skip to main content

Ask The Yard Doctor

Mostly Weeds

17 years ago

I have a section of lawn newly seeded last fall. Grass came in ok and I overseeded in the spring. I used no weedkiller as I was trying to go mostly organic. Well, my lawn is now about 70% weeds including lots of clover. I do have old fertilizer with weedkiller, turfbuilder plus or something, that's been in my garage for a couple of years. I might as well use it instead of throwing it away. And before it exlodes. Can I use it now and seed again in a few weeks, or seed now and use it in the spring, or throw it away?

I've seeded with sun and shade and kentucky bluegrass. It's a very sunny spot all day.

I can grown anything and everything but grass.

Comments (4)

yarddoctor
17 years ago
Dear Bobbob,

Thanks for your inquiry. Now is a perfect time to establish grass. My advice is to seed the lawn and then go in with your Turfbuilder II on the same day. After two weeks, check the lawn again and then reseed any bare areas (seed is the cheapest part of this operation as you have figured out by now.) If you have more weeds in mid-October, apply a chemical like Trimec and control the remaining weeds. I would strongly suggest another round of fertilizer at this time. Mow the turf when it gets to 3 inches and begin to mow regularly. This will help with weed control. By next spring if you are mowing and fertilizing on a regular schedule your ability to control weeds with organic products or by hand will increase greatly. If there is high weed pressure and summer conditions, grass establishment without weed control can be very challenging.

Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more.

Respectfully

Trey Rogers
The Yard Doctor
bobbobnj
Original Author
17 years ago
Trey,
Thanks for the response.

I just want to make sure. I can seed and use a fertilizer/weedkiller the same day?

Thanks
Related Discussions
Lawn is mostly weeds - fix on limited $ ??
Q
Comments (11)
Proper watering is the best weed preventer. Deep and infrequent is the mantra. Water a full inch all at one time, but don't water every day, or even 3x per week. It is much better at this time of year, to water once a week. If the temps are still in the 80s, then water once every two weeks. Weed seeds need frequent watering to germinate. If you are only watering once every 2 weeks, they won't germinate. The soil surface needs to dry out completely between waterings. After watering, getting a dense stand of grass is second. In shady areas you will never get dense Kentucky bluegrass, but you can have dense fescue. In the sun you can have dense KBG and fescue. The biggest flaw with fescue is that if it thins out or gets damaged, you need to reseed every fall. If you forget or miss the fall seeding, then you're forced to seed in the spring, and the frequent watering for the grass seed starts all the summer weeds. Orange soil sometimes (rarely) means clay. It always means plenty of iron, though. In parts of the west, pure sand is orange. Agree with forshee about weed-b-gone. Read the label carefully and spot spray the individual weeds when the temperatures are right. If you don't have a large yard, then a hose end sprayer will work. I put a trigger nozzle on the hose first and screw the bottle onto that. Then I can control where it goes. Otherwise once you turn on the hose you're spraying product - it's awkward.
...See More
I do like spring. Even when it's mostly weeding.
Q
Comments (2)
My favorite garden read's for today, Jennie and kneewalker. Stinging nettles are tasty and nutritious when young now. Did anyone see that movie 'Into The Wild' when the guy died from eating a poisonous plant in Alaska? Weeding is so time consuming, I've got shot weed ready to burst a hundred seeds per plant into the next year. I'm trying to get rid of more of my lawn because it is a half acre and takes long to mow. I don't like using glysophate in weedy flower beds now because birds are eating the weed seeds. Gotta mulch heavily with compost or bark and plant to smother weeds. Thanks for the inspiration you gals, gonna give my garden a workout, and hopefully lose a few pounds,too.
...See More
How do I kill weeds without killing the weeds I want to keep?
Q
Comments (1)
Best way--and hardest work--is to just keep pulling the bermuda grass out. Water well, then start pulling when the soil firms and water has soaked in a bit. There are a number of herbicides that target grasses, however few of them have labels for flower beds. In some cases, the grass herbicides will also have some activity against certain broadleaves, so if you go off-label and just try something, you might get a few of your flowers as well. You might look at Preen in a small area as it is recommended for grasses, but don't know what it may do to the plants you want.
...See More
Sowed 1.5 mil. seeds, got mostly weeds
Q
Comments (2)
Hi, kimmsr, Thanks so much for replying. I got a soil test in 2012, but I've added some organic matter since then. The pH was 7.7; the organic matter was 3.2%. When I dig a hole to plant a tree and fill it with water, it drains at what I imagine to be an average rate. I can't remember exactly, but it didn't seem super fast or slow, I think a hour or two to empty. It holds water pretty normally too. If I water 1 to 1.5 hours one morning, the next day the very top of the soil looks bone dry, but just underneath or within a half inch there's plenty of moisture. There seems to be an earthworm under almost every weed I dig up. Once the lupines get going there are bees everywhere, and I see ladybugs, ground beetles, and little spiders every so often. The soil smells great, in my opinion. It's good-looking soil, nice and black when wet, with a good texture, not too crumbly or too sticky. A layer of reddish-brown clay becomes prominent about 10 to 12 inches down. I haven't noticed hardpan. In the soil test, nutrients were (in ppm): nitrate-N 8, phosphorus 45, potassium 167, magnesium 294, calcium 2099, sodium 25. Soluble salts 0.2 mmhos/cm. Per their recommendations, I added elemental sulfur to the vegetable garden, but I haven't amended the flower beds. By the way, there's an underground irrigation system, and I just paid a guy to come out and replace the heads along the fence with "shrub heads" 16 inches tall and move some of them closer to the fence. Thanks This post was edited by myrmayde on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 14:30
...See More
yarddoctor
17 years ago
Bobbob,

With the chemical you are talking about, you can fee, weed, and then seed all in the same day.

Trey Rogers
shor_t2004_yahoo_com
13 years ago
I moved into my house just over 2 years ago. The house was vacant for a year before that, so my husband and I have had a hard time with the lawn since day one. We have St. Augustine grass, and its mostly dead. The only thing that grows is weeds, and even after I spray for weeds they come back in less then a month. Is there something else we should do? Apparently there are no seeds for this type of grass so we cant put seeds out either. Is there anything we can do? or is re-sodding our best option?

Sign Up to Comment

Related Stories

GARDENING GUIDES Tackle Weeds the Natural Way

By Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Instead of dousing your yard with chemicals to wipe out weeds, let time and nature work their magic via smothering and solarization

EDIBLE GARDENS Natural Ways to Get Rid of Weeds in Your Garden

By Abundant City

Use these techniques to help prevent the spread of weeds and to learn about your soil

GARDENING GUIDES What’s in a Name? See 6 Wildflowers That Aren’t ‘Weeds’ at All

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Dispel the stereotypes of weeds and try these wildlife-supporting native wildflowers in your garden

GARDENING GUIDES Weed War: When and How to Use Chemical Herbicides

By Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Before you spray, arm yourself with knowledge about which weed killers — natural or synthetic — are right for your yard

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Bugle Weed, a Quick Ground Cover

It’s highly adaptable, suppresses weeds, reduces erosion and provide weeks of bright flowers. Just watch for invasiveness

GARDENING GUIDES 5 Weed-Smothering Ground Covers

Let these landscape plants do the dirty work of choking out weeds while you sit back and enjoy the view

GARDENING GUIDES 5 Ways to Naturally Win the Weed War

By Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Show irksome weeds no mercy with these tricks for combating them sans chemicals

GARDENING GUIDES Let's Weed Out 4 Native Plant Myths

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Plant wisely for a garden that supports pollinators and requires less work

HOUZZ TOURS Houzz Tour: From Overgrown Weeds to Picturesque Farmhouse Expanse

By Mitchell Parker

This once-neglected 100-acre South Carolina site now features a lake, a wood-filled farmhouse and a far-reaching view

FLOWERS Great Design Plant: Joe Pye Weed

By Becky Harris

This unsung beauty tolerates wet soil, provides beautiful late summer blooms and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds

Sponsored

DelCo Handyman & Remodeling LLC

Franklin County's Remodeling & Handyman Services

More Discussions

Are my newly viburnums dead or dying?

3

Can I recover the structure of this tree?

0

Cement or pavers- which is better?

9