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I have a serious infestation of weeds in my lawn, how do I fight it?

8 years ago

Across my lawn there seems to be so many weeds of all variety - Crabgrass, broad-leaf, a few grassy types, and a certain green moss growing under much of it all.

As I understand weeds are what happens when there is a vacancy of grass. Yet I can't seem to get much grass to grow with so many weeds out-competing the seedlings. I don't know what I can do to turn things around and I've heard so much conflicting advice. Some people have told me to put down a lot of new grass and focus on nurturing it so it prevents weeds, while others have said that I need to kill the weeds first in the spring and then plant grass after summer,

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Comments (2)

newtolawncare Scranton 6a
8 years ago
I had the same problem. Went with the advice of experts here, full lawn renovation. Sounds harder than it is, is better than fighting weeds. Are you up north? What city? Timing and advice depend on location.
dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
If you live in the south and want bermuda or St Augustine, we can help you get to a nice lawn in a few months. If you live in the north and want something like rye, fescue, and/or Kentucky bluegrass, I would suggest you hang onto that thought until after summer as suggested by someone in your past. In the mean time practice proper watering, mowing, and fertilizing and you will have the best looking weeds on the block. That's what I'm currently doing at my new home. Because I'm satisfied with the look of green, even though it is green weeds, this is a very low stress approach. Here's a picture of my weeds from last July.

Proper watering means deep an infrequent. Deep means 1 inch all at one time; not spread out over several days. Infrequent means to adjust frequency for the temperature. When it's hotter you deep water more often. With temps in the 90s water once per week. With temps in the 80s water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70 water once a month. This works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so wherever you are it will work.

Mulch mow most grasses at the highest notch on the mower. The only grasses that get mowed at the lowest level are bermuda, centipede, and creeping bentgrass.

Fertilize once in the late spring and twice in the fall. Late spring is Memorial Day. Early fall is Labor Day and late fall is around Thanksgiving.

That's about all there is to it.
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I saw your pix on the lawn forum. I tried something this year that worked for some of my weeds. It is a three part process so it might not work for a large lawn, but here it is. I had oxalis in full shade. 1. Sprayed with soapy sugary water as a sticking agent. 1 tsp of dish soap and 2 ounces of molasses to a quart of water. 2. Dusted the wet leaves with baking soda and allowed it to dry. Load a sock with baking soda and tap the side to let the dust fall out onto the weed. It does no damage to the sock so you can use any sock. 3. Sprayed with strong vinegar. Even in full shade the oxalis melted away. Here are the pictures. My apologies for the picture quality. I set up the tripod and did not realize how bad they would look until it was done. The target weed is on the left side of the tree trunk. In the first one I had done steps 1 and 2 the previous day with no ill effect. Second one was taken immediately after spraying with vinegar. You can see the foaming on the leaves. Third was taken after 5 minutes. You can see the yellow flower petals wilting a little. The rest of the leaves were doing the same but you can't really tell. Fourth was taken at 30 minutes. Wilt is evident. This one was taken an hour later. The plant has wilted away just like I would expect on a hot, sunny day. Here's the first one again for direct before and after comparison. Again, this was in full shade (north side of tree) on a day in the high 60s.
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5 or 10 minutes of water probably is not enough for a lawn, especially one in full sun. Most all of the studies I have seen talk about a lawn getting an inch of water per week, depending on the temperature, drainage, etc. and here that takes about an hour to deliver. Then comes the question what does a good, reliable soil test say about your soils pH and nutrient supply? How much organic matter is in your soil? What kind of life is in that soil? How well does that soil drain? Get the soil into a good, healthy condition and a good lawn that is more "weed" free will follow. Spraying poisons around to attempt to control unwanted plant growth, "weeds" is a waste of time, energy, and money.
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LOVES to grow her vines out really long ==>>> extremely easy to propagate ... and i would plan for the future... by doing so ... always have spare of any beloved plant ... that way.. if it fails.. or you just get tired of thinking about whatever it is... you can just throw momma out.. because you have the exact same momma in younger form ... and if you can cycle such.. by giving away any extra you propagate .. who doesnt like getting a free houseplant ... [meaning,... you dont have to have more than one failsafe ... so once it start getting big... start some more.. and get rid of extras ...] sounds like you are growing it well ... but maybe keeping the soil a bit wet ??? .. wonder what would happen if you let it near dry in between waterings ... it might reduce the media growth you dont like ... bottom line.. if the plant doesnt care.. indicated by its growth ... then why try fixng your problem.. when the plant doesnt seem to think its a problem ... in other words.. dont love it to death.. fixing that which is not broken .. ken https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pathos+propagation&t=ffcm&iax=videos&ia=videos
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