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oakey1

Length of time for broadleaf herbicide effect?

oakey1
14 years ago

In May this year I began having a lawn care service spray my lawn, whereas I had been doing it myself for 8 yrs., with varying success. We built 9 yrs ago, on 2.5a on a windy and very rocky ridge. Have had no soil test, except for engineering test, but I would say in general is heavy clay content overlaying shale. Soil we had hauled in is mostly high clay content - not much good soil available around here for sale. Grass is a mixture of native bermuda, some bermuda sod that appears to be like native, some zoysia close around the house, and one pallet of a fine-bladed bermuda that my wife and I laid. We have had a wide variety of broadleaf weeds, including varieties of clover, and crabgrass (I'm not sure if that is categorized as broadleaf). Most of the native grass on the ridge is nutgrass. I have contained some of the nut grass in smaller areas by cont. to spray and to pull it up.

Immediate problem and question is: How long should it take a broadleaf herbicide to kill emerging weeds. In particular, the prevalent weed now, that doesn't seem to be affected by the last spray, I think is called Henbane, though I'm not sure. It has lavender colored blooms and appears somewhat clover like, though is more individual shoots than is clover. The lawn was sprayed in late Sept., and this stuff is coming up like nothing is bothering it. There was some present at time of spraying, but much more is sprouting. Last spring it almost covered my lawn. The service owner/operator, after spraying in May and July, said he would return in November, then in Feb. and April, but he just showed up on Sept. 25. No fertilizer was used in July, but I sprayed twice, Aug. and Sept., with a well-known brand of fertilizer, which in a Sr. moment now I cannot think of (similar to Peter's, comes in small bags in a box, used more for gardening. Don't have the numbers on it-but wasn't very strong). I mixed it 1 oz./gal and sprayed about 55 gal. over about 2.2a (only about 1.2a is lawn, rest is still mostly wild). Since the spraying on 9-25 we have had some sun, but mostly rain and overcast and cooler weather. It was sunny when he sprayed on Fri., then rained twice following week, little more sun, then mostly rain/overcast until today, 10-16-09. There may be another broadleaf, similar looking, that is coming up in areas where he only sprayed in May. Might be the same weed, though I think is slightly different in appearance and density of growth.

Additionally, he supposedly fertilized, but I don't really know what he sprayed, except that I could see a light tan color on the leaves, as have previously, but from the appearance of the grass (same), I can't help but wonder if the fertilizer should not be having a noticeable effect on growth of the grass. Overall, we could tell a very noticeable difference after his first spraying in May. After the July spraying and the last one, we can't see much difference, and are wondering about it. Thanks for any help on this.

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