TO SPRAY OR NOT TO SPRAY, THAT IS THE QUESTION

I need a little advice. Here's my dilemma.
The wife and I bought new construction about 18 months ago. The yard was starting to come in but had a lot of weeds. Last year I fertilized it twice, and put lime out over the winter. I bought some spray weed killer but never got around to using it untill it got too hot. This spring the yard looks better than ever and is filling in nicely. But it still has quite a bit of weeds. Especially clover up next to the house. Should I spray the weeds and possibly end up with bare patches? Or not spray and leave well enough alone?
I did have it plugged and over seeded last fall.

 

Clover is green. Green is good. Leave green alone.

You would cry if you saw my lawn, if you are worried about clover.
I worry about the wild blackberries not coming back, as I mow the lawn. Any green is better than wild blackberries.

 

Yes, Clover is Green. But it's chocking out my grass.
But I do see your point, hence the reason for my question.

 

Any other comments?

 

What type of grass do you have?

 

How often are you mowing? I know with my St Augustine the best way to keep out the weeds is frequent mowing as it encourages growth and will naturally choke out the weeds. Clover goes crazy right now but will die out even without weed killer. Instead of bagging the grass clippings use a mulching blade. May want to lower the blade height for now to attack the weeds but as the lawn develops you can keep it taller which helps keep younger weeds from thriving.

This reminds me I'm a few weeks behind in putting down the fertilizer.

 

For the most part.
A blend of Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue I think. I'm not sure what the contractor put down. But that's what I used when I 1st moved in.
And when I had it plugged and over seeded.

 

Then theoretically the Kentucky bluegrass should fill in the bare spots unless they're fairly large. The problem can be, that in North Carolina any bare spots in one's lawn will be patches of crabgrass/goosegrass by midsummer. Even if one puts down a pre-emergent it will probably have a limited effect in a situation of bare dirt.

 

There are products you spray that kill weeds and not grass. Heck weed n feed is one such product.

 

Clover is growing because the soil is too acidic. My front lawn was mostly clover, because there is a line of about 15 pines along the property line. The needles made the soil acidic.

The solution is lime, and lots of it. It will change the PH, and you can then get grass to grow.

 

I mow one a week during the growing season. And as needed early Spring and Fall. I never let it get too shaggy.
As for mowing height. I set it at about 4 out of 5 on the ol' Johnny Deere. That is on the high side of the settings,
it it cuts at about 3.5 to 4 inches I would guess.

 

Weeds are the bane of my existence. I have had f'n dollarweed follow me through 3 states. The worst of all is BINDWEED - in the spring it throws up "pretty blue flowers" which is why people let it run rampant but it is the worst lawn killer. The leaves cover grass and kill it. The roots go deep and wide, vining underground, not like dandy's that you can pop out. In fact, pulling them out, even as deep as you can unroot, makes them come back harder.

You don't have to use a full weed killer that also kills the grass. We have a place here called ZamZows, they used to sell an "ultra weed control" that kills the weeds but not the grass. I think they just changed the name; I still have a half bottle of concentrate after two seasons. Maybe you can find a similar formula, it works for full lawn control or spot spraying. 2 capfuls (about an ounce) per gallon in a weed sprayer. It took out clover, dandys as well as the f'n bindweed. This is the only stuff I've found that works, I'm down to spot spraying now to keep them under control.

 

Found it. They renamed it.

 

Greatly appreciated. I'll check it out.

 

It's been a few weeks, how's it looking now?

 

Scalp it as low as possible, bag the clippings, Burn it (Chemically), took me ~2 weeks, Scalp and bag it again, Have a S-ton of Orgrow or similar delivered, speed, then use aerator to work it in. Re-seed, lite rake, roller, water the hell out of it and enjoy.

You will be sore AF, but worth it imo. After about the 10 year mark I really struggled with my sod lawn; crab grass, clover and some other devil week I could not identify. I spent way too much time and money on Home Depot stuff. Above was the fix, I should have done it from the start.

Sorry, I cannot remember the exact chemical, it was ~6 years ago, it was a commercial concentrate, purchased off Amazon (Direct ship). Also recommend Pennington smart seed (Flavor of your choice), was ~20% more than Scotts or whatever, but really high "Sprout / survival" percentage.

With coming summer/heat, I think you need to do this like NOW. You need the grass strong before summer really starts beating it down.

If you don't care about looking like trash for a few weeks there are few different types of seed starter. Basically compressed, shredded newspaper with light fertilizer. It goes over the seed, soaks up water, protects the seed and in my experience cuts a few days off germination, requires less frequent watering and increases survival %. The stuff disintegrates in ~3-4 weeks but kind of looks like ass. I really only use it when I have to, like in the dead heat of summer.

 

So I did spray about 4 weeks ago. And I am so glad I did.
The clover is all but gone, most other weeds too. I didn't spray much of the back as my garden hose wouldn't reach. And I can really tell a difference.
I also put down some 29-0-5 fertilizer with Iron about a week later.
Grass is a little thin in some areas where the clover was, but starting to fill in now that the clover and weeds are gone.
I'm going to get another hose so I can get the rest of the back, and spray the front again if it needs it about the 1st of June.

 

Nice to hear! Right now is about my favorite time of the mowing season. Stuff is growing in fast and weeds are getting choked out all while the weather is still reasonable.

 

@Jesse H Agreed ^. Not to mention NOT miserable hot and dry. Also not looking forward to $$$ water bills once I have to start watering