Question
I just recently sprayed my lawn with roundup to kill the weeds and grass that were already dying.  Now I want to put new seeds down.  Is is ok.  Will the round-up that I sprayed kill the new grass seeds.  And do you recommend me raking the yard good before putting the new grass seeds.

Thanks

Answer
Hi Delina;
Well, All the years I used chemicals I stayed away from Roundup.
It kil;ls everything, and isn't supposed to stay in the soil, but as far as I am concerned, that should never have ben put on the market, and it is was overdue being taken off.
I used chemicals for over 40 years before I tried organics, and I sure wish I had known about them before.
Nurseries didn't seel may organic products, and it was hard to find information on what to use.
For over 40 years I battled bad soil, weeds, insects, fungus, the whole nine yards of lawn problems.
I put in about 10 to 20 hours a week, breaking my back trying to have a beautiful lawn.
Since I have been on the organic program, I spend less than 5 hours a week, and that includes planting new plants.
Weeds like poor soil and will not thrive in rich soil.
Make rich soil, and weds will start to die out as soon as they come up.
I started my organic program 8 or 9 yera sgao, and eeds started to fade out withing a couple of weeks. Every time we mowed, there were fewer weds. about 6 weeks, there were no weeds at all. Some did come up the following spring, but only about half as many as the year before, and in a few weeks they were gone too.
The second or third year, none came up at all, and I have not had weeds come up since. This includes the back alley where I started getting poison ivy coming up.
I read in the organic column in the Dallas Morniong News that dry molasses was recommended, but if you couldn't get it, plain table sugar would work.
The column was written by Howard Garrett.
He is a scientist as well as an agriculturist, and has been running growing labs for a long time.
He writes mostly for Texas gardeners, but his labs have been all over the country. The organics program works equally well anywhere.
The nurseries here didn't carry organic products then, so I used sugar.
I broadcast it by hand and watered it in well.
I had bought fertilizer for the spring feeding, but my back was giving me too much troublke to get it down.
My then, next door neighbor never did anything in his yard, and it kept the whole neighborhood seeded with weeds.
I had crabgrass, clover, johnson grass, dandelions, dollar weed, chick weed, and some I couldn't identify.
A couple of weeks after I put sugar down, the weeds started dieing out. I went into a frenzy like sharks feeding and put down more sugar. I don't know if that helped or if all would have gone the same had I not put down the second feeding. Some of us do tend to go to extremes.LOL
Anyway, for the last 8 or so years, sugar each spring and fall is all I have put down. This poast spring I started looking into some other organic things I have been learning about.
Sugar doesn't KILL anything. Fertilizer does,
Chemical fertilizers kill the beneficial microbes that work round the clock, enriching the soil. When the soil is rich, weeds will not grow and live in it.
For every harmful insect that is attracted to your lawn, there are hundreds of beneficial ones that feed on the harmful ones.
Earthworms and other beneficial insects that live in the soil, and tunnel through it, keep it aerated, so you don't have to do that anymore.
A healthy enviornment without chemicals will attract toads, lizards and grass snakes to your lawn. They also feed on harmful incests. Toads obe slugs. My lizrads keep ALL the aphids off my roses, and the tent catapillars out of my trees. They used to drop on me when I tried to spend any time in my yard.
I never see my grass snakes. When they hear you moving through the taller shrubs etc, they scurry out of sight.
I seldom see a toad.
I see the lizards running through the trees, along the fence and in my roses, but they never run toward me.
This has been my total lawn care maintenance for the last 8 or 0 years.( I forget if it was in 97 or 98 when I first started.
Each apring and fall I broadcast sugar at the rate of about 4 pounds per 1000 sq,ft. I water it in, and I always water deeply, to a depth of at least 6 inches, to encourage a deep root system. Deep roots help protect from heat, cold and drought damage, so it is important whatever climate you live in.
My husband mows and edges.
Each spring, when termites will swarm, I put a perimeter of cedar bark mulch around the house and outbuildings to repel termites. This part I have done for over 40 years, and have NEVEr had termites.
I also have dogs, so I scatter cedar bark mulch all over the yard to repel ticks and fleas.
Cedar repels a lot of insects, but worn't bother your nemeficial ones.
At the first sign of new growth, I disolve baking soda in water. 1 WELL rounded Tablespoonful per gallon of water, in my garden sprayer and spray my roses, and anything else that is susceptible to mold or fungus.
Loose soil is important, so, if your soil has a lot of clay, I would advise tilling in some bark mulch to loosen it up.
Clay will not let roots move through it easily to grow, and water can't soak into it.
Since you have killed all the vegetation, this would be a good time to till.
That Roundup has killed ALL the beneficial organisms in your soil, so they need time and nourishment to get a good start beck.
Deep watering will help wash it through the soil and out.
I would water it deeply several times, in the next two weeks, then do the tilling and possible planting, if in you area you still have time to get a lawn started.
Or if there is not time to do that, you could cover the yard with 2 or 3 inches of cedar bark mulch fopr the winter, to keep from having just mud all winter. Then, in the spring, till it all in and polant your lawn.
Do apply sugar now, and again in about 3 months.
I don't know how long it will take the Roundup to wash out, and how fast the microbes will recover. Sugar again in a couple months should do more to insude them a good start.
I doubt you will see any lawn critters until next spring, and if all your neighbors use chemicals, you may have to import some.
Since I have had my organic program wstarted well, I have not had grubs, army worms, ants, none of the pests I had to deal with before.
I have a thick, lush, lawn of St.Augustine, that is weedfree and insect free, and my husband and I together
spend less that 4 hours per week, where I spent more than every day by myself before, and he did a lot of the work then too.
Nothing could make me go back to chemicals again.
If you would like more information about organics, just write me. I am very happy to share what I have learned.
Charlotte
If you would like more information