We put winterizer (Scott's Turf Builder I think) on the lawn a couple of months ago and we're struggling with clover. Any suggestions? Should we winterize again?

An Aggie's Wife

The bad thing is you are stuck with it this year.
The good think is it will die as soon as it warms up.
Put down pre-emergent herbicide in Nov-Dec. I'm not sure if TurfBuilder has that.

What is so bad about clover?

It's probably not clover. It's probably actually Oxalis dillenii or another Oxalis, aka Wood Sorrel or False Shamrock. Clover usually makes pretty flowers. Most of the common Oxalis around here has yellow flowers and burrs.

There's a product that's safe for St. Aug lawns called Weed-B-Gone that should take care of it. It comes in a bag with a spout on it, and you sprinkle the pellets on the ground and then water them in. It's not the best to treat large areas with, though... my recommendation is that you pull most of it up by hand (as it should be starting to mound about now, each mound is usually one or two plants and are easily removed) and then treat if you see it coming back.

Thanks speck!

An Aggie's Wife

No problem. Make sure you get the roots where possible when pulling by hand! I do the same with thistles, since they're hard to kill with anything but round-up... and even that isn't successful half the time. My favorite tool for weed removal is a Fiskars Soil Knife.

Pulling by hand is pretty easy especially after a good rain. The stuff in my yard came out without much effort. I went throught the yard 2-3 weeks ago and pulled "weeds" and none of the clover stuff has come back as of today.

Use Amaze and Barricade in early Spring, late Summer and again with your winterization as a pre-emergent for clover and other unwanted grassy and broadleaf weeds.

Check out Randy Lemmon's lawn fertilization schedule for more info.

For you organic people out there (good for you), try Garden Weasel (http://www.gardenweasel.com/agralawn.html) that Howard Garrett recommended to me.

Just about all grasses (Bermuda / St. Augustine) are dormant right now from the hard freezes. Use a 1/2 rate mix of Roundup only on those areas with clover. You'll be fine. Roundup only absorbs through green "growing" leaves.