May 23
Weed Control
Posted by Simon @ 2:50 pm
We are currently well into the month of May. Most gardeners have completed their spring lawn renovation program and are experiencing some nice consistent growth on their lawns, especially after a welcome wet spell.
With this comes the emergence of many types of common lawn and turf weeds. Daisy, buttercup, dandelion, clover, plantain and trefoil are all starting to grow now. If left to grow these will become a major nuisance and can quickly spoil a well maintained luxury lawn.
Late May – early June is the ideal time for weed control on lawns. This is because growth should be strong (strong growth helps when using chemical weed killers) and hopefully the weed problem is not too severe at this early stage of the season.
If you have already used a combined feed and weed product earlier in the season you may have controlled any weed activity. These products are excellent for both feeding and weeding the lawn together. This is because for the most effective weed control it is essential for the grass to be growing strongly, this is where the fertiliser ingredient of the product comes into play.
However if weeds are starting to appear some kind of weed control program will be needed. If only a few plants are present consider hand weeding as no one wants to spray chemicals unless absolutely necessary. If chemicals are needed consider treating the areas where only the weeds are present if possible.
If you go down the route of applying chemicals the weeds will need identifying prior to application. A useful source of weed identification can be found at lawnweeds.co.uk. It is important to correctly identify the weeds you are treating as different chemicals control different weeds. You can get more advice on these products and which to use from your local garden center who will stock a choice of selective weed killers.
For the best results let don’t mow the lawn for at least 3 days before and after treatment has taken place. The reason being the weed leaf has time to grow so the chemical has a large target area and the chemical also has time to penetrate into the weed before the leaf is removed by mowing.
As always when using any type of chemical be sure to follow the manufacturers application and health & safety guidelines at all times.
