Weed Control

[Jerry Thompson]

We live in NE Florida, e.g., Jacksonville area. My wife, who is meticulous in following directions. put down a weed and feed product that is known to all.
After a couple of weeks the St. Augustine grass got greener and a few weeds died.
After about six weeks the weeds, for the most part, are still there and green as the grass. I wonder if the herbicide content has been reduced due to the EPA or some other entity?
We have an abundance of nut sedge and the product to control it is astronomical in price for the area covered and the results. I plan on just slowly over time to just did it up nuts and all. Either that or over fertilize it as that seems to do a good job.
The dollar weed is another item that would cost a fortune to control. I read up on it and all the specific product to "kill" it does is retard it and it is right back to the same old game next year.
I read in the Clay County Ag. site that the only way to get rid of dollar weed is to dig it up and get all of the rhizomes out. So that looks like my grandsons' next job.
We do not over water and it has not rained much. This seems to be the main thing that dollar weed needs.
I would like anyone's comments on the forgoing and see if I am missing something.
Thank you


Jerry

[Stan Calow]

Jerry I don't know anything about St Augustine grass, but I do know that timing is everything when it comes to herbicides. Too early, and you miss the stuff that hasn't sprouted yet. Too late, and you miss the most vulnerable time. I do believe that weed & feed products are not as effective as just applying a herbicide by itself. I prefer the kind you spray with the hose end sprayer. We get nutsedge here too, and I just cough up the $$ for the product. Even if you dig all them up when you see them, your neighbor won't.

[Jerry Thompson]

The product I have used for nut sedge does not seem to kill it. I seems to slow it down in growth. If I were to spray my whole yard it would probably cost for $400-500. Then it would be the same next year.
I may just stick with the old, "If it's green mow it."

[Stan Calow]

Jerry back when HGTV used to have DIY shows instead of the the non stop house-flipping they do now, there was a guy who had a lawn & gardening show. He said two things (about lawn care) I remember: "I am learning to appreciate diversity in my lawn" and "I think of it as a meadow, not a lawn".

[Dave Lehnert]

Not familiar with the time of year weed and feed is to be used in Florida. Here in Ohio, it is little too early to put it down.
Weed and Feed will only kill weeds growing, Not prevent them.
If using a granular weed and feed, it needs to be applied when the grass and weeds are wet so it sticks to the weed.
I only use a granular lawn fertilizer (no weed killer) for the grass then apply a liquid weed killer for the weeds using a hose end sprayer when needed.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Jerry, there are several different chemicals that may work. The trick is to identify the active ingredient, ie Sulfentrazone in Ortho's nutsedge product. After that, do some research to find it cheaper in a different product. The chemicals companies make an absoulute killing off selling to lawn owners. FYI, I can treat a whole acre of crops with the most expensive chemical I buy, for about a quarter of the cost of that ortho product. Odds are there are some older cheaper chemicals that will work well, like a dicamba or a 2,4-D as well.

[Chris Parks]

I know nothing of the weeds you speak of but I have never found a weed that survived a good dosing with steam or even boiling water. Obviously this is not a good way to deal with a large coverage of weeds but weeds in paths etc can be dealt with this way.

[David Ragan]

When we first moved into this house 19 yrs ago (I cared A LOT more) I researched all that. Took soil samples over to County agent for analysis- the whole shebang; got a state of the art fertilizer spreader,
i put whatever down in a special grid analysis, I have this ocd streak (imagine that)....pre-emergent thrice yearly, etc etc. back then you could get straight nitrogen (pre Tim McVay----fitting I misspelled his name, right?)
I did all that-science always comes through, right? Not. Still got weeds-more than a few
i said forget it. Obviously pros have stuff civilians can't get. I pay monthly- green grass w/o weeds.

the wife has it in her head now we need core aerating- did I say I don't care anymore?
Las long as the is confluent growth and zero weeds and trimmed-I'm good

[Jerry Thompson]

We have had three companies do our lawn over the pas 30 years. I stopped using anyone about 6 years ago. The lawn companies results were dismal. I can do dismal for less money. I could not really see any progress with weed control by any of the companies. One was successful, however, they killed 6 rose bushes.
It's green and I am just going to mow it.

[Jason Roehl]

Jerry I don't know anything about St Augustine grass, but I do know that timing is everything when it comes to herbicides. Too early, and you miss the stuff that hasn't sprouted yet. Too late, and you miss the most vulnerable time. I do believe that weed & feed products are not as effective as just applying a herbicide by itself. I prefer the kind you spray with the hose end sprayer. We get nutsedge here too, and I just cough up the $$ for the product. Even if you dig all them up when you see them, your neighbor won't.

Actually, weed AND feed is important. (I have a landscaper friend and several friends who have degrees in agronomy and related fields who set me straight on this). The key is to apply the correct herbicide at the right time to weaken and/or kill the weeds, but then you have to feed the grass so that it is healthy and strong, making it harder for the weeds to come back. For our area, two annual fertilizer applications are recommended--spring and fall. The spring application gets the grass to grow UP and fill in thin areas, while the fall application gets the grass to put down some deep roots.

As for the herbicide, I had done the pellets for years with minimal effect on the weeds, even following directions as far as putting it on a dew-laden lawn with no rain in the 48-hour forecast. Then I switched to one of those mix-as-you-spray attachments for my garden hose. Instantly (as in, a few weeks) free of weeds. If you look, you'll see that all the commercial lawn treatment companies use liquid herbicide, not pellets (if they're putting down pellets, it's fertilizer, not herbicide).

And, since it's apropos, my favorite commercial, perhaps of all time:

https://vimeo.com/42594744

:D

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Actually, weed AND feed is important. (I have a landscaper friend and several friends who have degrees in agronomy and related fields who set me straight on this). The key is to apply the correct herbicide at the right time to weaken and/or kill the weeds, but then you have to feed the grass so that it is healthy and strong, making it harder for the weeds to come back. For our area, two annual fertilizer applications are recommended--spring and fall. The spring application gets the grass to grow UP and fill in thin areas, while the fall application gets the grass to put down some deep roots.

As for the herbicide, I had done the pellets for years with minimal effect on the weeds, even following directions as far as putting it on a dew-laden lawn with no rain in the 48-hour forecast. Then I switched to one of those mix-as-you-spray attachments for my garden hose. Instantly (as in, a few weeks) free of weeds. If you look, you'll see that all the commercial lawn treatment companies use liquid herbicide, not pellets (if they're putting down pellets, it's fertilizer, not herbicide).

And, since it's apropos, my favorite commercial, perhaps of all time:

https://vimeo.com/42594744

:D

Agree with you Jason, the liquid spray is by far the best application method, and crowding the sick weeds with healthy grass it critical.

[Phil Thien]

I avoid chemicals. I run the mower high (so grass is left rather long after a mowing), and use plenty of water.

The best weed killer is a super-healthy lawn.

The homes all around me mow rather short and use lots of chemicals. At least 75% of them I imagine end-up going into Lake Michigan.

I have applied corn meal gluten just because I think it is a good, natural source of time-release nitrogen. Whatever weed killing possibilities it has are debated and I really don't care much.

[Jim Andrew]

I find it funny that homeowners apply more chemicals to their yards than I use to grow soybeans. Then they donate money to "green" organizations who lobby to outlaw the chemicals they use on their yards.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I find it funny that homeowners apply more chemicals to their yards than I use to grow soybeans. Then they donate money to "green" organizations who lobby to outlaw the chemicals they use on their yards.

It is ironic, isn't it.

[Alan Rutherford]

We're in Tallahassee and I asked my wife about this. She knows a lot more about it than I do, told me a lot more than I wanted to hear, and finished with "Mow it and live with it."

As you've learned, the cure for dollar weed is to pull it up.

Keep in mind that the stuff you put on the lawn requires both time and rain to biodegrade outdoors and if it comes indoors on your shoes, it lives forever. In the carpet, if you have carpet and that's also where kids and pets spend their time.

And the World Health Organization just declared Roundup (glyphosate) a PROBABLE carcinogen, which is not at all what Monsanto has been telling us.

[Jerry Thompson]

Thanks Alan. First of all I have no faith in WHO. They, most of the time, consider correlation with causation. Having said that I have started digging up the dollar weed. I read about it in the Clay Co. Ag. site. That is the only way to control it. The product that is dollar weed specific only sets it back for about one season. I have used Roundup on it in the past and it did not even seem to make it ill.
The same for Nutsedge. The product specific for it does not kill the plant but it does keep it from seeding, in my experience. It is too expensive to use and I am going to start a long slow campaign of digging it up also ensuring the nuts are dug up too.
The dollar weed control product has Atrazine in it. This will build up in the soil and it will run off into the drainage system and end up, eventually, in the St. John's River. I am far from a tree hugger but this just does not set well with me.
Still after 35 years I will miss getting yard of the month.