Weed killing on lawns

[sususanan]

Does it make a difference if you apply weed killer to the lawn when it is very dry compared to when the groud is already moist?

[Green Aura]

The instructions on the weedkiller will tell you, but why bother? Grass is fairly useless, unless you've got cows and the weeds at least provide pollen for bees etc.

[Flo]

You'l do the wrong sort of killing if you put weed killer on lawns when it's very dry. I'm afraid that's usually the best way to kill the lawn.

[MKG]

There are thousands of people in this country who go to great lengths to grow weed, and they would hate it to be killed.
What?
Oh - sorry. Wrong kind of weed.
For the right kind of weed, I would have thought that mowing in dry conditions may be more effective. Grass (the green kind) can take that treatment in its stride, but most weeds will be stressed by it, and therefore weakened. For really persistent ones, I have a Fiskars Weed Puller (sorry for brand name, but I can't think of a descriptive name) which gets rid of stuff like dock, thistle - the deep-rooted stuff - very efficiently.

[Weedo]

OK; I will be the galah and give a real answer. Yes it does make a difference except for a very limited number of products that you will definately not find on the retail shelf. The majority of herbicides require the product to be absorbed through leaf or root and translocated through the plant to the action site; ergo, the plant must be actively growing for it to work. In dry conditions most plants normally found in lawns will be inactive.

However, I think you would find you would get a similar weed control result by spending the same amount on fertiliser; unless you are aiming for a 100% grass, bowling green type lawn.

[sususanan]

Wouldn't the fertiliser feed the weed as well as the grass and effectively end up with the same ratio of weed to grass?

[sususanan]

lol - I was racking my brain to think of the children's programme with the galah character and couldn't. Then I submitted my reply and all of a sudden it came to me - The Ozlets!

[Weedo]

Depends on what the weed is, most lawn weeds (broadleaf) are annual or biennual and are weak competitors as seedlings. The idea is to provide more competition (grass) that prevents seedlings from establishing - we call this weed resilliance. If you have perrennial weeds then they will need to be removed. Autumn and Spring are the more important times as this is when they germinate so, if there is no space and the grass is taking up the water and sunlight, the seedlings wont survive.

Even if you do go down the herbicide path, you will still need to thicken your lawn to provide competition or the weeds will just fill in the gaps the dead ones leave.

[Odsox]

I actually like weeds in my lawn.
It's chock full of daisies, red clover, white clover, buttercup, celandines, violets, self-heal (both blue and the rare white), plantain (although that's not so welcome), plus tiny milkwort and a large patch of wild thyme.
Oh, and a couple of primroses that I have to mow round until late summer.

No boring green slab for me, and no work involved to achieve year round colour.

[Skippy]

I look after a number of people's lawns and constant mowing does seem to get rid of the worst of the weeds if they are a bother. Sometimes physical removal of things like dandelions or others with a deep root may be needed but I try to steer away from weed killers if at all possible.
Probably the best thing to stop things growing is a trampoline . I've a couple at least I go to with a lovely round patch free of weeds ( or owt else for that matter) . So trampolines , closely followed by dogs and kids should stop anyone worrying about a little weed or two.

[Skippy]

Depends on what the weed is, most lawn weeds (broadleaf) are annual or biennual and are weak competitors as seedlings. The idea is to provide more competition (grass) that prevents seedlings from establishing - we call this weed resilliance. If you have perrennial weeds then they will need to be removed. Autumn and Spring are the more important times as this is when they germinate so, if there is no space and the grass is taking up the water and sunlight, the seedlings wont survive.

Good points and I will add to that by saying what helps the grass outcompete the weeds is to not have the lawnmower set too low. I have one customer who insists I set my mower as low as it will go and is cut weekly . firstly there are a few spots where the blade has hit the bumps in the ground but perhaps more importantly is that there are low lying weeds . Compare that to another I also do weekly where I cut it on the third setting rather than the first and it's a much better , lusher lawn almost devoid of weeds.

[ina]

The only weed I try to keep out of my "lawn" (= grassy patch) is docks; everything else gets encouraged... Since I moved in here a lovely lot of white clover and tares have developed. Bees and other beasties love it!

[Skippy]

I always think clover , white or red , give a lawn a bit of colour and character . A slab of just perfectly green grass might be loved by some but I find it just a tad dull.

[ina]

I always think clover , white or red , give a lawn a bit of colour and character . A slab of just perfectly green grass might be loved by some but I find it just a tad dull.

At least it's better than the usual grey mass of chuckies in most of my neighbours' gardens... But those that do have lawns keep them far too short - even in this scorching weather; they are now nothing like green and look terrible!

[KathyLauren]

In a lot of places here, the use of herbicides for cosmetic purposes (i.e. killing weeds in a lawn) is not permitted. We like a "lawn" that looks like reclaimed forest floor. When we have bare patches, we seed them with a mix of grass and clover seed.