| Try corn gluten meal instead. It's a non-poisonous, highly effective pre-emergent which happens to average 10% nitrogen and thus feeds the lawn. Commercially available under several names, locally you'll find "cockadoodle doo" which is such an asinine product name, it's easy to remember. I've used corn gluten for about 5 years, spreading it just as the forsythia start to bloom and again about 6 weeks later. The lawn originally had more dandelions than grass -- I could dig up a couple 5-gallon buckets full daily with no noticeable effect! The second year found a few dandelions, and since then maybe one or two will seed in mid-summer. While the grass isn't too gorgeous (not enough rain and I don't water the lawn), there aren't any weeds other than medoc. (Apparently only flamers or steamers will kill medoc.) For dandelions and the other local weeds, I highly recommend using the corn gluten meal. Just remember that it IS a pre-emergent and don't use it anywhere you may want to plant flower or veg seeds. |
