Thoughts on weed and feeds? I know lemon and the pros suggest only spirt treating but I would have to spot treat about 1/3 of my lawn. Never used these products before. Any advice is appreciated.

What weeds do you have right now?

More than just clover, a few different ones. I am perplexed, I've been pretty vigilant about using pre-emergent. It is an older lawn and weve only been in the house 1.5 years, still trying to figure it out. Had virginia buttonweed bad last year, havent seen any...yet.

Charlie Murphy said:

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Thoughts on weed and feeds? I know lemon and the pros suggest only spirt treating but I would have to spot treat about 1/3 of my lawn. Never used these products before. Any advice is appreciated.

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Bonide Weedbeater Complete has pre- and post- emergent control (not a weed and feed but might be helpful for you).

https://www.bonide.com/products/lawn-fertilizer-and-seed/lawn-care-control/view/60476/weed-beater-complete

You could also grab a pump spray and some 24d and get your steps in for the day. I have to spray my boulevard, fencelines, and alley, about 3500sqft probably three times a year.

Can't remember your weeds specifically, but are you putting down both Gallery and Dimension? Gallery is for broadleaf while Dimension is grassy weeds like crabgrass and rescue.

Thanks may need to try the Bonide Granular.

For pre-emergent, Ive been using Nitrophos from Houston Garden center. Perhaps I am missing something in this step?

Nitro-Phos

Charlie Murphy said:

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Thanks may need to try the Bonide Granular.

For pre-emergent, Ive been using Nitrophos from Houston Garden center. Perhaps I am missing something in this step?

Nitro-Phos

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There are so many Barricade (prodiamine) resistant weeds now it's not funny. If I had st Augustine, i would go to almost exclusively post emergent control or just go back to the old faithful routine of atrazine on march 1.

Latest from Neil Sperry...

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Gardening This Weekend: March 5, 2020

Longer and longer evenings mean more time to spend out in the yard. So, I've given you a few bonus "opportunities" to get involved. Here are this weekend's prime tasks.

PLANT

Spring-flowering trees, shrubs and vines while nurseries have their best supplies. Protect all nursery stock from highway winds by wrapping them or carrying them in a closed trailer. You simply cannot drive slowly enough.

Leafy and root vegetables in central 75 percent of Texas as soon as possible. Soils are still cool enough that you probably ought to wait to plant warm-season crops in that same area for another couple of weeks.

Annual color that can withstand cool temperatures and even light frosts. That includes sweet alyssum, petunias, stocks, calendulas, larkspurs, wallflowers, Bright Lights Swiss chard and stocks, among others.

PRUNE

Spring-flowering shrubs and vines as they finish blooming. That will apply to some types in South Texas already.

Mow your lawn regularly, even if all you have is rank weeds. Many of them will be eliminated simply by mowing. If your lawn is still fairly brown from the winter, you may want to drop the mower down by one notch and "scalp" it to remove the stubble. Put the clippings into the compost or use them as mulch beneath shrubs. Do not send them to the landfill.

Winter-killed leaves and stems from shrubs and groundcovers. You should be able to see new growth coming out from the stems or bases of most types that have been injured. If not, you'll have to replace them.

FERTILIZE

New flower, vegetable and groundcover transplants with water-soluble, high-nitrogen fertilizer for quickest establishment and new growth.

Lawns in Deep South Texas with high-quality, high-nitrogen or all-nitrogen lawn food. Half or more of that nitrogen should be in slow-release coated or encapsulated form. Wait until April 1 in rest of the state.

Established flowers and vegetables, shrubs and groundcovers with the same high-nitrogen fertilizer. Soil tests from almost all parts of Texas show soils to be excessively high in phosphorus, middle number of the three-number analysis. It can accumulate to almost toxic levels.

ON THE LOOKOUT

Application of pre-emergent granules Team, Dimension or Halts must be made to lawn if you expect to prevent germination of crabgrass and grassburs. Do so immediately in the Huntsville to Bryan/College Station to Austin to Del Rio area north to the Red River and in two weeks in the Panhandle. Odds are that you're too late in South Texas.

Broadleafed weedkiller spray (containing 2,4-D) can be applied to kill existing non-grassy weeds such as clover, dandelions, chickweed and plantain. Read and follow label directions carefully for best results.

Continue fruit spray program as outlined by Texas A&M online. It's most critical for peaches and plums. Your county's Texas AgriLife Extension office may also have localized timing and details.

Posted by Neil Sperry

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Just moved into new older home in Arlington. Lawn has been neglected. Saw Randy Lemmon's Fertilization schedule and would like to try it.

Question, is it too late in the year for the initial Pre-Emergent treatment? Lawn already has some type of clover and small white flowering, I think they're weeds, popping up.

Thanks!

Pre emergent is for the weeds that you have coming in the next season, what you see now should be mowed, waite a couple days follow up with broadleaf weed killer like 24d, ortho weed be gone concentrate with dimethyl ammonium 2,4-dichlororphenoxyacetate, add a drop of dish soap per gallon mixed. Spray your yard, whole thing first thing in the morning, then fertilize on 17th.

Also subscribe to Neil Sperry's newsletter for weekly to-dos for North Texas.

You've got a project on your hands.

Yeah put it out pronto

ArlingtonAg2015 said:

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Just moved into new older home in Arlington. Lawn has been neglected. Saw Randy Lemmon's Fertilization schedule and would like to try it.

Question, is it too late in the year for the initial Pre-Emergent treatment? Lawn already has some type of clover and small white flowering, I think they're weeds, popping up.

Thanks!

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Yep, put it down.

Repairing a lawn like that is a 12-month process, at best.

Thanks for the suggestions. One more question...I've read that he doesn't recommend "weed and feeds"...are these pre-emergents weed and feed?

Ace 29-0-3 Crabgrass Preventer with Fertilizer For Crabgrass
Halts Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Food (Scotts Turf Builder 30-0-4 Crabgrass Preventer with Fertilizer For All Grass Types)

If they are, can y'all share with me which pre-emergent you use / recommend?

Thanks

I used this at the suggestion of someone else on this thread: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/lawn-care/weed-and-vegetation-killers/7237019

Ace Hardware tends to carry the exact products Lemmon mentions in his fertilization schedule, as well. I use Nitrophos for all of it.

ETA: I think Randy Lemmon's timing is more related to Houston and coastal areas. You probably want to look more at Neil Sperry for DFW

ArlingtonAg2015 said:

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Thanks for the suggestions. One more question...I've read that he doesn't recommend "weed and feeds"...are these pre-emergents weed and feed?

Ace 29-0-3 Crabgrass Preventer with Fertilizer For Crabgrass
Halts Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Food (Scotts Turf Builder 30-0-4 Crabgrass Preventer with Fertilizer For All Grass Types)

If they are, can y'all share with me which pre-emergent you use / recommend?

Thanks

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The Bonide Weed Beater is a good one. I've also used this https://www.fertilome.com/product/turf-ornamental-weed-grass-stopper-35-lbs (grassy weeds) and this https://www.fertilome.com/product/broadleaf-weed-control-with-gallery-10-lbs (broadleaf weeds). You can typically find those and other similar products at nursery's.

I never use the weed and feeds, as you are typically putting pre-emergents and fertilizers down at different times.

Well I used pendulum last fall ablnd again a few weeks ago. Won't make that mistake again. I've got all kinds of weeds and grasses coming up that I didn't have last year. Will definitely use something different going forward.

Wild Strawberry, anyone had this stuff in the lawn?

Anyone have a good schedule and products to use on Zoysia? I'm in Central Texas.

Neil Sperry on Pre-emergent

Gary79Ag said:

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Neil Sperry on Pre-emergent

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I like Neil Sperry, but unless something has changed, Dimension works on both grassy and broadleaf weeds. He mentions Dimension for the grassy weeds, but then mentions Gallery for broadleaf. If you use a product with Dimension, you should not need to also use Gallery.

Spread ours today in accordance with Neil's schedule.

My sprinklers are set to water on Wednesday. Do we need a special run today to water in the pre-emergents?

I would set each zone to run 2 or 3 minutes today.

Any suggestions for doveweed control? I've let it go for a few years, so now my weaker SA (under my 2 large oaks) are being over-run by that ***** I'm going to start digging out the larger patches and laying some new sod over some of the leftover bare spots. I know some of the seeds will still be there come spring so I will need a pre-emerg, which I've never used. I've started some 2,4d on some of the smaller patches but not sure if that will kill it or just suppress it.

With the first cool front now not making it to Houston this week. I guess we have more time to get chemicals put down. I typically wait until October most years.

Has anyone used Specticle Flo or Specticle G? I have for years been tank mixing Prodiamine for my go-to pre-emergent but the Specticle supposedly has great POA control.

jskin261 said:

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Has anyone used Specticle Flo or Specticle G? I have for years been tank mixing Prodiamine for my go-to pre-emergent but the Specticle supposedly has great POA control.

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Yes. It's the best thing on the market for poa. Actually it's the best for everything.

cevans_40 said:

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jskin261 said:

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Has anyone used Specticle Flo or Specticle G? I have for years been tank mixing Prodiamine for my go-to pre-emergent but the Specticle supposedly has great POA control.

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Yes. It's the best thing on the market for poa. Actually it's the best for everything.

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Out of curiosity, I looked that up. Where do you guys buy it? And, I have never tried liquid Pre-emergent or fertilizer. I've spot sprayed many times with post-emergent. What kind of sprayers do you guys use for spraying your whole yard? That's always seemed kind of tricky to me, and I've always worried about missing spots or over spraying if I tried to do it.

I treated my backyard with a 2-gallon handheld pump sprayer this week. Sucked and won't be doing that again.

Find your local SiteOne Landscape Supply. I'd recommend Specticle G for the ease of application. For a $99 bag that should last you a year there's no comparison. Specticle Flo is designed for tank mixes so it's hard to dial it back to pump up sprayers or backpack sprayer capacity. It's also $250 / 18oz or $1700 / gallon.

craig09 said:

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Find your local SiteOne Landscape Supply. I'd recommend Specticle G for the ease of application. For a $99 bag that should last you a year there's no comparison. Specticle Flo is designed for tank mixes so it's hard to dial it back to pump up sprayers or backpack sprayer capacity. It's also $250 / 18oz or $1700 / gallon.

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Thanks!

Is now a good time to put down Barricade in College Station? Putting down some Talstar for ants today. Thought I'd kill two birds with one stone.

SW Houston metro area.... Typical suburban yard. I never got my pre emergent down. Some weeds popping up but not a ton.... yet. I put my pre emergent down am I just wasting money at this point or still worth a shot?

Also, I need to lay some sod in a few small areas. Nothing major, is it alright to do it now or should I wait until growing season?

Any recommended post emergent applications I can buy at Houston garden center? I typically prefer to use my granule spreader but do have a 1 gallon pump sprayer if it's liquid application.

TIA.

The weeds popping up now are because you missed the pre-emergent a few months ago. What you put down now prevents winter and spring weed. Go ahead and throw out some barricade and water it in. As far as the weeds you have now, what do you have? 2-4d would be a generic recommendation probably, but really depends what's you've got and how bad it is.

Put down liquid Barricade, Tenacity and Quicksilver today for pre and post emergent since the temperature is right. Realized afterwards I forgot to add surfactant. Facepalm.