Question
Hi,
I'm in Dallas Texas and have been organic for at least 4 years. Last year had half a lawn covered in what I think is  clover...too much to pull...besides this stuff has very tiny veins for roots that are impossible to try to get it all out without pulling the grass with it. Used corn gluten meal in February. This year still have a lot of the stuff, maybe not quite as much. My organic nurseries told my the sun would kill it last year but didn't. Just read about sugar. What kind of sugar is it. Please help.

Thanks you,
Diane Black

Answer
Sugar is good for your Coffee, good for your scrambled eggs, not effective for whacking Weeds, I'm sorry to say.  But it doesn't stop people from dreaming.

There's Clover.  And there's Weeds that look like Clover.

Sounds like you may be dealing with Black Medic.  It looks for all the world like Clover, but it has these yellow flowers all over the place.  And it invades like nobody's business.

Perennial Weeds, you should understand, won't be wiped out by ANY pre-emergent Weedkiller, organic or chemical.  I don't know how the Sun would kill Weeds, but they may know something I don't.  Unfortunately it did not work.

I can tell you that right now, more than anything, you want to keep this problem from getting worse.  You can do that by (a) digging up everything you can (and remember that Rome was not built in a day, so just make progress, the best you can), and (b) mowing off the tops of the Weeds so that they NEVER have a chance to set Seeds.  This is extremely important.  I cannot emphasize enough how much it matters that you halt their plans to Seed themselves all over your Lawn.

Agralawn has formulated a proprietary, organic Weedkiller that won't make you sick and might work well.  St Augustine Grass, Common Bermuda, Bahia, and Centipede lawns have been successfully tested for resistance.  I plan to apply it to my own Bluegrass and Bentgrass Lawn in test patches this Summer and hope it is as effective as claimed.
 
Go to the Lawnrite website:

www.crabgrassalert.com/products4.html

and check out their herbicide.  If I didn't expect it to work, I would not refer it at this point - but I must mention it is still not know yet to me how good this stuff really is and I won't know for a while.

But I do think it is worth giving a shot.  Which is why I'm testing it.

There are spot Weedkillers on the market but I don't know how practical they are if you have a lot of Weeds.  I don't know how it got this far, but if you can be patient, mow at the proper height, apply Corn Gluten for annual Weeds, water and fertilize your Grass properly, and hand pull Dandelions, I think you will see a dramatic improvement in your Lawn in a year's time.

Sorry I cannot be more positive about the Sugar.  I do get questions on this often.  The AllExpert who promoted it no longer writes for this column, so I cannot refer you to her.  Perhaps she will return.  She clearly has many fans.

Best wishes and please keep me posted on your results.  Any further questions of course please followup.

L.I.G.