lawn weed problem...

[steveo3002]

ive weed n feeded the lawn , its pretty much weed free now except for one type of weed

the weed n feed doesnt seem to touch em , niether does the spot lawn weed spray i have

from google it seems to be either creeping buttercup or silverweed


http://www.lawnweeds.co.uk/weedidentification.html

ive been manualy pulling em and giving the patch a dose of spot weeder , but theyre keen buggers , each day i find more elsewhere

is there something i can put over the lawn to get shot of em

[Simpo Two]

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) shouldn't be too hard. In fact unless your lawn is big you might find it simpler just to dig it out with a narrow blade.

The toughest lawn weeds are usually speedwells and small trefoils. Lawn weedkillers work by mimicking plant growth regulators... so (a) the weeds need to be growing and (b) they can take a few days before effects appear.

ETA: Sad to see that half a dozen of the Latin names on that site are wrong. Seems people can't even copy any more

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 15th June 22:37

[Busamav]

suffering the same here , since we stopped the quarterly Greenthumb lawn treatments,

[steveo3002]

Simpo Two said:

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) shouldn't be too hard. In fact unless your lawn is big you might find it simpler just to dig it out with a narrow blade.

The toughest lawn weeds are usually speedwells and small trefoils. Lawn weedkillers work by mimicking plant growth regulators... so (a) the weeds need to be growing and (b) they can take a few days before effects appear.

ETA: Sad to see that half a dozen of the Latin names on that site are wrong. Seems people can't even copy any more

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 15th June 22:37

just googled small trefoils and it bought up a pic of "birds foot" ..kinda looks like that too

its tiny 3-4mm leaves with a yellow flower the same size , seems to appear overnight and has tough thin wirey roots ...lays very flat to the ground

[Simpo Two]

Yep, Bird's Foot Trefoil. A toughie. Best thing for that was ioxynil; sadly it was banned in about 1987!

If lawn weedkillers don't touch it, you could consider digging it out or painting with glyphosate (taking care not to get it on the grass)

[steveo3002]

any ideas how it spreads /appears?

my method of pulling em up and spot weed spraying the spot seems to be okay..but then next day theres new ones elsewhere

idealy id spray the whole lawn to stop it coming up elsewhere ?

[Simpo Two]

steveo3002 said:

any ideas how it spreads /appears?

my method of pulling em up and spot weed spraying the spot seems to be okay..but then next day theres new ones elsewhere

idealy id spray the whole lawn to stop it coming up elsewhere ?

I'm not sure how it spreads. Lawn weedkillers work by having their active ingredients absorbed by the leaves, so there is no preventative or 'residual' lawn weedkiller (because there are no leaves for them to work on). The only residual weedkillers are path and drive/hard surface weedkillers which are called 'total' weedkillers, ie they will kill all plants including grass.

There's no point spraying the area from which you have removed the weed. Pulling them up may mean you are leaving roots behind to regrow so look closely and see what's going on. A careful spot treatment with glyphosate willdeal with the roots as well.

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 16th June 08:37

[steveo3002]

so a dab of this glyphosate on the leaves ? do i have to try and paint it on all the leaves or will any contact sort em out

[Simpo Two]

steveo3002 said:

so a dab of this glyphosate on the leaves ? do i have to try and paint it on all the leaves or will any contact sort em out

It's a question of surface area - the more the surface, the more gets absorbed. So leaves are best. Note that glyphosate is quite slow - it can take up to 10 days before anything starts to show, but it should stop growth before that.

There was a product called Tumbleweed Gel which came ready to use with a brush in the cap; however it seems to be discontinued now. So you can either buy a ready to use hand sprayer (but watch out for spray drift onto the grass) or buy the concentrate, dilute as instructed and then paint on.

Once you have finally cleared the trefoil you can sit back and see which weed colonises next

[andy43]

What about one of those weed-killing blowtorches? Would leave holes in the grass which the grass may grow over eventually.

[Simpo Two]

Blowtorches are like a quick version of paraquat (ie contact non-residual). They kill everything they touch, but not below ground.

The only problem with leaving gaps in the lawn is that bare soil is a good place for new weeds to grow!

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 16th June 10:43

[steveo3002]

when theres bare patches left..will grass natrualy spread and fill it in , or only grow where sewn?

ive patched in some of the big spots , but its never ending

[Simpo Two]

steveo3002 said:

when theres bare patches left..will grass natrualy spread and fill it in , or only grow where sewn?

ive patched in some of the big spots , but its never ending

From my experience a patch of bare ground never turns magically into lawn, it turns into weeds or moss. Quickest fix might be to buy a few turves and cut them in like carpet squares - but water them copiously every day until they establish.