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Patches of clover/chickweed takign over lawn

14 years ago

Hi all,

I have patches of chickweed and clover taking over my lawn. I mow high so my mower never cuts out the leaves of these weeds. (the grass is a mixture im not sure what types, fescule and bluegrass im guessing). My question is, how do i get rid of them? Should i mow lower? Should i round up the patches, wait a bit then replant? (if so how long do i wait to replant after i apply round up) or should i just pull the patches out in fall and replant? (it might take a while as there are some large patches of this stuff).

I live in central NJ, thanks!

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Comments (5)

Scott Haslip
14 years ago
Ortho makes a product that specifically targets those two weeds, its called Ortho Weed B Gon Chickweed, Clover and Oxalis Killer.

Roundup is a non-specific vegetation killer and thus will kill the clover and chickweed, but everything you spray as well. Keep the good grass, kill the weeds, use the targeted product.

If you do not already have a 2 gallon sprayer from which to mix up from concentrate, then buy one, they are cheap and allow you to do large areas quickly. Forget the expensive 32 ounce spray bottles. A $25 sprayer and concentrated versions of Wed-B-Gone, and other formulas (including Roundup) will pay for itself in a season easy.
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jimtnc
14 years ago
Be careful using any weed killer this time of year. If it's over 85deg it will more than likely kill off your grass too along with the weeds...it did mine, so be careful. It's been 95 here every day and I wouldn't attempt to put anything on my grass until the heat breaks...another month. We're just entering the "dog days of summer" now, so I think anything you put down might do bad things instead of good.
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I think you might have your zone wrong. A 3 or 4 would probably correspond to northern Canada. Philidelphia is generally considered a 7. As the others said it's too late to seed in Phily now, you will be wasting your money trying to start a lawn plus the weeds will love all the watering and fertilizer. Also cheap fixes, as in most cases, are only worth what you pay, which is little to nothing. Since it's too late to seed, you should focus on killing weeds and getting your lawn and soil in great shape for seeding time, which should be around Sept. 1 for you. Pulling weeds is fine, if you want to spend hours doing it, making divots in your lawn, and redoing it in a month or so. Buy a hose end sprayer, and get some Weed-B-Gone max or Bayer Advanced Weed and Crabgrass Killer and use as directed. The clover might need a second treatment of something like Ortho's Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis treatment, but I think the Bayer Advanced might take care of it all at once. Tupersan is a crabgrass preemergent, and is probably too late to apply now if you already have crabgrass germinating. If you don't you could put some down if you want to prevent the later germinating seeds. After you get your soil test back you can start to get your soil in shape for the late summer. Also that Patchmaster in my opinion is a waste of money. It contains mediocre seeds, and is mostly paper mulch that takes forever to dissolve. You will probably save money just buying good seeds that you want to plant. For full sun in Phily you can't go wrong with Kentucky Bluegrass, it produces some beautiful turf. You could also go with perennial rye or turf type tall fescue, both produce nice turf as well, but as a bunch type grass it doesn't spread like KBG. Warm season grass will be dormant for 5 or 6 months out of the year, and isn't a great option for you.
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I love the idea. I have a bermuda lawn and as mentioned, bermuda is next to impossible to get rid of without roundup. I have one patch of white clover (which is incidentally in a spot which tends to be more moist) and it is thick, competing with the bermuda. My soil is awful, overall. I may try throwing around a bag of white clover seed in the existing lawn in other spots, and see what happens. On the other topic mentioned (thin poor soil with little organic matter) here is what I did. It is starting to work, after three years. The dog pen was mostly in the shade of oak trees. It had a little shade tolerant prairie grass, but that quickly got trampled. The large shady part of the pen (_huge_ pen with only two dogs; amazing how quickly they can ruin it) turned into a mudhole when rainy and "concrete" when dry. Tree roots were starting to get exposed from erosion. I started going to the free mulch place and getting truckloads of wood chips. I scattered them in the dog pen, starting with the muddy and eroded spots and going from there. Grass is starting to come back a little, and the wood chips keep the mud and erosion under control. They are starting to break down, and I keep adding more. I think eventually the soil will get back, not to its native "before dogs and humans" state.
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Weed B Gon Clover, Chickweed and Oxalis will take it out for you if you can get that in Canada. If not, any weed killer that lists clover will work fine as long as it's compatible with your listed lawn (probably fescue, rye, and/or bluegrass up there). However, like Arnold, it'll be back unless you take care of the issues that are causing it. Water the lawn properly--deeply and fully, once a week, if nature doesn't do it for you. Feed with a good lawn fertilizer on Memorial Day (soon now!), September 1, October 1, and growth stoppage after you've done the last mow but while the grass is still green (if after November 1, otherwise do a half rate feeding). Reseed if you have thin areas when the weather just starts to break for late summer (usually around August 15th for me here in Pennsylvania, USA, probably about the same for you, too). Water 2 to 3 times daily for 10 minutes until it fully sprouts--about 20-30 days--then back off slowly while increasing watering time.
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dchall_san_antonio
14 years ago
I agree this is not the time to be using weed killer. Weed-b-gone is the product for a spot spray but not now. If you have bluegrass, it will fill back in. If you don't have bluegrass, then you'll have to reseed with fescue. But you were probably going to reseed your fescue in the fall anyway.

Now I have to ask this. I ask every summer. Why is RU everyone's first choice for killing weeds? It is singularly NOT recommended for killing weeds. It is used for killing EVERYTHING if you want to renovate. Why is it so popular???
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kevingalaxy
Original Author
14 years ago
Yes, im nto sure why everyone suggests round up either?! My reasonign was to kill everything in the patches then completely reseed them in fall? Not a good idea? So i am guessing the best thing to do it "spot spray" with Ortho Weed B Gon and then reseed when those patches have died off?
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botanical_bill
14 years ago
2-4-d will take out chickweed like a champ. Last year I had a bad chickweed problem. I mowed lower and it spread even worse. I sprayed the whole yard with 2-4-d and a week later, no chickweed. So go to your local agway or tractor supply and get some 2-4-d, the ester varity works better.
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