Question
QUESTION: I posted a thread on gardenweb.com and tried to see what advice I could get.  Here is what I wrote:
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My husband and I bought our house in end of 2006, when it was just being built. I was glad that we had 0.5 acre of new lawn. However, there were at least 30 varieties of weeds occupying 60% of the lawn in Spring 2007. I am sure that it was another episode of builder's purchasing for cheapest sod which bore a lot of weed seeds already. We hand weeded as much as possible constantly every season. Now, it starts to warm up, and different varieties, besides those grown last year, multiply like crazy. The weeds occupy at least 70% of lawn. I have hand weeded since January, but I am so tired physically bending down hand pulling and digging so often, besides feeling overwhelmed mentally.

If the weeds are compact and bigger in size, I use a weeder to dig and pull them out. If the weeds are small and compact, I just pull them by hand. If the weeds are small and spread well without distinctive separation from one another, I use the weeder scratching on the ground back and forth. I insist conditioning the soil organically. I have spread gypsum, cottonseed meal, soybean meal, compost, and etc since last spring. I started using corn gluten meal to prevent weed seeds germinating in the end of this January. I am not sure if I have done enough to the lawn or not, yet I have constantly put stuff on the lawn and hand weeded. I would not feel tired at all physically or mentally if all I have done improves healthier lawn and reduces weeds. I know that improving soil condition requires at least a couple of years of constant work. I very much understand that the improvement is not happening overnight. However, I am really overwhelmed about all those weeds. They are on and on.

Are there any easier ways to hand weed? Are there better ways to prevent weeds organically? Please help! Thanks
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I got one answer for using a weed hunt.  Then, I got another answer for using Round-up and etc, because I was told to give up organic unless I was closeby a feed store.  Although I have only tried organic fertilizers for a year, I don't want to give up that easy.  It's more work and more expensive to do it organically, but I don't feel it's right to use chemicals for some reason.  Would you please help me?  Oh, what about those organic herbicides at the Peaceful valley (groworganic.com)?  thanks

ANSWER: Dear Judy:

First of all, my apologies for being tardy in responding to your question.  Personal family matters delayed my response.

Your commitment to organic methods is very commendable and I urge your continued zeal to create the ultimate lush green lawn.  The lawn conditioning that you are currently doing are the essential basics to improving the soil. Corn gluten meal is a natural substitute for synthetic pre-emergence herbicides.  Year to year use of this product should show a marked decrease in the weeds in your lawn.  In the interim, I suggest you use a homemade solution for control of the weeds.  The recipe from the website thriftyfun.com is shown below:

         Vinegar and Dish Soap

Use a funnel to place the following ingredients in a medium spray bottle approximately the size of a quart, but it doesn't have to be exact:

1 cup of vinegar
1/2 cup of regular dish soap (not dishwasher detergent)
Fill the rest of the bottle up with water.

Shake well before each use. Spray mixture directly on the weed itself; if weed is out in the yard, be careful not to spray the grass! The vinegar is what kills the weeds, but the dish soap holds the vinegar in place so it stays on the plant instead of running off. This works great on grass or weeds in sidewalk or driveway cracks, too. Best time to spray is in the middle of the day when the sun is beating down on you.

Just a quick comment on the weed killers: Add dish soap to the vinegar and mix it with water to spot-weed the yard (usually 1 part dish soap, 2 parts vinegar, and 2 parts water). The dish soap makes the vinegar stick to the weed longer, and a couple of days baking in the sun should do the trick.

Good luck in your quest to create an organic green lawn.

Sincerely,

Mack Jean
AllExperts
Master Gardener
Tennessee



 


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: No problem at all Mack.  Thank you for replying me.  I forgot to tell you that I have Bermuda grass.  It's dormant; do you think that I can spray all over the lawn.  Targeting at the great amount of weeds is difficult, since they are almost all over..  I was considering of spraying everything, till the entire lawn, add amendments, and lay better sod.  I could not sow new grass seeds, for I just put corn gluten meal down.  However, I did not find any sod company here where I live.  Well, Lowes sells it, but it's probably not better than what I have now.  Thus, doing it all over is not doable.  I can just keep conditioning my soil and treating weeds.

Answer
Dear Judy:

You have to be careful with the vinegar mixture since it contains acetic acid.  So, be careful to try the mixture on a test spot area of the lawn before proceeding to spray the entire lawn.  Also, consider reducing the strength of the mixture up to 50% if your test spot can't handle the full strength.  Once you find the correct ratio, then go forth and attack those weeds with vigor!!!

Regards,

Mack Jean
AllExperts
Master Gardener
Tennessee