If you’ve ever been in that situation where there’s more weeds than grass, you’re not alone so don’t give up, there are solutions. In fact, it’s as simples as a weed and feed to start your lawn on the journey to resurrection. The Lawn Shed has professional quality solutions which gets results when it comes to restoring your lawn. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got clover, bindii or even creeping oxalis we’ve got solutions that can help you kill existing weed and even prevent new ones from coming up. Here we cover, how to weed and feed your lawn like a professional, identifying weeds, choosing a professional weed control option and then feeding your lawn back to health.
Identifying your lawn weeds
There are a lot of common weeds like bindii, clover and creeping oxalis which are in literally thousands of lawns across Australia. Not all weeds though are easy to identify, that’s why we created the Weed Problem Solver which literally takes you straight to the solution for your weed problem.
Choosing a herbicide for your lawn weeds
There are numerous different types of herbicides that can be used around the lawn and garden.
A total herbicide
This kills just about everything plant it touches and includes products like Glyphosate 360. These aren’t suitable for your lawn unless you’re painting small areas of weeds, but they are great for driveways, paths and the side of your house where there’s no current plants growing. These are also great for killing off an existing lawn and weeds if you’re looking to replace your lawn with new turf or lawn seed.
A broadleaf herbicide
This type of lawn herbicide is great at killing broadleaf weeds also known as flat weeds or dicots. These are herbicides that generally contain multiple active ingredients which allow them to kill a broader spectrum of broadleaf weeds. This is the type of product you would use to kill clover, bindii, creeping oxalis, and many more winter broadleaf weeds that invade Australian lawns. The Lawn Shed has two great ones, Bow & Arrow and Dicamba M.
Sedge and grass herbicides
The next group of herbicides belong to sedge and grass killers, these are generally more complex products and are very targeted in nature, that is, they don’t kill a broad spectrum of weeds but most importantly they can kill one grass that is a weed in your lawn which is not. This includes products like Tempra for sedges and Lonhro for Onion weed and Ryegrass.
Pre-emergent Herbicides
Finally, the last type of herbicide to cover is pre-emergent herbicides like Barricade or Spartan. While these products do not kill an existing weed, they are extremely value and the true professional way to keep weeds at bay. They stay in the soil, forming a barrier for when seeds germinate. When weed seeds germinate the first root absorbs the herbicide and dies. These are used in professional turf, as you can imagine no one ever wants to see weeds at our world-famous stadiums and golf courses.
Applying a broadleaf herbicide for lawn weeds
Now to get these weeds to move on it requires a little intervention form us. We recommend the products used by turf professionals because it’s what works the best. Bow & Arrow is a broadleaf herbicide that contains three different active ingredients that have a synergistic (work together) effect. MCPA, clopyralid and diflufenican, this means it can effectively treat a wide range of weeds without damage to your lawn. In fact it’s safe on a wide variety of warm season lawn types including Couch, Hybrid Couch, Buffalo, and Kikuyu, as well as cool season grasses like Rye and Fescue.
Simply pull out your sprayer, add 50ml of Bow & Arrow to 5L of water and apply this evenly over a 100m2 area. If your lawns bigger or smaller, simply adjust at the same ratio.
After that there’s nothing to do, no need to water it in, simply keep the mower off the lawn for two days after application.
It may take a couple of weeks but don’t worry the herbicide is working its way down through the plant giving an effective kill.
Applying a pre-emergent herbicide for lawn weeds
Pre-emergent herbicides are a relatively new concept to the home long market but they’ve been used in the professional market full a very long time. The first pre-emergent herbicide was identified when a clothing dye was spilt on a lawn and no weeds grew in that area. A very strange origin story but an observation that scientists have been taking advantage of for years.
Spartan pre-emergent herbicide contains the active product Prodiamine, this herbicide sits in the soil for up to six months protecting your lawn against common grass weeds. With six month coverage, application in late February and early September can protect us against common grass weeds like summer grass and winter grass for the entire year.
Feeding the turf
We did say a lawn restoration needs a weed and feed. So let’s talk feeding.
Depending on how many weed you have in your lawn, you may have just killed off a significant portion of the green aspect of your lawn, leaving it looking thin, patchy and ugly. That’s why we recommend following a herbicide with a lawn fertiliser about a week after the herbicide application. A granular fertiliser like Lawn Play All Rounder can be used as a maintenance fertiliser allowing the lawn to fill in small gaps and restore it to its beautiful green colour. However if your lawn has significant patches and requires a bit more of a boost to get it moving and fill in those gaps quickly then Lawn Play Renovate is the ideal fertiliser to restore your lawn and get it moving into those areas as fast as possible.
FAQ
What herbicide is best for my lawn?
Choosing a herbicide depends on the type of weeds that you have and your lawn type. For broadleaf weeds wipe bindii, clover and creeping oxalis we recommend Bow & Arrow as it’s safe on most common lawns.
What product should I use for bindii?
Bow & Arrow is a broad-spectrum herbicide which can knockout bindii and other common broadleaf weeds.
I have tried killing Creeping oxalis before without success, what should I do?
Creeping Oxalis is also a broadleaf weed, however it has a bulbous root system. This makes it particularly difficult to kill as the weed will often separate its top part from its bottom half. This prevent the herbicide from moving down into the bulb and killing it effectively. Many herbicides will only burn the top off and the weed will return. Creeping Oxalis will generally require two applications of Bow & Arrow for effective control. The second application is best made as the plant puts on new leaf.
How do I kill onion grass?
Onion grass can be killed with Lonhro herbicide. apply with a surfactant for best results
Should I weed and feed or feed and weed?
You should always weed and feed. Weed control treatments should take place separately. Weed control is best done in July before weeds are able to start setting their seed, this will reduce the amount of seeds in the soil and put yourself in a better position for next season. Feeding should occur once the soil temperatures are warm enough for soil microbes to be active, as they need to convert the nutrients to plant available forms.
