My husband planted a beautiful lawn with seed, but now I see clover! How do you safely get rid of clover?

Question

How can I safely destroy the clover without killing my grass? I unfortunately do not have a green thumb, so I need some help.

Thanks

Answer 1

You can do one of two things that work pretty easily.

Ortho's Weed B' Gone works really well on clover and shouldn't kill your grass. This is really good for spot spraying.

To do the entire lawn, I recommend using Scott's Weed & Feed fertilizer. The kind I've found to be the best is the liquid sprayable kind. It's a bottle that attaches onto the end of your garden hose and you just turn the nozzle on and start spraying. Just be careful where you spray, don't get it around your young trees or around your flowers or any plant you have that has a broad leaf. It will kill them just like it will a weed. Your yard may turn slighty brown for about 1-2 weeks but then it will recover and look nice and green. The granule version of Scott's works too, but it is a good idea to have the grass slightly wet when applying the granule version so the granules stick to the leaves a little better.

Try picking a day to spray for weeds when it's not supposed to rain for a day or two and when it's not real breezy. The weed killers work by the chemical entering the plant through the leaf. If it rains afterwards, the rain may wash the weed killer off and it won't do it's job effectively.

The best time to kill stuff like clover and weeds off is the fall. If you do it in summer you can burn and dry out your yard if you aren't careful.

If you have St. Augustine grass, you may not want to use either of these and you may want to go to a local garden center to find out a solution. St. Augustine grass is normally only used in the southern US and not in the norther US.

Answer 2

To begin, you need to know what type of grass was planted. Different grass types require different solutions to problems. Go to Lowes, Home Depot, etc. and talk with one of the Lawn/Garden people - they will generally be able to identify what type of grass you have. As was suggested, Scotts Weed 'N Feed will solve your problem (there are other products as well, talk with Lawn/Garden folks for suggestions). Get a granular type of weed 'n feed product, all are sold in bags which will handle a certain amount of square footage (the bags come in 5,000 sf size up to 20,000 sf size). I use a Scott's "Speedy Green" rotary spreader, it's fairly inexpensive and can be purchased at the same place you get your weed 'n feed. There is a setting on the spreader which determines how much of the granules is being dispersed, if I remember correctly, the setting for weed 'n feed is 4 1/2. Have the sales person show you how to adjust the spreader for proper operation. Rotary spreaders generally "throw" the granules in a 6 foot path (3 feet on each side of the spreader) so when you spread the granules, allow for that and after you've made one "pass", move over about 3 feet and make the next "pass" so that the granules overlap and you don't miss any spots.

Answer 3

I don't like to use weed killer as it is poisonous, and the birds are always pecking at the lawn to eat the bugs and worms.

Instead, I pull off all the clover flowers I see, as they make new clover weeds. I pull out the clover runners, and when I find the original stem that has the root going into the ground, I pull that out to get the root too (this takes strength). If the clover has been growing for several years, the original stem is pretty strong - then I loosen the earth around it with a tool kind of like a forked screwdriver, then I pull the stem and root out. All the areas that I've done this to in our lawn are now free of clover.

Answer 4

It depends on the type of grass.

I used to use a herbicide like Roundup, but got tired of the dead spots showing on the lawn. This is the most effective way to do it.

Now, I just let it go and do nothing. I have Saint Augustine and find that by the time warm weather rolls around, it chokes off the clover on its own. With rye grasses this doesn't happen...so digging it up or herbicide are the two choices.

Answer 5

First of all find out the type of grass and then you can go to any home improvement store and buy weed and feed. We use the easy one that attaches to the gardenhose.You would be amazed how fast the clover dies.Always read the label of the product you buy as some products are made for specific grasses.Good luck!

Answer 6

I've used Killex, and it works really well to kill broadleaf plants (of which clover is one, but grass is not). Killex is a selective herbicide, meaning that it eliminates dandelions & other broadleaf weeds in your lawn without harming the grass. For more info, see:
http://www.greengate.ca/inthegarden/weeds/herbicides.html

If you use round-up a large patch of your lawn will die, so I don't recommend doing that. If you want ongoing weed protection, I highly recommend hiring a lawn service. For about $100 Cdn they will do unlimited weed treatments all summer long.

Answer 7

If you apply Scotts Turf Builder Weed n Feed, it will remove the clover and fertilize your lawn at the same time.

Answer 8

go to Lowes or home depot and buy this concentrate called weednfeed it'll kill everything but grass ad fertilize your yard ,but clover can be good,it will help keep your soil from eroding and attract wildlife like rabbits and birds,just keep it away from your garden or find some way to keep the animals out

Answer 9

a slelctive herbicide specifically a herbicide called "confront", "Tri Mec" will also work. Clover is a dicot and grass is a monocot so the herbicide will not harm the grass.

Answer 10

weed and feed. i think scott's makes it.