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Old 03-12-2024, 10:09 AM
 
414 posts, read 415,843 times
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I live in Georgia. When I look at my neighbors' yards, some of them have no weeds and their lawns are really well-maintained.

However, my yard and most of the other yards in the neighborhood have a lot of weeds.

I think I need to spread some kind of weed killer on my lawn.

It's mid-March now, so what kind of weed killer should I use?

Specifically, what kind of product should I use?
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Old 03-12-2024, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Sunnybrook Farm
4,314 posts, read 2,495,049 times
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The two best products to use for weeds in your lawn are:

a HOE
a LAWN MOWER.

The whole strategy of weeds is to sprout and grow fast, get up above the dormant turfgrass, and make seeds. If you mow those that stand up, they won't seed. The ones that have flat leaves (dandelions, various thistles) you root up with a hoe.

Next step - do NOT scalp the grass! You want the grass, when dormant, and especially when it starts growing, to choke out the weeds. This means it needs to be relatively tall. What's "tall"? Varies with species. The San Augustine in my front yard is probably 4-5" top of grass to dirt, but San Augustine has the runners on top, so you for sure want to have the runners well shaded.

Next step - do NOT bag clippings! You want the grass to be thick and healthy. The best way to achieve this is to leave all organic material right there.

Next step - no chemicals! I have not used any synthetic fertilizer or weed treatments on my yard in close to 30 years. I have not bagged clippings in 30 years. On occasion, about once a year, I spread some organic fertilizer (basically, turkey guano) but I'm not sure it really does anything.

When my neighbors are busy trying to figure out which synthetic chemical they should use next as their lawns look thinner and browner and less healthy, my "benign neglect" regimen yields the thickest greenest healthiest yard in the neighborhood. Yeah, occasionally a weed pokes up and I either mow it off, hoe it up, or just reach over and pull it. I also have birds and insects all over my yard, while they assiduously avoid my neighbors' yards, recognizing that there's no real life there. I'd rather have a slightly imperfect yard that's alive than a perfect putting green with no life in it, but it turns out you don't even have to make that choice because the healthy real yard looks GREAT with actually less effort; and you're not poisoning the soil, the groundwater, the pollinators, etc.
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Old 03-12-2024, 10:38 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,227 posts, read 80,442,347 times
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It depends on the weeds. I use a mulching mower, and if I get any dandelions remove them by the root with a tool made for that purpose. My only use for chemicals was when I had a plague of buttercups. Those spread by the roots underground and are impossible to eliminate without a broadleaf weed killer safe for lawns. Left alone, they will take over the lawn and eliminate the grass. Even then it took about 3 years to get rid of all of them. I used Ortho Weedclear for lawns, applied directly just on the buttercups, on sunny days.
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Old Today, 08:17 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
5,808 posts, read 6,863,071 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goldensky View Post
I live in Georgia.
It's mid-March now, so what kind of weed killer should I use?
Specifically, what kind of product should I use?
Is your grass green now? If so, you probably have Fescue. It is getting late to fertilize Fescue (think Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Valentines Day). You can spray a 2-4-D weed killer (eg Weed-B-Gone) or spread something that will kill the weeds.

Best way to prevent weeds is to apply a weed preventer at the appropriate time. Be careful though, if you want to plant grass, since it prevents everything from germinating.

Don't plant Fescue in the spring. It won't survive the hot Georgia summer.
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