch that is renewed once or twice a year.
That is our story and we are sticking to it.
Go have at it and find just the right tool to solve your particular weed problem.
NO MORE WEED & FEED PRODUCTS THANK YOU VERY MUCH
· The majority of weed and feeds are granular products, spread on the lawn with a (drop)spreader or rotary spreader. In order for the weed to die, the herbicide granules must stick on the leaves for at least 48 hours. You must water the lawn to get the weeds wet, however if the weeds dry out too quickly, say from a breeze, some of the granules will fall off, reducing the product’s effectiveness.
· Some folks make the mistake of mowing the lawn just before adding the weed and feed product; bad idea. The herbicide needs to attach itself to as much leaf surface as possible to be effective at all.
· Weed and feed products are very often applied too early in the season. Most contact herbicides are not effective before the average daytime temperature is 60 degrees. In Metro Detroit, that kind of weather doesn’t arrive much before late May. Get out there too early and the weeds are still pretty much dormant. They need to be actively growing for the herbicide to work.
· If it rains within 48 hours of applying a weed and feed, the herbicide is washed off and the weeds may look ratty but they are not killed.
· Weed and feed products are usually unable to kill some of the tougher common weeds such as clover and creeping Charlie.
· Finally, the weed and feed products do not kill grassy weeds such as crabgrass. You have to apply a separate pre-emergent herbicide designed to prevent the seeds of grassy weeds from germinating. The Catch 22 is that after using that product you must wait two to three months to plant new grass to fill in the space created by the weed and feed. Two months is enough time for new weeds to occupy your lawn.
My second observation is few yardeners apparently realize that when a weed is killed, it leaves a space in the lawn. They figure the fertilizer will make the grass plants reproduce faster and fill in that space. That is unfortunately a bad assumption in most lawns.
· A lawn that is predominantly Kentucky bluegrass is reputed to fill in empty spaces rapidly, but “rapidly” is a relative term. According to Kevin Frank, turf specialist with the MSU Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, “a bare area the size of a silver dollar will fill in after a week or two. However, a space the size of a softball or larger will need to be seeded with grass seed to avoid the re-entry of weeds”.
· Many lawns in the Detroit metro area are not predominantly Kentucky bluegrass. They have a mixture of that species plus some perennial ryegrass and fine fescues. Those latter species do not fill in space as rapidly as the Kentucky bluegrass.
