Spraying lawn for weeds.

KennedyDiesel · May 23, 2005

On a related note, who has added fertilizer to the mix and sprayed all at once?

bczoom · May 23, 2005

( On a related note, who has added fertilizer to the mix and sprayed all at once? )

I did...

I made a regular witches brew. I think I had 2 kinds of weed killer, some kind of liquid fertilizer and some Miracle Grow (for color /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif) I almost lost everything /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif but about a month later the weeds were gone and the grass came back. Be careful doing this!!!!

beenthere · May 23, 2005

I've been planning to do some combination liquid fertilizer and weed spray.

I found the Liquid Lawn & Pasture Fertilizer 20-2-3 at the FarmFleet store.
It says it is compatible with Amine 400.

For an acre, I would mix 20 gal of spray, and I would need 7½ gal of the liquid fertilizer, ½ gal weed killer, and 12 gal water. The liquid fertilizer costs $15 for 2½ gal, so the total cost per acre including 2-4D would be about $60.

I'm thinking I will give that a try, but may mix the fertilizer a bit light until I see how bad or good the hit/miss looks. Not so bad if one misses a few dandelions when spraying, but if one misses some strips or spots when fertilizing, they can stick out like sore thumbs. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

John_Mc · May 23, 2005

( I mix 1.5 qt of Weed-B-Gon and 1.5 qt of Amine 400 to 30 gal of water. I get very good results on dandelions, thistles, creeping charlie (that is a tough one), and dock. Also keeps the clover in check.
)

Any suggestions on something to use that will take out the dandilions but leave the clover?

John Mc

KennedyDiesel · May 25, 2005

Something like a liquid version of Scott's weed and feed would be nice. The stuff that joints like Chem-Lawn use would do well.

beenthere · May 25, 2005

I don't put on Weed n Feed, and when I watch others put it on, it doesn't seem to do a very good job of weeding. Is it real particular as to how it is put on, or is it just not as effective? Or maybe, I am not very observant. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I don't mean to belittle the products, or those using them, but I have to admit that the results appear marginal, from what I have noticed.

Spraying broadleaf spray twice a year seems to be much more effective, at least it works for me. Not sure if the liquid fertilizer is the way to go, as compared to broadcasting the dry fertilizer.

KennedyDiesel · May 25, 2005

I've had fair results with weed and feed, but the size of the granule and how wet the leaves are is a big factor. That is why I am looking to spray.

Follow up on nozzles:

http://www.hypropumps.com/Agriculture/Nozzle_Body_Acc.cfm?bums=Agriculture

The ones that I picked up are side entry hose barbs. They make center and end units. Center ones have 2 barbs to manifold the feed.

tomnky · May 25, 2005

I have to agree with You on the granular weed products, I used Scott's stage #2 this year and really am not pleased at all with the results.

I had already bought it this year before I bought My sprayer is the only reason I went that route, which will be My last use of granular for that purpose. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Pilot · May 25, 2005

Never had much luck with Weed Be Gone. It may need a sticking agent to make it work effectively.

I use Weedmaster which has 2,4-D and another chemical which I can't remember at the moment. Works well on all broad leafed weeds I have tried it on, including blackberries. Cost is about $65 for 2 1/2 gallons and you use only 1 ounce per gallon of water. You need to add a sticking agent (wetting agent). For blackberries, which get sprayed incidently when spraying other weeds (not labeled for blackberries) it is most effective when they are growing rapidly. It does a great job on blackberries here in western Oregon when I accidently spray them. Of course, I try real hard to miss the blackberries, but they just keep jumping in the way.

KennedyDiesel · May 25, 2005

My results with weed b gone max have been good so far, but I do have some kind of ground weed that it did not kill. Guess I'll need Roundup for that...

PineRidge · May 25, 2005

Never had much luck with Weed Be Gone. It may need a sticking agent to make it work effectively.


This past weekend we used a mix of Weed-B-Gone & 2-4-D and it put the knock-out punch to the pretty yellow weeds. I was very surprised at just how effective the kill actually was.

beenthere · May 25, 2005

Is your ground weed called "creeping charley" ?

That is one tough weed to kill, and round-up is one of the recommendations. However, my neighbor soaks it pretty good with 2-4D and knocks it back some.

This site from the Uof Minnesota tells about using Borax very carefully to take out creeping charley.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/plants/BG522.html

rswyan · May 26, 2005

( er had much luck with Weed Be Gone. It may need a sticking agent to make it work effectively. )

I've seen a post where rdbrumfeld talked about using Joy dish soap as a sticker - unfortunately there wasn't any info in the post about how much or what ratio to use ....... anybody have any recommendations ?

KennedyDiesel · May 26, 2005

We've got some of that, but that's not what I'm after. If I am not mistaken, creeping charlie smells kinda minty doesn't it?or is that an altogether different animal?

I'll see if I can get a picture...

Pilot · May 26, 2005

The active ingredient in Weed Be Gone is 2,4-D. The chemicals come in different formulations--esters, amines, etc. The formulation of 2,4-D that you added to W-B-G may have been more effective in your application than the formulation in W-B-G accounting for the good results.

2,4-D is an artificial plant growth regulator that kills by messing up the physiological process controls in the plant. Some functions accelerate wildly and some shut down. If you exceed the recommended dosage, you can get great top kill but not kill the roots because the top can die before it translocates the chemical to the rest of the plant, so it might look good 'n dead today, but come back in a few weeks.

OTH, by doubling up the chemicals, you may have made up for not using a wetting agent (surfactant). Surfactants make your chemical investment more effective by helping the chemicals spread out over the leaf instead of beading on the sruface.

I used to use detergent for a wetting agent with Crossbow and Roundup and had disappointing results. Worked well on some plants and poorly on others. Then I coughed up the money and bought R-11 surfactant and it made a world of difference.

FWIW, I just checked the jug and the second ingredient in Weedmaster is dicamba. Good stuff! Buy Weedmaster and your surfactantat a farm supply store, not your local garden center.

rswyan · May 27, 2005

Richard,

I've been using Gordon's Trimec, which is what Chemlawn and a couple of other companies used to use when they did our lawn previously. The active ingredients are 2,4-D, Dicamba, and Mecoprop-p. Seems to work pretty good, given my inexperience with spraying.

It's $20 per gallon at TSC and a gallon will treat 32,000 square feet (cool season grasses) or 64,000 square feet (warm season grasses)

Thanks for the info on the R-11 surfactant, I'll check and see what TSC has the next I'm in there.

JWE · May 27, 2005

I also use Trimec and am very pleased with the results. I apply it with a 25 gallon tow behind Fimco sprayer (also from TSC).

For fertilizer I use Lawn and Pasture liquid that TSC sells. I'm not thrilled with the results so far. I will apply it two more times this year and if I don't get better results I will look for a different brand. The problem is that there are few places in western PA that sell liquid fertilizer. Besides TSC, the only other farm store is Agway and they don't sell it.

I was very disappointed in the marker dye that I bought. I think it was called Dyemark. I mixed it at the heaviest recommended mixture and it was very hard to see. The only color that they had at TSC was blue and it does not show up well on green grass. I cannot find anywhere to buy it in my area except TSC.

Is there a good supplier where I could mail order these stuff?

John

beenthere · May 27, 2005

Yes, the creeping charlie has a mint smell to it.

And thanks for the info on the spray check valves. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

philc · May 27, 2005

Thanks to all the great info in this thread, today I stocked up with everything needed and, after a mow tomorrow, will be weeding and feeding 1.7 ac of the 14 ac total on Sunday.

Into a brand new tow-behind Fimco 15 gallon unit from TSC ($229) will go a cocktail of Weedmaster (2.5 gal for $66 at Southern States), Gordon's Lawn & Garden Fertilizer ($13 for 2.5 gal), the only liquid fert I could find without hitting every store in town, a pinch of DeFac 820 wetter, and some Blue Suremark dye.

Today's humor was that I also bought, to test, one of those flytraps which are a plastic bag and plastic top. They packaged the attractant into a little tube inside. My wife, instead of opening the plastic top, cut off the bottom of the bag to get the tube. Fortunately, only $6 was lost!

Will report back on the spraying experiment in a few days, after everything either dies or looks bee-utiful.

rswyan · May 28, 2005

( was very disappointed in the marker dye that I bought. I think it was called Dyemark. I mixed it at the heaviest recommended mixture and it was very hard to see. The only color that they had at TSC was blue and it does not show up well on green grass. I cannot find anywhere to buy it in my area except TSC. )

JWE,

I'm using the same stuff from TSC and was having the same problem as you seeing it until I discovered a way around it. Initially I would try to look out in the distance and pick out the marked area and drive my next line adjacent to it ..... very hard to see even when using the upper end of the amount recommended (and at $25 a bottle I'd prefer to use less not more)

Then I noticed that if I looked to my immediate left or right (depending on where the last band I sprayed was) I could easily see the blue beads on the foliage on the area I just sprayed ..... so that's what I started doing ..... looking to the side and just a bit ahead ..... makes it very easy to pick out where the spray line is. My boom is only 140" so I don't have to look real far.

Hope this helps.