I’ve had enough of the weeks and bare spots in my yard and I’m not finding much luck online so I’m hoping someone here can help. I did find the tamu web site on lawns and gardens, but it was not much help (maybe I was at the wrong site?). Someone wrote up a lawn care guide a while back and suggested a lot of natural products over chemicals, but since the weeds are actively growing, putting down something to make my grass choke them out is not going to work. Especially when I look at my yard and see the most weeds seem to be growing in the thickest parts of my yard.

My biggest problem right now, and EVERY spring is weeds. I put down weed and feed every season (15-5-10 mix from ACE hardware – I think it’s a TAMU product) and it doesn’t seem to matter, they come back every March. Particularly annoying are the stalk like weeds with the white flowers on top.


Every year there are tons of them all over the yard. I spray a weed killer over after they come up them but it does not seem to help.

These seem to like to grow year round, especially along the fence line.

These thin grass looking weeds are also all over the yard in clumps.


Then there are these gems all over the place.
and this


My watering during the summer months is good as I’ve already got that figured out. The grass does grow and look healthy in many areas of the yard, but there are bare spots and trampled spots (my kids run over the same section of the yard almost EVERY day playing football, soccer, whatever – so I’ve pretty much decided that’s just not going to look good during the summer). Also, mostly good drainage (I’ve got one clogged drain that I need to get resolved but the yard drains pretty well after storms).

Can someone recommend a specific plan of action, and specific products that I can find at Ace, Lowes, or a good garden center to use to get rid of the weeds? Please don’t recommend I find a 0.3% dipithostriazanfendanzanine solution of something b/c I have no clue what that is, and the few resources I’ve found that do make those recommendations, I can never find anything that has chemical in it (Randy from the Garden Line on 740AM is an Aggie and frequently recommends stuff that way, but I can never find it what he is talking about).
Finally, what about over seeding in the fall? Grass is mostly St. Augustine.

Finally, what should I fill in the ruts and dips in the yard with? There are many holes/uneven areas that I’d like to even out. I swear I saw my neighbor use some kind of sand in his yard several summers ago and his yard looks great.

Thanks

[This message has been edited by agracer (edited 3/10/2010 7:38a).]

Rake some good'ole cow manure into the bare spots and water water water...should bring them back.

Pull as many of the weeds you can before they bud out and spread seeds...also not good to mow them down for this reason, you are effectively spreading them.

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Finally, what should I fill in the ruts and dips in the yard with? There are many holes/uneven areas that I’d like to even out. I swear I saw my neighbor use some kind of sand in his yard several summers ago and his yard looks great.

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Go to Living Earth and get some landscaping sand.

[This message has been edited by CATAGBQ04 (edited 3/10/2010 8:18a).]

1. http://www.ktrh.com/pages/gardenline-lawn.html
2. Start using Barricade as a pre-emergent herbicide. It will take you a few seasons, but I've gotten good results with this stuff.

3. Not matter what you do you will have a weed pop up here and there, so either pull them out or spot treat with weed killer. If you use a pre-emergent they will be few and far between.

[This message has been edited by AggieT (edited 3/10/2010 8:20a).]

Atrazine is your friend.

But don't over apply it.

Get a weed-n-feed and apply before a rain. Should help out with that.

If you lawn is starting to turn yellow after fertilizing and watering, get some Ironite. Spread that and your grass will be a nice dark green.

~egon

I did put down a pre-emergent herbicide, not weed and feed. My mistake.

I put it down last weekend while it was cold but the weeds came up anyway.

I understand I'll get a few, but the little white flowering ones bug the crap out of me b/c they make the yard look terrible.

If you wanted to control the weeds you are seeing now, you needed to apply it about three months ago. The application you just made should control weeds that spring up in early summer. If the seeds have already germinated a pre-emergent won't help.

This is great advice. As a first time homeowner, who bought in mid December, I am having weed problems and problems with an uneven backyard. Heck, the squares of grass have not even grown together yet.

Another thing I have done with my father is put down weed and feed, but spray with a broadleaf herbicide.

Do this if there isn't rain in the forcast. Should kill the ones that are up and the weed/n/feed will get the ones not yet sprouted.

~egon

Yes...but watch the trees and bushes!

i'm about to have to do a complete overhaul on my front flower beds. de-weeding is going to be a chore.

yeah my front yard is looking like hole right now.... going from winter brown grass, to weed-city. Plus our live oak is dumping all of its leaves this week.

Along with my dead hibiscus stick-bushes, my house is looking like a toilet until stuff starts blooming and getting full into spring.

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yeah my front yard is looking like hole right now.... going from winter brown grass, to weed-city. Plus our live oak is dumping all of its leaves this week.

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+1

It doesn't help that I ripped out all the 30+ year old shrubs in front, and haven't had a chance to replace them with all the crappy/freezing weather we've had.

[This message has been edited by Green Fairy (edited 3/10/2010 1:42p).]

Is it ok to layout fertilizer and herbicide at the same time?

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Plus our live oak is dumping all of its leaves this week.

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no kidding. my neighbors took an insta-sh*t of every single leaf within a work day.

Every yard in our neighborhood had a live oak plated in it... i went home for lunch and the whole street is covered in leaves. i did notice our resident dove is back building a nice litte penthouse nest again, though.

Yeah, I have put down fertilizer (15-15-15) and then came back with the spray.

We use the hose attachment/canister thing. You measure out the amount of chemical (or dump it all in there), click the dial to the right number and BAM. Spray and win!

I think we have whatever brand is the tan/brown color. On the back of the chemical, it will say what number to use.

Warning: Broadleaf plant killer will kill anything that is a broadleaf. That is flowers (pansies, snap dragons, etc). BE CAREFUL! Also, apply in the evenings, after the heat of the day. Will help with dehydration and chemically burning plants/grass. Make sure to apply enough water, as well, to not burn the plants from the fertilizer.

~egon

Also, add a little bit of dish soap to the weed killer. It will help it stick to the leaves and make it more effective.

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Also, add a little bit of dish soap to the weed killer. It will help it stick to the leaves and make it more effective.

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This is also good advice for use with any pesticide.

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Is it ok to layout fertilizer and herbicide at the same time?

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Certainly - but don't put both in the caster at the same time....they go down at different application rates.

Well it's a good thing I sprayed last night b/c now their are more weeds than yesterday!

Can someone recommend a SPECIFIC spray product they've used with good results b/c whatever I used seems to be encouraging them to grow faster.

We have always used Ortho (the tan/brown sprayer and chemicals).

Relax, it takes time. I know with Atrazine, you are blocking the PS2 pathways for electron tranfers. This prevents the plant from using the energy it gets from the sun.

2,4D and a a few others (roundup) work by blocking specific amino acid production pathways.

If, after a few days to a week, it still looks bad (without any rain), you might be able to reapply. I wouldn't do anything more than that. You run the risk of just putting it down the drain due to run-off.

~egon

For a post-emergent, while the weather is still cool (day time temps in the 70's) you can use a product from Fertilome called Weed-Free Zone.

Mix in your pump up sprayer and apply directly to the weeds....will see results in 2-3 days.

You can apply broadly to your yard, but be careful of over application - I did that one year with another similar product and "burned" my grass.

St. Augustine doesn't really grow until the temps are in the 80s. Do not fertilize now, wait until you've cut your grass a couple of times. If you fertilize now you're just fertilizing the weeds.

Herbicide- You need a post-emergence product once you see the weeds. Pre-emergence needed to go down in Dec-Jan.

Here's a question - what's the best thing to use to put out this fertilizer? I've been wanting to get on these programs but I never know what to use to spread it. i have a hand held crank spreader from Lowes but it seems too light weight for doing my entire yard with fertilizer/herbicide. (Originally bought it to spread Amdro.)

Do I need to plop down for one of the push thingies or what do you guys recommend?

If you have a small yard, the hand held spreader will work fine. If you need to go bigger, get a Scott's Edgeguard spreader (Lowes and HD have them.) This is especially useful if you are putting out anything with iron that will stain concrete.

For sure get a rotary broadcast spreader over a drop spreader. It will take you much less time to use, and you won't risk 'streaking' your lawn.

Yeah, finally convinced my father a few years back (wow, probably about 10 now) to get a broadcast spreader. It is a "Scotts". You read the back of the bag and it says to use #4 (or whatever) and you go to town. Just make sure to walk at a steady pace.

Coupled with the Ortho hose sprayer and you are set.

~egon

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St. Augustine doesn't really grow until the temps are in the 80s. Do not fertilize now, wait until you've cut your grass a couple of times. If you fertilize now you're just fertilizing the weeds.

Herbicide- You need a post-emergence product once you see the weeds. Pre-emergence needed to go down in Dec-Jan.

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I am a newb when it comes to this, but now I am getting conflicting information, or it seems that way.

I already have weeds, but wouldn't I want to put the pre-emergence out to stop them from coming in the summer, and spot kill the ones I have now? Should I hit the yard with both post and pre emergent now or should i just hit it with the post?

Both.

I mentioned fertilizing the yard to my dad and he had a recommendation. He said he sets the spreader to spread half as much as is recommended, then does the yard twice. One of the times you go only vertically/N-S/Up-Down/whatever you want to call it and the other time only horizontally/E-W/left to right/whatever. He said he gets a lot better coverage doing it that way.

Alright, new question. I watered my yard for the first time today and I watered for 45 minutes. First, it looks like I went way too long, and second, my yard is really uneven so I have standing water in several spots. Should I just hit those spots with some landscaping sand?

when you cut the grass, keep it on the highest setting, and it will choke out weeds down the road in the summer.

i put in irrigation last month, so no more worrying about watering this year.

05,

Yeah, you can do that. If you see the obvious hole or dip, you can fill it in.

If you want to get really technical, get a 2x4x8' and kind of "walk" it across the grass after you cut it. If you see dips that way, you can fill in. But that would be for if you want a "smooth" grass field.

Part of water collection could be a slight soil difference (eg, more clay, less sand from when they leveled the lawn after building the house). How long after you watered did it stay puddled?

Green Fairy,

Nice tip. I think I heard that once, long time ago, but forgot.

~egon

I just put mine out today using the grid method I mentioned. We'll see how it does....now if we could just get some rain