There are lots of dandelions in my grass, should I feed & seed the grass or do I need to weed it first? eeeeed

Question

...and what's the best way to get rid of the weeds then????????

Answer 1

For spot treatment or for small areas of pure weeds try this method; spray vinegar as a foliar spray (not a soil drench). To a gallon of white grain vinegar add 1 T of liquid dish soap and 2 T of molasses as wetting agents to keep vinegar on leaves. Apply mixture from a hand sprayer without diluting. It will take several applications but will not pollute ground water or harm mammals once dry. Commercial product called Scythe will help, is less harmful to environment but is expensive. To prevent next years weed crop from sprouting try corn meal gluten as a pre-emergent. This should be applied before the soil warms up. Begin application before the forsythia bloom.

Treat your soil for its deficiencies. Troubleshooting individual problems could save you time and money.
Your Lawn Tells You What it Needs by the family of weeds it grows.
Dandelions are a possible sign of low mower height, alkaline soil, or potassium deficiency. There are three other weeds commonly mistaken for them. Dandelion-look-alike plants often found in lawns.
http://www.weedyconnection.com/dandelion.html

A healthy lawn will out compete most weeds. Mow as high as your mower will allow you as frequently as you can stand. Three inches is best for lawn height. This lets grass grow to a maximum density to shade out weeds and weed seeds. Grass can tolerate repeat mowing so it will do okay but weeds don't tolerate the stress of frequent mowing. Grass struggles when mowed short because it has no blades for photosynthesis, it fails and weed seeds get to germinate. Mow tall and you leave grass blades but remove the meristemic tips of tall weeds. To support all the mowing leave clippings and feed the grass. Really fertilize the grass with a nitrogen rich fertilizer like HastaGro 12-4-8 Liquid Lawn Fertilizer, get fast growth so the weeds literally grow them selves to death while grass just gets thicker shading the soil more.

Grass does best with neutral to just verging to acid at pH 6.5 while dandelions like pH 7.5 optimally but grow well even in acid soils pH 5.8. Do a pH test & assess the rest of the weed community to analyze the soil. Also test for N-P-K when doing pH test.

Water once a week at 1 inch per week unless in very hot, arid periods in summer then 1.5 inches may be needed. Test you watering method by placing little flat cans out in several locations. Water 15 minutes. Measure inches of depth in each can to see how your system works.
Why shouldn't you use weed & feed? The amount you put down treats the entire yard yet weeds probably only cover 30- 40 % of the area. The rest goes into the water system.

Answer 2

Let's get the weeds out first...once that is established...then airrate the soil...add some digested composted soil with grass seed that is best suited for the location. Such as if the area is a sunny area...plant grass that grows best in the sun. If shady, grass that grows best in the shade. Your local nursery can help you with the type. A hardy blend will help to choke out any weeds. Also make sure you don't have grubs before planting. Go to the bare spots in your yard and dig up around the areas...to see if you get fat yellowish white worms...grubs. If you do, first treat your yard for them. These little buggers destroy beautiful lawns quickly. Once all problem areas have been treated...then plant your grass seed. You'll find that birds like grass seed so make sure you chase them away...or you will find that you will have to plant often.
I had 5 acres of lawn, and it took me the entire spring and early summer to finally get my yard to look like a golf course. The neighbors said at the beginning that I was fighting a losing battle...however...by late summer...they looked on with envy. And I kept getting people asking me to do their lawns. Nope.
I'll give the advice...having a great looking lawn is work, but well worth it.
Other pests like gophers can also damage a nice lawn. If you dig up the fresh mound and break a glass bottle up in it...the gophers will travel over to your neighbors yards. The neighbors wondered why they had gophers and I didn't, especially since I had more grass than they did. hahahaha

Answer 3

There is some fertilizer that will do both at the same time. Just be careful to follow the directions as to the amount to put down, too much and no grass left!

Answer 4

There is plenty of help out there. It is out your local nursery These people are professionals in their business. I don't recommend
Walmart or places like that...their turnover is too great.

Take a sample of your weeds and bring it with you. You can also take a sample of your grass.

They will also analyze your soil.

Answer 5

go to your local garden shop, pick up a couple of bags of weed and feed, , this stuff will not hurt real grass, but it make weeds etc grow real fast and they die out. ps, if you have a bunch of wild grass, , watch out itll get it to.

Answer 6

you should definately remove the Dandilions first.