What Weed & Feed should I use?

6 years ago

I need some help, I know nothing about lawn care. We have been in our house for a year. last spring the lawn looked pretty good. Now, it looks awful with many weeds. I live in Greenville SC. The front yard is centipede grass, the back yard looks like a mixture of couple of species. I was told I need to weed and feed it, which one should I use? Thanks for any help.

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dchall_san_antonio

6 years ago

The experts are only as good as their people. I used to work with one of the former salesmen for those experts. All he knew about grass was what he got from their catalog. He literally matched pictures in his book and made diagnosis. The sprayer people know how to use the equipment. If you have good experts, keep them. Many people write in here to fix the damage done by the experts.

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Comments (6)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
6 years ago
You don't want a weed 'n feed product - recommendations for those are outdated and not very environmentally (or people/pet) friendly. And they are not very efficient at weed control either.

Centipede lawns are sensitive to a number of common herbicides, including those that are often part of a weed 'n feed mixture. It is best to find a herbicide/lawn weed killer that is listed specifically for weed control in a centipede lawn. Spray or spot spray the weeds directly, then apply whatever fertilizer you prefer or is recommended. Since centipede doesn't grow here, I can't help with that but other posters more local may chime in. Or check with your county extension service for their recommendations.
dchall_san_antonio
6 years ago
You do NOT need a weed n feed product. You need a herbicide (middle of next month) and a fertilizer (next Thanksgiving). WNF products fall into the category of too good to be true. They don't do what you expect them to do. They are poor at feeding and poor at weeding. So you need separate products applied at the right time for each one. More specifically you need a spray type herbicide with atrazine. These usually have a purple splash on the label, but read the label to make sure. Atrazine will not kill the centipede like other herbicides do. And atrazine will kill just about everything except centipede and St Augustine, so it's the bomb for those two grasses. Use it to spot treat the weeds. You only need to moisten the leaves of the weeds. Read the label 2 or 3 times to be sure you understand how to apply. Atrazine is not something you want the pets or kids playing in. And more specifically on the fertilizer: centipede is one of the grass types that uses very little fertilizer. They used to day you could drag an empty bag of fertilizer over the grass every other year and that would be enough. I don't have any experience with centipede, but I do understand minimal fertilizer. Fall is the best time to apply before the grass cools off. If it ever stops growing then that is the time to apply. Otherwise centipede is nearly zero maintenance. If you have trees that are maturing in the yard, the centipede will not be happy under those. It will thin out and leave bare spots for weeds to come in. For those spots you could either convert them into flower beds or plant St Augustine, which does love the shade.
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functionthenlook
6 years ago
When we moved into our house 4 years ago the acre lawn was full of dandelions and other weeds. My husband spent wasted time and money putting on Scots 4 system lawn care. It was useless. We contracted with a lawn service to take care of the weed and feed care of the lawn. Best things we did was leave it to the experts.
functionthenlook
6 years ago
They know what they are doing. Our law is weed free and nice and green. Most of our lawn sevice companies are not a chain in our area. No salesmen. The owner dx the lawn and what it needs.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
It's been my experience as a professional horticulturist that very few lawn care companies know much more than peanuts about lawns!! What they DO know is how to jack up their bills by recommending unnecessary services!! In and out, fast and dirty and with a huge assortment of chemicals.

What Weed & Feed should I use?

dchall_san_antonio

Comments (6)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

dchall_san_antonio

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