Non-Atrazine Weed Killer for Floratam Lawn?
eaj2011
12 years ago
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texas_weed
12 years agodchall_san_antonio
12 years agoRelated Discussions
I think my lawn is dying from weed killer
Comments (5)Here is a link to the label for that product. That label specifically says not to use it on the Floratam variety of St Augustine. If that is what you have, then you are in trouble. If not, then the grass should recover after a brief yellowing. This time of year you should not use a chemical fertilizer on St Augustine. You may; however, use all the organic fertilizer you want without fear of doing any further damage. It will help with greening when the grass bounces back. The organic fertilizer I like is plain alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). Apply at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Although the alfalfa effect begins immediately by feeding the microbes in the soil/sand, it takes a full 3 weeks to see the improvement in the lawn. The label also says not to apply if the temp is going to be 90 degrees. You did not have that situation, but so many people do I just want to reemphasize the point. Although the label says 90 degrees, the common homeowner should not apply above 85 degrees. You're just asking for problems. It sounds like you applied over the entire lawn. One of the reasons to use a liquid like this is so you can just spot spray the weeds and not have to worry about messing up the entire lawn. If you had only spot sprayed your feeling of heartbreak over this would be tempered considerably. If this goes bad for you, it's going to be very bad. Here's a summary of how to make St Aug grow. Water deeply once a week. This is slightly variable, and we're hearing from the Florida crowd this year. If you are watering more than 2x per week or more than every 5 days, you should back off. I realize you're probably getting rain every day, so you really don't need to be adding more water. Once the rainy season ends, with temps in the 80s, you should be able to go 10 days to 2 weeks without watering. This depends on your soil (sand), heat, humidity, cloud cover, shade from trees, wind, grass type, grass mowing height, and some other factors. When you put all that together, every 2 weeks seems to work for most everyone. If it does not work for Florida sand, we need to hear about it here. What does work? Daily watering is NOT the answer. I live in the desert and here it is mid July. I'm just now getting around to watering my St Aug. My situation is different for the reasons listed, but in any case, infrequent watering is better than frequent watering. Once you are watering infrequently the weed problems seem to go away. Weed seeds need continual moisture to germinate. When you go a week or two between watering, the weed seeds never germinate. If you are currently watering daily like most in Florida, you will have to wean your grass off that schedule. I've already written a lot, so if you're doing that, write back and we can tell you how to get off the daily. Mulch mow at your mower's highest setting - ALWAYS. There is never any reason to lower the mower height for St Augustine. If you have a dwarf variety, set it for the middle. Most people don't have the dwarf, so start with it at the highest. My personal preference is to keep my lawn at 12 inches (again, different situation). This is a water conservation project and it's working. Fertilize with organics. Why? Because you can do it any day of the year with no hassle. With chemical fertilizers there is a long label to read. My alfalfa comes in a plain brown bag with no label. Just apply at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet - no hassle. In the deeper south you can fertilize on all the big federal holidays. I start on Washington's Birthday, then Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. If you want to fertilize less often, then use Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. If you follow that advice you should have a dense mat of dark green St Augustine. You should not need weed killer, but if you do, then just spot spray. With organic insects do not seem to be a problem. The reason is biological and has to do with the health of the soil microbes as well as the health of the insects when eaten by birds, lizards, geckos, and toads. It's very complicated but healthy soil and healthy insects seem to balance everything....See MoreEPA Fails To Inform Public About Weed-Killer In Drinking Water
Comments (7)Dan There is a rich literature in the psych, marketing, communications and soc disciplines that explains the fact that information 'being available for years' has little relevance to information being understood, compelling and actionable. In addition, it is the responsibility of the federal government to incorporate valid limits on chemicals proven to be destructive to life and the environment, which you've already mentioned. If the EPA has the research and at one time set standards pertaining to Atrazine but then ignored them for the past several years, many people are going to ignore whatever information IS published that they have access to, "confident" that the government is carrying out its responsibilities. It doesn't matter what reports are published from one perspective. If the feds ignore the poisoning of America's water supply, there's no other agency with the legal authority to act against companies that are selling these products. The responsibility then falls to individuals, most of whom are unaware of the research and not part of a political entity that could have much influence even if they did know. If I recall correctly, American individuals or groups of individuals cannot sure agribusiness or anyone else for polluting the earth. The Superfund sites are still sitting there, polluting everything around them. There's no more action on them as far as I know. So, maybe the only thing that responsible people can do is keep publicizing the research and hope that the public eventually catches on and demands that Congress develop a backbone and do something....See MoreSt Aug Floratam. Need help identifying weeds
Comments (23)patsys, I could not access the pictures but I gather that they are broadleaf weeds. I have had quite good results by applying atrazine on St. Augustine BUT I use a flat fan nozzle on a back pack sprayer and always use a dye. I calibrate the back pack to my rate of walking so that I can be sure that the amount of atrazine required is put down on the turf area. Another product, 'Speedzone' is labelled for only certain types of St. Augustine and because of its 2.4D content, attention to accuracy is totally important. When using 'Speedzone' I also pay attention to wind speed because 2.4D drifts incredibly. Even so, I always leave a buffer strip of at least six feet from any desirable broadleaf plants. I time this activity for the latter two weeks of February. Any grass weeds are best sprayed with glyphosate and the area resodded. Pre-emergent chemicals have never worked satisfactorily for me in turf. Hope this helps....See MoreDollar Weed Taking Over Organic Floratam
Comments (20)I did not know about pulling a square foot of horseherb at once. I'll have to check this out. I hate the stuff, as I'm a SA grass person. To answer your questions, fyi, I just purchased my first house last year, and I've inherited some drainage problems in the yard, and have heavily compacted soil. Last season was a "do what I can with the leftover money" season, and, I had to deal with a 10'x25' section of take-all patch. I will be core aerating in a couple weekends as this is the earliest my schedule will allow. I already put down corn glutten meal about a week before it warmed up, so I know my timing was right becuase I already notice a huge difference in number of weeds between this year and last. Now on to your questions: Water- Did not water all winter (I know, I'm still learning) Last season I did not have to water much due to the enourmous amount of rain, but when I did, I followed the deep and infrequent watering schedule you have posted on this website. How high mowing? A do a "step" approach in that I watch how fast my grass is growing and follow the rule of now more than a third off the top, so as the season wears on, I get to where I use my mower's highest setting, mowing at least once a week. I had a month last season where I averaged mowing every four days due to the large amount of rain we had. Weeds in shady area- I have dichondra and horseherb in both full sun and in full shade. They flourish in both places. I've notice that the dichondra is mostly in the areas where I have problems with rainwater collecting (my drainage issue). The horseherb could care less if I water it or not- it just thrives no matter what....See Moreeaj2011
12 years agoweed_cutter
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12 years agoeaj2011
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