Question
lawn Rhode Island
I moved from a tropical country to Rhode Island last summer and our lawn was a mess full of all sorts of weeds, mostly dominated by crabgrass. On late September I decide on ripping off part of it and reseed it.
I have 1500 sqft in the front and 6000 sqft in the back, and as don抰 have any knowledgably on lawn in cool weather, then I am hoping you have patience to read my questions and help me!
I decided to apply organic as a weed preventer and bought 揅oncern Weed Prevention Plus ? which is Corn Gluten Meal, but after reading the application recommendations I have the following doubts still:
- When is the perfect time to apply pre-emergent herbicides ?CGM in Rhode Island?
- When does Crabgrass germinate in Rhode Island? What weather signs should I look for? I am afraid that the weed seeds will germinate with the combination of rain and temperatures around 50-60 as of this week. But I was told that I need a dry period after the application of CGM what is not happening for the next 2 following weeks .
- On this week it is raining a lot, then the soil is very wet. Can I apply Corn Gluten Meal in wet soil?
It is really overwhelming all the information and products available in the retail stores. Would you give me a recommendation that I could follow regarding weed control, turf build-up and fertilization to revive my lawn all year long? Thanks a lot!
P.S. My backyard borders a wetland, then the very end of it has a humid soil (you don抰 see any water, it is just humid) with moss dominating the grass.How do I get rid of it?
AnswerIn all scientific tests that I've seen, Corn Gluten Meal has no effect on weeds. It's unfortunate that these companies are allowed to continue to advertise and sell it, but that's the case. It's a nice idea that just doesn't work. That said, there's no good time to apply this stuff.
If you are looking to control weeds and crabgrass, preventative herbicides like "Halts" or "Dimension" are your only real option for crabgrass. something like Ortho's "Weed-B-Gone" will kill the weeds once they are up (but it doesn't work on grown crabgrass, so don't bother).
As far as recommending an "All-year" program, I'm quickly realizing that I simply need to write a book and offer it for sale. There's so much snake oil out there that people don't know where to turn. Unfortunately, it really would require a book in order to do the topic justice, so I'm afraid I cannot answer it sufficiently here. I sincerely apologize for that.
Getting rid of moss: Rip it all out, add 100 lbs of limestone per 1000 square feet, mix it into the top 1 inch of soil and seed the area with a good shade seed.
I hope this has been helpful.
-C.J. Brown
www.TheLawnCoach.com
