What do you believe is the best weed and feed for lawns in the upper midwest?

[Bill Jobe]

For several years we have used Trugreen to maintain our lawn, but we are not happy with the results.
What have you found to work best if you do it yourself?
I read reviews of Scotts and found that many people were displeased with the results.

42°North and 90° West.

[Gary Ragatz]

Pretty similar latitude and longitude here (East Lansing, MI). I've been using a service the past 2-3 years (just got tired of DIY), but used to use the Scott's Turf Builder 4-step system, and had good results with it. Broadcast spreader, at about 2/3 the application rate they give you on the package.

[Brian Tymchak]

I use the Scott's products but not their weed & feed. I don't think it works very well. I will spray weeds directly. I get better results.

[Dave Lehnert]

I sold lawn fertilizer for over 20 years.
The best by far is Scott's. You have less chance of burning your lawn.
Most people get poor results with weed and feed because they do not apply it correctly. It has to be put down when the grass is damp/wet. so it sticks to the weeds. I like to apply when the grass is damp from the morning dew.
Having said that .I have also just used Turf Builder (No weed killer) then at a later date apply Weed B Gone. Kills weeds but not grass.

Note.... Crabgrass is controlled by getting a layer of Scott's Turf builder plus crabgrass control down BEFORE it comes up. If you see Forsythia bloom, its too late to use Crabgrass control. Most people apply that step (Step One) way too late.

[Wade Lippman]

Weed and Feed is irresponsible. You are coating the whole lawn for a few weeds, and it all ends up in your drinking water.
The weed killer I use comes in a battery powered sprayer and you just hit the weeds. I do it twice a year; a half acre in 30 minutes.
I control the small areas subject to crap grass with crab grass killer. Works great; unless your lawn is very different than mine, there is no reason to treat the whole lawn.

[Nathan Johnson]

I used Scott's for a few years and it did all right. I think it's somewhat quick release and high in nitrogen so you get the quick green up.

A couple of years ago, my sprinkler company started offering the granular treatments as an add-on to my service contract. I don't know the brand. Same price as Scott's, but they deliver all four treatments in April. It is noticeably slower release fertilizer and continues to work longer than the Scott's. I do still pull individual weeds, or spray with weed b gon. The best weed defense is a thick lawn.

Here, for crabgrass, we go by the lilacs. When they bloom, get the preventative down immediately because the soil temp is right.

[Larry Frank]

Yes, the best defense is a thick lawn. Depending on your soil, core aeration is helpful every couple of years. Also, overseeding is a good idea to maintain the varieties of grass.

[John K Jordan]

Separate weed killer and fertilizer. Get them from your farmer's co-op.

[Pat Barry]

Scott's + WeedBGone for spot duty

[Stan Calow]

I don't take my lawn as seriously as some. I don't see the active fertilizer ingredients as being too different between the big name brands and the cheaper house brands. Its the application that makes the difference as Dave said. I follow the advice of the local agriculture experts who say once a year, in the fall, is enough, since I don't irrigate.
I prefer a separate pre-emergent for the crabgrass (when the forsythia blooms), and a liquid weed-killer (usually weed-b-gon with a hose end sprayer) as needed.

[Dave Lehnert]

I don't take my lawn as seriously as some. I don't see the active fertilizer ingredients as being too different between the big name brands and the cheaper house brands. Its the application that makes the difference as Dave said. I follow the advice of the local agriculture experts who say once a year, in the fall, is enough, since I don't irrigate.
I prefer a separate pre-emergent for the crabgrass (when the forsythia blooms), and a liquid weed-killer (usually weed-b-gon with a hose end sprayer) as needed.



Scott's is different because they put the ingredients through a process so each grain of product, contains each ingredient. The reason it gives good coverage.
Other lawn fertilizer each grain is it own ingredient. Tossed in a bin and mixed together.
I have had good success with any brand lawn fertilizer. It is all about application.

[Bill Jobe]

Everyone seems to agree with online reviews on Scotts weed&feed. Worse than nothing.
I'll use separate products for weeds and fertilizer.
Trugreen did the plug and overseed twice. Nothing really changed.
One summer they burnt the grass. Seems they always show up to spray instead of granular on windy days. Had a huge "disagreement" with a lawn company spraying across the street from me with 20mph sustained winds and 40 mph gusts. I went over and tried to stop the guy but he became even more determined to spray, so I called his boss. The guy would not talk to him on my phone, and his boss was trying to stop him.
I pointed out that my koi were taking a direct hit from the spray. The wind was blowing straight at my pond.
So, I called the Illinois epa and they told me that lawn service companies are trained on proper useage of liquid spray but that they were pretty much free to spray whatever, whenever. They are self regulated.
A visit to the company's office did little. I tried to reason with them and got a promise to try to do better.
Pretty sad that they are free to spray whatever whenever.

Some suggest spiked shoes when mowing. Perhaps I'll try that, too.
Thanks.

[Dave Lehnert]

Wish I had a dime every time a customer came into the store complaining the Weed B Gon they sprayed on the weeds (AKA grass) in the cracks on the driveway did nothing.
It's all about the right product at the right time.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I fenced in the front yard driveway and around the barn. One day a week we turn the sheep loose to mow and weed the fenced areas. So it is a sort of weed and mow and feed and feed.

[William Batdorf]

I use products manufactured by Lebanon Seaboard. Not sure if their products are available in you local area. I buy from a locally owned pro turf products business. Great service, free advice and excellent results with the Lebanon Seaboard products. Look them up. I can see the lights of their plant from my property.

[roger wiegand]

None.

If I fertilize I just need to cut it more often, if I apply weed killer it would kill the clover, crocus, scilla, and violets (and, dare I say it, dandelions) I try to encourage in the lawn. We keep bees and maintaining as wide a diversity as possible of abundant flowers, especially in early spring seems wise. Plus it's really pretty.

I do use a crabgrass pre-emergent once every few years to keep the stuff at bay.

Home lawn fertilizer is a major source of nitrogen pollution that screws up our streams and ponds, and as far as I can tell is completely unnecessary. Clover stays much greener through the summer and puts nitrogen into the soil to support the grasses there. Plus the bees love it.

[Wade Lippman]

if I apply weed killer it would kill the clover, crocus, scilla, and violets (and, dare I say it, dandelions) I try to encourage in the lawn.

It doesn't kill that stuff if you don't spray that stuff. My lawn has a lot of clover in it; I just don't spray it.
If you like weeds, then I guess you are all set.

[Larry Frank]

Many broad leaf weed sprays will not kill clover and you need a different one for clover.

[John K Jordan]

... if I apply weed killer it would kill the clover, crocus, scilla, and violets (and, dare I say it, dandelions) I try to encourage in the lawn. We keep bees and maintaining as wide a diversity as possible of abundant flowers, especially in early spring seems wise. Plus it's really pretty.
...
Clover stays much greener through the summer and puts nitrogen into the soil to support the grasses there. Plus the bees love it.

Reminds me of a neighbor I had years ago who said he was happy as long as it was green instead of brown. :)

I've never sprayed my lawn for weeds nor fertilized it. This is not a golf course. I have some areas around the farm with huge amounts of white clover which I encourage just because of the bees. In the peak I don't mow but where I have to mow I set the blades high to get the tall grass and weeds and leave most of the clover. The horses/donkeys/llamas love the clover. Some people try to kill it in the pastures but clover is fine unless moldy, such as in moldy bales of hay.

But I do spray the pastures with 2-4-D when the buttercup gets out of hand. That nasty stuff will take over everything around here and the problem is nothing will eat it, not even goats which will eat almost everything. It's so foul that if I mow it my eyes burn from whatever compound is released. If it gets bad I'll use a boom sprayer in the spring and the buttercup is gone for years. Spot spraying with a backpack gets the isolated plants.

I used to fight dandelions by digging them up one at a time but the honeybees like them so much I quit. I see only a few so far this year but they've been heavy in the local bradford pear trees, weeping cherry, the peach and pear, and maple trees. It's amazing how much pollen they are bringing in on a warm day. (70 yesterday) What a wonderful time of the year! (I hope the snow is melting for you who live in the frozen north!)

JKJ

[Tony Pisano]

Beekeeper here. I don't spray anything in my yard. In fact, when I started mowing less in some sections, I was amazed at the interesting flowers that were just waiting for the chance to grow. I understand some people like a lush lawn, and depending on where you live there are ordinances about keeping the grass mowed to a certain height etc. I like seeing the bees visiting the varieties of clover, dandelions, creeping charlie, crocuses and other flowers. I also have a soft spot for plantain and other "weeds"

[michael langman]

My yard looks like a Monet painting in the spring. The bluets by the thousands, Indian paintbrush,violets, just keep coming. I also have moss and many mushrooms in the late summer, fall.
I hay my yard for my vegetable garden. Let the flowers grow up to 18" in large sections, after coming to seed; Ithen mow them down for the summer flowers and red clover to follow.
Bees, butterflys and hummingbirds are our summer friends.

[John K Jordan]

Plant some golden rain trees! There are thousands of bees in mine from sunup to sundown for a month every year.

406483 406484 406485

I have two and a neighbor down the road has one.

I can mail some seeds.

JKJ

[michael langman]

Sounds like a nice tree John. My hydrangea tree is 15 feet around and 10 feet tall. It produces thousands of flowers for the bees in late summer. They love the Holly too.

[John K Jordan]

Sounds like a nice tree John. My hydrangea tree is 15 feet around and 10 feet tall. It produces thousands of flowers for the bees in late summer. They love the Holly too.

We have several big oak leaf hydrangeas so I know what you mean!

I have one big holly maybe 35' high - on a quiet morning during the bloom I can hear the bees from 40' away!

This is especially enjoyable for me because when I moved here and before I started keeping bees I never saw a single bee around the farm.

JKJ

[Mel Fulks]

There are a number of oak leaf hydrangas, one of the best of the large ones is ALICE. One of many Dirr introductions.

[michael langman]

Yes, it gives you a good feeling when you know you are supporting so many insects and birds and they acnowledge it to you in appreciation. The bees are wild on my property, but they are completely docile around me and we just go about our business together.
Every time I go outside or come home from somewhere numerous birds say hello to me and seem to feel relief from my absence.
A great time of year for sure.

[miki samor]

I use products produced by Scott's

[Stan Calow]

Back when HGTV was about helping homeowners instead of amateur real estate investors, they had a regular program with a gardening "expert". I recall him saying "think of your yard as a meadow instead of a lawn. I like to encourage diversity in what grows there." It was said as a joke but there was more than a little truth in it.

[Alex Atkinson]

I'm using Melnor 65078 (https://www.backyardstyle.com/best-lawn-sprinklers/)-AMZ XT Turbo for 1,5 year. I can't complain, everything is fine. Power/duration of work/price are ok for me. all the other things I do myself together with my wife.

[Mike Soaper]

sorry if it's a bit late but i hope it might help


I use products manufactured by Lebanon Seaboard. Not sure if their products are available in you local area. I buy from a locally owned pro turf products business.

In Maryland, when I do fertilize, I use Lebanon's Greenview Fairway formula (fert only), it's about 60% slow release, lasts about 3 months, and is a uniform product (not separate fertilizers). The Fairway formulas have a two application approach, once in the spring and once in the fall.

Most of the time I only apply it in the fall at a lower rate if the lawn needs it

You can get it on line from Greenview and from garden centers, I've not seen it in the borgs.

Get a soil test first to see what you need, maybe the ph also needs adjusting.

That said, you could go the organic route, from like Espoma and Dr.Earth, but some "organic" fertilizers are processed chicken poo, feather meal, or treated sewage.