lawn care issues?

Question

my lawn is overrun with weeds,what can i do short of tilling it all up and starting over? i have looked all over the internret and i saw somewhere that sugar will help. it sounds just wacky enough to try. any ideas?

Answer 1

First it depends on what type of grass you have, then it depends on what region you are in.

You can spray weed killers on your lawn, but be careful because they may be designed the very grass you are attempting to grow.

What can be done for sure is to apply a pre-emergent in January/February in the southern region, and possibly April in the northern regions to prevent the summer weeds from coming up. That will give your lawn a good chance to grow, and basically be able to choke out anything that does try to grow.

Next thing to do is make sure you soil is healthy. Chemical fertilizers work fine for a year or two, but they will eventually strip your soil of everything healthy. Look for an organic fertilizer to apply, or make your own mulch. You can use liquid or dried molasses, compost or a compost tea, and seaweed products as well.

The dried molasses has another benefit as well. Ants cannot stand the activity of the microbes in the soil that the molasses causes, and will leave the area within a day or so and not come back for about a month.

Most grasses are dormant now anyway, and I would suggest not doing something as drastic as tilling it up, espically if you have a type like San Augustine. Rye should be growing now, and bermuda dying off. So it does come down to which type of grass you do have.

Best and cheapest route: Get the preemergent(ex: Hi-yield's weed and grass stopper containing Dimension), and apply in a few months. If you are still seeing growth on your grass, find a winterizer for your lawn and apply. When the weather becomes warmer, the current weeds will die, and if the preemergent is down, the summer ones will not come up. Feed again in spring with your choice of synthetic fertilizer suited for your lawn, or any organic one.
Good Luck!

Answer 2

First I would buy one of the products available that are dedicated weed killers for lawns, that don't kill the lawn. Here are a few good products, Bayer Advanced Lawn one weed killer for lawns, Ortho Weed-B-Gon Crabgrass Kill, and Spectracide Weed Stop 2X Weed Killer for lawns, all thes products come in concentrate, 1 gallon containers with sprayer nozzles, or hose end sprayers.

They are pretty close as far as results and initially they will make you think they are not working. But they have a chemical that makes the weeds grow themselves to death. If your weeds are thick and tall, over 4 inches, cut them back to a couple inches and use a non-selective weed herbicide like Round Up or Shoot Out grass and weed killer directly on the weeds, they use the same chemical, and don't worry it won't spread out and kill everything else in the area. Use repeated applications of the Round Up for a week a so, preferably in sunlight and the hotter the better.
After you have gotten it under control rake the area thouroughly and choose a quality grass seed appropriate for your area and lawn. Full sun, part sun, shade. Pennington is a good brand because they coat their seed with mildew inhibotors and most are colored green so the birds are less likely to graze on them.

If your lawn is extremely bare after all that has been done, after wetting down the soil deeply,apply a starter fertilizer and let in absorb for about a week, then distribute the seed and cover with a light application of peat moss. Grass seed needs to stay moist but not overly wet, hence the peat moss, and will take about 2 weeks to germinate.

Once the grass has taken hold, mow and keep at a high setting, keep it long to choke out the weeds. Re-seed 2X a year early spring and late fall, water only 2-3 times a week deeply- about 30-40 minutes per station and feritlize 2 to 4 times a year. The best in in the spring a fertilizer with a pre-emergent weed killer and in the fall with a weed and feed/winterizer to make you grass roots ready for winter so you have a beautiful lawn in the spring.

Answer 3

Tilling won't help. Apply a weed eradicator. You're best to hire a professional lawn care service who knows what they're doing for your location, and have treatment applied by them. Doesn't cost that much. I recommend a Scott's product be used.

Answer 4

Use a broadleaf herbicide, they are commonly available at most garden shops.

Otherwise fertilise and topdress your lawn, keep the water up to it and you predominant grass should out compete the weeds

Answer 5

q4 while the 1st fall rain starts off, over seed your backyard with sparkling seed. Then next spring while the spring rains start up, over seed your backyard a 2d time. you will no longer have any bare spots and the backyard would be as thick as a golfing direction backyard next summer season.

Answer 6

what do you do for dead spots in the grass that don't respond to ferti[izer

Answer 7

use human hair from a barber shop