Lawncare and WEEDS...

[GnatGoSplat]

My lawn looks like CRAP.
Nothing but WEEDS and bald spots. Maybe 1% grass, the rest is weeds. I want to kill the weeds and plant some grass to make the lawn look good. I want to move in the not too distant future, and I think a nice lawn will make the house sell better.

I've seen some "broadleaf weed killer" stuff called "WEED STOP" at Home Depot. Supposedly it kills weeds and spares good grass (not like I really have any good grass). What kind of sprayer should I use with it? One that hooks to the hose, or one that has a big tank that (I assume) is pressurized by pumping the handle on top? Is there any weed killer stuff that works REALLY well? Most have something in it called "2-4,D" that I heard works really well.

Should I spray the weed killer and then spread grass seeds, or should I kill weeds and then wait a certain period of time before spreading grass seeds? Any tricks to keeping birds from eating all the seeds?

Shawn

 

[xraymongral]

Try a fertilizer "weed and feed", if oyu have crab grass, you need a seperate herbicide for that, or a fertilizer with crabgrass preventer. Now is the time to put it on. Use dry fertilizer with a spreader. Either water your lawn per what the package says, or put it on before a light sprinkle if you can.

Wait a week, then seed the lawn. If there are big bald spots, rake them, or otherwise loosen the soil before planting the seed. Not sure if you can put the seed on sooner after fertilizing, but thats what I have done, and the seed has taken well, without burning the fresh grass

Then you will have to fertilize in the late spring, then in the summer...it never seems to end

 

[Plantanthera]

At 1% grass is not a good sign. The best way is to get a professional to spray weed killer on your lawn then wait a week before you spread 1~2inch of high quality topsoil on your existing lawn then spread grass seed (you need to have a chemical license to buy industrial strength weed killer...the consumer weed killer is not design for your problem).

You don't have to worry regarding bird feeding of the grass seeds, because majority of the seeds will be mixed into the first 1inch of soil when you rake the seed into the soil with a grass/leaf rake, them tamper it down with a water drum roller.

You could look into laying sod instead of seed, because after you work out the number, you don?t save much money between sod & seed, unless you have a very large lawn. And, spreading seed will not look too good, because you will have competitions from the existing weed seed that is in your lawn (the weed seed in your lawn will often live up to 7 years).

While you are at it you could setup a sprinkler system that will help on reducing lawn maintenance.