Question
I have tried everything I know to get rid of dollorweeds in my lawn. I use Scotts S twice a year. I have gotten all kinds of advice-wait until the winter to apply weed killer, maybe too much water or too little. My lawn is four years old and was beautiful then. Now the dollorweeds have completely taken over. I have a sprinkler system. Other people on the block have no sprinklers and their lawn looks better than ours. Can you give me any advice? Thank you.  

Answer
Hi Ann;
Dollar weed is bad, but not as bad as crabgrass, johnson grass and dandelions.
When you mow the dollar weed, it does not look as bad for awhile. I had em all. Dandelions, dollar weed, johnson grass, clover, crabgrass. You name it, it got seeded into my yard, yearly. My next door neighbor had a weed farm, and never did anything to his yard but mow, and not too often, that.
I never used chemical weeds killers, after my daughter's kitten ate some weed killer in a neighbor's garage, and died. Cats are attracted to it, and they eat it.
The only way I know to get rid of it, is to walk around on hands and knees, pulling it out, spraying it with WipeOut, put out by Greenlight, or go organic and build such rich soil weeds won't grow in it.
Weeds like poor soil, they will not thrive in rich soil.
Fettilizers kill beneficial microbes that enrich the soil.
Putting dry molasses, or sugar on your lawn and watering it in well, will keep them alive.
I had pretty good soil when I began my organic program, and I haven't had to use fertilizer since, that was about 6 or 7 years ago.
When I first put down sugar, and watered it in, I had a yard with almost 25% weeds. within a couple of weeks, about half of them were just gone. a couple more mowings, and they were all gone. about half as many came up the next year, and about the 3rd or 4th year, none even came up. Haven't sen a weed come up in my yard since. I put 1 pound sugar per 250 to 300 sq.ft. each spring and fall, and water it in well.
Watering may be a lot of your problem.
With a sprinkler system, it is almost impossible to follow a good, proper watering program.
You want to encourage a deep root system. shallow watering causes the roots to come close to the surface to get water, and the heat,cold, or drought can damage or kill them.
Watering to a depth of at least 6 inches, and rewatering when the top 2 inches are dry, will keep the right amount of water on your soil to encourage the roots to grow deep in the ground.
A sprinkler system that waters so many gallons, then shuts off, may over water or under water.
I use soaker hoses, and I let the water run until it starts to run off onto the sidewalks, then I turn it off and let it soak in for about an hour or more, then turn it on again. I do this until it is good and soaked for at least 6 inches down. Even when our Texas temperature gets above the 100 mark, my grass doean't sugger.
I also mow close (2 to 2-1/2 inches) in the spring, so the root will send out new runners to spread and thicken the grass. when the temp reaches about 85, I set the mower blades up to 3 inches. Higher. if your mower has a higher setting, would be better.
The taller blades shade the soil some, and helps the roots keep cool.
I wish I had known about organics 50 years ago. I miht have sabed my back and knees some.
All we do now is put down sugar in the spring and fall, and mow, edge and water.
I use no chemical fertilizers in my grass. I use an organic fertilizer on mt shrubs and roses etc, but I put sugar down and water it in with the organuc fertilizer, just in case it kills the microbes too. Err on the side of caution.
If your soil is in good condition, and is nice and loose, you should see fewer weeds, a few weeks after putting it down.
Everybody asks if the sugar attracts ants. Well, I used to have ants, but since I started putting down the sugar, and have a healthy enviornment for my toads. grass snakes and lizards, I have seen no ants. If they come, my critters eat them.
Since you water tge sugar in well, it should not even attract them.
I have always followed a good watering program, so it is the sugar that makes the difference.
I even threw sugar in the back alley, where poison ivy wac coming up. There has been no poison ivy since.
I just walk around with a big bag of sugar, and broafdcast it by hand, right out of the sack. I remember where I stopped, when I get a new bag, but if you get too much in one spot, it won't burn the grass, like too much fertilizer will.
Of you decide to go with the chemicals, WipeOut will kill ALL broadleaf weeds and plants, but will not harm any grass. It will NOT do anything for grassy weeds like crabgrass etc.
Hope this helps.
Charlotte