help landlord is going to apply weed and feed next door

10 years ago

I live in a duplex of sorts and the neighbors recently moved out and the landlord has been working on their place. .. Well this morning he informed me they are going to be spraying their yard with weed and feedand asked if I wanted my side done. Ummmmm no thank you. Now I'm paranoid about drift. It's windy today and If they spray in front it may drift on my flower bed. My garden is in the back and I'm worried about it to. What can I do to protect my plants?

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Comments (10)

mrdoitall
10 years ago
Get some row cover and cover the plants... Or run a over head water sprinkler, that way it will dilute the spray and wash it off. Sorry that's all I could think of... Good luck... Let us know what you do and the out come...
digdirt2
10 years ago
First you need to know exactly what they are using - name. Then how it will be applied - spray or spreader. Most all Weed and Feed products are applied with walk behind spreader and poses no problems for your gardens.

Spray can depending on exactly which it is and the only protection from them is plastic covers - roll plastic, large trash bags, etc.. It passes through row covers.

Dave
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I don't use dandelion spray myself, so I cant recommend a brand, but I think I've seen pre-mixed dandelion sprays before. Or buy something you have to mix up youself--in small quantities--and use a small hand-held plastic sprayer, nozzle adjusted to a narrow stream. Ask in the Home Depot garden center--they should have someone who can help you there. I really do prefer the dandelion digger--yes, that long screwdriver looking thing--with a notched end. I go out after a good rain and start digging individually--goes real fast when the ground in moist. I suppose you could use your sprinkler to moisten the ground, but it would need to get down several inches at least. Dandelions have those LONG taproots and you need to get out the complete root. You will probably have to repeat the process a couple times in a week or two, but there will be noticeably fewer dandelions each time. At some point dandelions get over their spring fling, but I don't wait around for them to retire--by that time, they will have re-seeded too many new ones, for next spring if nothing else! Dig em out now! LOL Kate
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Most Weed N Feeds say in the instructions to keep kids and pets out of treated areas for the first 48 hours or so after application. This tells me they know that it can cause issues, but they don't seem to want to make a connection that if the Weed N Feed is 'long lasting' then the toxicity is 'long lasting' as well. I think the first 48 hours is more to allow any granules to fully settle below the level of the grass and thus 'less likely to be ingested', but as anyone who has a dog should know, 3 inches of growth will in no way hinder them from getting to something they can smell. This is why I don't treat the area (with fertilizer, weed control or anything) where I take my dogs to do their thing. They can wander around and do as they please without worrying about running into anything unnatural. Except my Sling-back chairs. My Springer gets so involved with sniffing things out of the grass she tends to ignore things she's about to run into, like said Sling-back. Or me.
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Are you planning to spray the whole yard with atrazine, or just spot spray? I would spot spray each & every suspected Crabgrass head, but I would not broadcast a spray across the entire yard--That's a bit wasteful & atrazine is tough stuff. It's really not too late on the preM this year, all this rain & cool weather has kept them behind schedule in my yard. The atrazine should be used in combination with a good preM to keep the heads from coming back anyway. I use dimension & it actually kills baby Crabgrass up to a single tiller, so it can be applied later than the others on the market. Late app plus late growth means you're not too late for preM & it will make a world of difference. I also recommend a product called bonide Sedge ender, which targets Crabgrass & nutsedge specifically, including a preM already mixed in. Ace has both these products, but the big box stores usually only carry fast acting stuff to keep you coming back.
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I have quickly found that, at least for me, nothing helps better than a shot of Ortho Weed-B-Gon and a thick, tall, healthy lawn. I have empty lots behind and to one side of me that are 50% crabgrass, 25% dandelions, and probably 24.5% random green weeds. This is only our second season since we finished and moved into our new home in December 2014 and we had a lot of dandelions creeping in from the empty lots. A couple of weeks ago, when the weather started looking up here in southern Indiana, I made up several 2 gallon sprayerfulls of WBG, 50% stronger than the label suggested, and went through spraying every weed I saw, paying special attention to the dandelions. The weeds started wilting fairly quickly. I took a small propane torch out every day and torched every dandelion seed head that I could find. Last weekend I put down my crabgrass pre-emergent with fertilizer and watered it in. We also had a couple of huge downpours last Thursday and Friday. Now, as of this morning, my lawn has really shot up quickly, thickened up visibly, darkened about two shades of green, and I can see hardly any dandelions in sight. So, I say all this just to get across that, with just a little work, you can see a quick difference in your lawn, especially where it comes to dandelions. I didn't use any WNF products this year, but probably will next year, about the first weekend in March just to get a jump on the the weeds and the lawn feeding. Using information I compiled from my sod supplier and various county extension agency web-sites for our area I put together this program that I plan to try next year. The only things I may tweak a little are the WNF after overseeding in the fall. • March 1: Apply a weed and feed fertilizer (2,4-D based) to deter or eliminate any broadleaf weed germination. • Mid-April: Apply crabgrass preventer (Dimension/Dithiopyr based) with a fertilizer containing high nitrogen. Use something similar to 25-10-10. • Late-May/Early-June: Apply grub control such as Merit (Imidacloprid) or GrubEx (Chlorantraniliprole) to the lawn (very important in our area). • Mid-June: Apply second crabgrass preventer (Dimension/Dithiopyr based) with a fertilizer containing high nitrogen. Use something similar to 25-10-10. • Early-September: Overseed Lawn • Mid-September: Apply fall fertilizer with broadleaf control (2,4-D based). We recommend one pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet, and one pound of P & K (phosphorus and potassium) mix. • Mid-October: Use a 12-12-12 at one pound per 1000 square feet of actual nitrogen-phosphorus and potassium to promote a hardy root system for the winter.
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nancyjane_gardener
10 years ago
Talk to the landlord and ask him to let you know beforehand so you can cover your plants!
He should be happy that you're taking care of the yard! Many tenants don't! Nancy
AiliDeSpain
Original Author
10 years ago
He just said weed and feed. I text him after our conversation to ask him to warn me before spraying but he must not have seen the text as when I was pulling up from picking up my daughter his wife was already spraying the front of the neighbors yard. She was using a hose and a container of something. I was mainly concerned about an area over the fence of my veggie garden that is a side yard for the other unit. I asked him in my text not to spray that area but I'm not sure if they did or not as he never replied. Ugh. I will be looking for signs of herbicide damage. .. Good thing I have back ups. Along that fence I have tomatillos and tomatoes planted, but I only planted half of my starts. Would herbicide affect garlic as well?
User
10 years ago
It's most likely MCPA dominate with Triclopyr or Dicamba (sometimes both) if it was sprayed or 2,4-D dominate (especially if it was granule based)...these are the most common "weed and feed" formulations for weeds.

Unless the drift is a wall of a drift residue they generally don't do a lot. They work best with a direct soaking contact.
AiliDeSpain
Original Author
10 years ago
So far no symptoms of any damage to either garden :)
planatus
10 years ago
Persnickety point: It takes a perfect storm of conditions, but it is possible for the 2,4-D in granular weed and feed products to vaporize into a "cloud" that moves to nearby areas and causes drift damage to broadleaf plants.

Corn gluten is a natural alternative to use in spring, when crabgrass is germinating. If you can find a local source, perhaps your landlord will consider a change?
teabag43
9 years ago
Don't believe it corn gluten doesn't work.
jnjfarm_gw
9 years ago
Dicamba will drift even on a calm day. What is he trying to control. 2,4-d is good on dandilions and clovers. dicamba will control crabgrass. the drift will damage nearby trees and is deadly to tomatoes. in my area, weed and feed should have been done in late march. I have used granular in early spring and a gain in September to kill off lawn weeds. I now have good thick grass an don't weed only feed.
laceyvail 6A, WV
9 years ago
Well, corn gluten does work if applied at the right time for the seeds you're looking to exterminate. I have used it for years. But it does degrade, and if the seeds germinate much later than the application, then it doesn't work.

help landlord is going to apply weed and feed next door

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mrdoitall

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help landlord is going to apply weed and feed next door

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