Lawn feed and weed

[Alison C]

My parents Have moved (temporarily) to the UAE so I've moved into their house to save a bit of money. They recently rang to ask me if I would apply a feed and weed to the lawn and that there was a bottle in the shed. When reading the destructions I descovered that the product not only got rid of weeds and moss (of which there is a lot in the lawn) and also fertilised the grass, it also kills prettie much everything else. It stated on the back of the bottle that after application children and animals should stay off the grass for about 14 days and after three good downpoors. It also had a bunch of beware signs on the back and warned that if ingested could make you prettie poorley.

Needless to say the offending bottle has gone in the bin. If its harmful to people then its going to kill all the bugs and the neighborhood cats. Plus I have children and Im not telling them they cant play out!

So my question is this. Is there an organic feed and weed product on the market?

The lawn is mostly in shadow oweing to a fifty foot poplar, and is full of moss and lots of weeds. What can I do that wont kill all life as we know it?

[terrier]

Green concrete comes to mind Seriously, it depands on the siting of the lawn, if there's a lot of shade, that won't help but that in itself does not make a poor lawn. The condition of the ground and the type of grass are more important. Weed and feed might be a quick fix but it will not cure the underlying problem. If there is a lot of moss, then the lawn is either not cut regularly enough or the ground has poor drainage ( or both). Hollow tine aerating and dressing with lawn sand may help. Are there a lot of weeds? Maybe you are able to remove the weeds by hand, at this time of year the grass grows very quickly over lawn scars and you can re seed poor spots. Dress the lawn with a mixture of sharp sand and fine compost mixed with some blood fish and bone. A lot of work but good lawns take time.

[Flummery]

You also can't compost the lawn mowings after using Weed & Feed. You need to throw away 4 cuts before it's 'safe' to compost. Scarey eh?

[vicky]

Seaweed, liquid or powder as a fertilizer. Have a look in the organic gardening catalogue, there's quite a lot in there.
You could spot treat weeds like dandelions with glycosate.
Personally though I would not use anything on it if my children were going to play on it afterwards....

[Capsid]

Can you retrieve the bottle from the bin? It may need disposing of properly. Perhaps you need to take it to the recycling facility of your local council.

[Alison C]

I thought of that after I posted Capsid and I did retrieve it from the bin, horrible stuff. There are so many weeds that there is little grass but the moss is a pain. The grass is cut every other week but the grass area is in shade most of the day due to the giant tree in the garden behind. Drainage is ok.

I think Im going to have to pull it all up by hand and put down some seed and organic fertiliser. Thanks guys.

[rustylady]

I would think from what you've said so far that the lawn has been cut to within a half inch of it's life every week throughout the year, with little understanding of what a lawn actually needs. I won't use any form of feed and weed on my lawn cos the guinea pigs graze their. Feed is OK, weedkillers definitely not. Get hold of a wire lawn rake (one of the fan-shaped ones) and rake the moss out. Put it in the council green bin or use it to line hanging baskets. Other weeds I would guess are dandelions and daisies. I leave my daisies cos I have a cottage garden, but the dandelions I dig out by hand with a narrow trowel and feed to aforesaid guineapigs - they love them. The tap roots then go into the bin.

[Alison C]

Thanks rustylady. Its my parents garden and they hire a gardener to come and cut the grass every two weeks. Your right it is dandelions and daisies, to be honest I'd rather leave them in but its not my garden so have to to as Im told. Thanks for all the advice!

[Snadger]

Thanks rustylady. Its my parents garden and they hire a gardener to come and cut the grass every two weeks. Your right it is dandelions and daisies, to be honest I'd rather leave them in but its not my garden so have to to as Im told. Thanks for all the advice!

You could feed with any of the organic fertilisers based on BFB or seaweed or comfery or nettle tea. You can knock out the dandelions by sprinkling table salt in the central rossette or do as I do and dig em out. They keep coming back but eventually they weaken. You could try pouring boiling water on the daisies! (Don't what ever you do let the dandelions set seed or else you'll be stuck with the old adage 'One years seeding.......seven years weeding'

[Paulottie]

Yep. Rake out moss, then prong whole lot with fork, buy a dibber for the weeds. Isn't half a good work out for you too! Scatter blood, fish and bone evenly over the lawn water in if no rain forecast. Jobs a goodun.

[mcsee]

Lawn Sand.

This is what we use on Australian weeds. which may have differing names.

Why not use Lawn Sand, which is a home made 'herbicide' for the control of the flat weeds in you lawn, like Plantain, White Clover and even Bindii. Consisting of three simple ingredients the results were great, but is not suitable for all weeds like oxalis.

Mixing equal parts (1 cup of each) of Dry washed sand, Sulphate of Potash and also Iron Sulphate in a bucket (use gloves), the 'dry' sand mix was sprinkled on the flat weeds only. Then wet the sprinkled mix and water it again the next morning. The blackened weeds should be noticed after four days, so it does work. With the Iron Sulphate it can stain hands, footpaths, plants etc so avoid contact with these.

Repeat every other week until weeds are gone.

[Snadger]

Lawn Sand.

This is what we use on Australian weeds. which may have differing names.

Why not use Lawn Sand, which is a home made 'herbicide' for the control of the flat weeds in you lawn, like Plantain, White Clover and even Bindii. Consisting of three simple ingredients the results were great, but is not suitable for all weeds like oxalis.

Mixing equal parts (1 cup of each) of Dry washed sand, Sulphate of Potash and also Iron Sulphate in a bucket (use gloves), the 'dry' sand mix was sprinkled on the flat weeds only. Then wet the sprinkled mix and water it again the next morning. The blackened weeds should be noticed after four days, so it does work. With the Iron Sulphate it can stain hands, footpaths, plants etc so avoid contact with these.

Repeat every other week until weeds are gone.

It's not really what I would call organic though is it mcsee, God knows how they make Potash/Iron sulphate?

The lawn sand I used to use has fine sand, Sulphate of Ammonia (to give a nitro boost) and iron (to kill the daisies) with the sand as a carrier/spreader. Both chemicals are highly acidic so with regular use will acidify the ground which should allow the finer grasses to prosper and the weeds to die out!

Sulphate of Ammonia is a bi-product of the petro chemicals industry and I imagine anything with 'Sulphate of' before a chemical name means 'treated with sulphuric acid?)