Speaking of baptism by fire...I hope the rest of your experiences with GW are better than this one. Y'all got off track early and it went downhill from there. You can have a weed free, low maintenance lawn, and do it without routine use of Weed-B-Gone. It is a matter of 1) growing grass that is suited to the location, 2) proper watering, 3) proper mowing, and 4) regular fertilizer. You are trying to hit todays issues but you have the recent memory of last year's issues weighing you down. I'm going to focus on this year's issues. The current symptom seems to be that your grass is too thin and it is allowing a variety of weeds to come and take over. Can you find the bag of seed you bought and tell us what the Guaranteed Analysis part of the bag says? I'm hoping that will explain the entire block of problems so far this year. I'm also hoping it will suggest a solution to be implemented in the fall. Fall is by far the best time to seed in the north. If you seed in the spring (early or late) there are weed seeds sitting there waiting to germinate. When you put in grass seed, all the weed seeds will germinate, too. You can prevent the summer weed seeds from germinating by seeding in the fall. Then in the spring you will be using a mature turf care program. That involves keeping the soil relatively dry and providing a tall grass to shade the soil. Keeping weed seeds dry in the spring can be hard with Mother Nature helping to water, but if you gain some sort of control over the moisture, then you should water deeply once every 1-2 weeks. Get out the hoses and sprinkler (I like an oscillating sprinkler). Keeping the grass tall seems to be your nature so that's good; however, when you do mow, mow at the highest setting on the mower. Auteck has not explained why he suggested mowing at 2 inches, but over the years the general consensus here at GW is that really tall grass is much better than anything else. Four inches works better for keeping weeds out and reducing your summer watering requirements. In the summer when the heat really hits, you can go without mowing for a month or two, but you should still water every week or two. The second problem with seeding in the spring is the new grass plants cannot tolerate the summer heat. Could that be why your lawn died last summer? Fall seeded grass has all winter and spring to develop deeper roots that can stand the heat and low moisture. Regardless of what the weeds are, you have some and need to get rid of them. The reason you have any weeds at all is your turf is not very dense. I am questioning auteck's idea that you have Kentucky bluegrass, because you should not have that thin a turf with KBG - unless that was what you seeded with this year (need the Guaranteed Analysis). The "dandelion" weed should die with WBG, but since it has not, I'm going to suggest that you fertilize right now, and then in 2 weeks, try the WBG again. Weeds that are not very healthy will not absorb the WBG and can even resist it. I know it seems crazy to fertilize the weeds so you can kill them, but that is exactly what I'm suggesting. Again, this is the consensus of Internet forum users over the ages. If you don't have a favorite fertilizer, look for a fertilizer like plain old Turf Builder that does not have any other additives like herbicide or insecticide - just fertilizer. If you are interested in an inexpensive organic lawn care program, here's a link to one. Also, it looks like you live in the woods. Does your lawn get much sunlight during the day in the summer? It must get enough for "crabgrass" to grow. True crabgrass needs full sun or it won't do well. Whatever your weed is, it acts exactly like crabgrass and looks much the same. I'm okay calling it crabgrass. I've been reading here for years and it always surprises me how early crabgrass appears in various parts of the country. My approach would be to discourage it with proper watering and mowing and to tolerate it (meaning no herbicides) one more season with anticipation and the hope of getting such a dense lawn next year that it will not come back. Yes, it can be done. For the fall, would you consider hiring a landscaper to resurface your entire lawn? In one morning he could fix the spots where the trees were, give you the best drainage possible, and prepare the soil for new seed. It would be a complete renovation which is why I don't suggest you spend a lot of money killing weeds this season. However, I'm not saying you should abdicate lawn care either. Treat the lawn as if it was the perfect lawn (despite the weeds) and it will surprise you. I should say that since you are not lawn people (yet, and I'm optimistic you will be), I have some doubt about the quality of the grass seed you have already purchased. It is very easy to buy a bag full of weed seeds when you are not experienced at reading the bags. It would be a shame to renovate and get the same problems back.

Regrettably, Andy did not give us the target Triclopyr with the 1.5% and 8% combo mix, or I could easily do it for you (math is not an issue or problem for me and I find myself with much time on my hands and little money in my purse, but not being named Ishmael, nor being interested in going to sea, but rereading many classics at the moment). OK, follow me here. But first, a warning. And I really, really mean this one, from somebody who's not big on warnings and usually just says, "Oh, throw the stuff around." So please take this one quite seriously. Given that you're mixing Triclopyr, Dicamba, and 2,4-d and some lawns are going to have peculiar sensitivities to that (some well-bred cultivars, I'm looking at you), test this mix before using it wholesale across the lawn and do not use this on hot or sunny days. CCO is 1 fl oz per gallon of water per 200 square feet for recommended lawns. Max is 2 oz per gallon of water per 500 square feet for northern lawns (because CCO is not generally used on southern lawns, but let me know). Because neither Scotts' nor America is capable of standardizing jack crap and I like transparency, I'll keep this simple and do it separately. Therefore, you non-standardizing, TP-hoarding Scotts' company kflxovod... grrr: CCO is 2 fl oz per gallon of water per 400 sq ft or CCO is 2.5 fl oz per gallon of water per 500 square feet for northern lawns. Max is 2 fl oz per gallon of water per 500 square feet for northern lawns and doesn't show that it contains any Triclopyr So this is actually very easy and the same for any other material that does not contain additional Triclopyr that you'd like to mix. Still with me here? Good. Therefore, if you were to mix the two at fifty-fifty and apply at 4.5 oz per gallon (if you have that setting, 5 if you don't) of water to cover 500 square feet, nobody is going to fault you for this. It'll work but might be a bit slow or just a touch spotty on some of the things that CCO would kill. Technically, this is an 90% of the Triclopyr resulting chemical. Trust me, this is usually enough and see that warning above. I don't like the amplification possibilities I'm seeing in some of these chemicals. Do a follow-up treatment 2 weeks later as a spot-spray if required. Now, if it were me? I'd pour off my remaining Max and measure it. Take that amount and multiply by 0.25, then add that much distilled or purified (it doesn't really matter which) water into the Max. Then do the mix as above at fifty-fifty but spray at 5 ounces per gallon. So if I had 7 ounces of Max remaining, I'd take 7*0.25 = 1.75, measure out 1.75 ounces of distilled water, and pour it into my Max container for a grand total of 8.75 ounces of diluted mix. Then use that at fifty-fifty mix at 5 oz per gallon. However, if it were me? I'd be testing that and using a much more gentle 4 oz per gallon equivalent, and spot-spraying to begin with. (Actually, if it were me, I wouldn't use this mix at all, but that's quite another story. To each his own).

I think I see your situation.... the sprayer container you originally bought already had W-B-G product in it that would automatically mix at the "right" ratio when attached to the hose. Now that it's empty, you want to know how to much W-B-G to put in the container to make it mix at the "right" ratio again when attached to the hose. I've had that situation before, and tried to figure it out, too. I ended up buying a spayer that is made for reuse and has markings and ratio instructions that come with it. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Indeed, THANK YOU Patricia, you're right, original question has not been answered directly. Sooo here's the answer directly FROM the ORTHO WEED B GON label: "Do not allow people or pets to enter the treated area until sprays have dried." PERIOD -- Nothing more / Nothing less. OK, now I'll wander off in the weeds... for anyone who has nothing better to do than listen to / read my rant... LOL ;-) We've had dogs all my life, AND have used it on our yard for many years -- usually just in the spring to knock down new broadleaf growth. Obviously we keep our dogs (and kids when they were young and at home) OFF until it's dry; AND have not had any cancers in/on any of our canines -- German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Irish Setters, and a Collie -- nor ANY family members. FYI, I grew up farming (3rd generation large family farm) -- dairy, beef, hogs and crops; and have used herbicides all my life -- now 63. Dad is 93, Mom is 90, and no cancers... We've harvested / eaten our own produce, slaughtered / eaten our own beef & pork as well as plenty of RAW whole milk from our Guernsey dairy herd... YET, nothing surprises me anymore these days... with so many that are paranoid, even "hateful" of anything that doesn't say "organic"! We NEVER buy organic products at the store -- a huge waste of money in my book. IMO, folks today are being flooded with so much BS in social media, in grocery and "health food" stores, etc. and I'm simply fed up with it! My degrees are in agriculture from Iowa State, including teaching Ag, and have had many "discussions" with folks who get on their high horse about only buying "organic"... and they usually end up walking away... unable to "defend" why they think organic is the "only way". LOL To each their own, I respect what others wish to eat and use in their homes, etc.... simply encourage them to "educate" themselves from actual biological, chemical, physical, etc. data that is verifiable -- NOT all the social media hype AND so many of the businesses that are reaping ridiculous financial profits from "organic" sales. AGAIN, "until sprays have dried" are the operative words here!!! I just sprayed my backyard this afternoon (spot sprayed areas as needed -- not entire surface area) about 3 hours ago AND will be letting our 3 dogs out as soon as we finish supper... so will be about 4 hours. I've already gotten down and checked -- all is dry, but will give it an "extra" hour. ;-)