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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 8:38 am 
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Location: The Colony,TEXAS
I have been organic for a long....long time and have applied all the treatments and had my soil tested....still WEEDS....I feel like roto-tilling the whole thing up and starting over.
My biggest problem is the neighbor listens to the other guy and nukes his yard with ever thing....2 4 whatever. I need some suggestions that are cost efficient and something you would do. I have had people suggest crazy things to do but when asked they suggest a service (in other words they wouldn't do it themselves).
I don't want that I am a do it your self person and enjoy it...even though my allergies don't allow me to enjoy it as much as I would like.

Please help....Thank you!!!!


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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 8:50 am 
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Tell what the weeds are. And where they are. And photos would help. Thanks!

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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 4:15 pm 
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pics here not sure how they are helpful weeds are weeds.


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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 4:20 pm 
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sorry it was too big on the other.


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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 4:45 pm 
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That's pretty small. Why don't you save your larger version to someplace like Photobucket or Flickr and then link it back. When it is on the other site, they give you several ways to save the code. If you pick up the straight html link, paste it in your post, then select the entire link and click on the "IMG" button at the top, it will appear in your post in a much larger size. IF you can manage it to be about 1000 pixels wide that would be great (Flickr gives you sizes to choose from for your links.)

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PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:46 am 
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because I dont want to create an account on those sites to allow me to post a normal size picture.....we need to visit with the admins of this forum and have them allow normal sized pictures so that one can post something beyond a postage stamp.


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PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 8:19 am 
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A lot of people already have those accounts. If you don't have one, then you'll have to find another workaround. You can post larger photos than what you posted, the trick is to set it up properly. Do you have any photo editing software? Microsoft Office picture manager, or are you using Picasa to manage your photos?

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PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 9:34 am 
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PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:20 pm 
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That's better.

I'll admit that I don't care much about the turf in my yard. It's a mix of stuff that gets mowed regularly. I pay attention to the herbs and vegetables. There are some turf gurus who come along every so often to answer questions. You can also search through the forums and probably find some good stuff. You might want to click the "View active topics" link at the top of the forum page.

There are different ways to kill crab grass, if that's what we're looking at. AgraLawn makes a Crabgrass Killer that is mostly cinnamon with some turmeric in it. Wet the area you want to treat and sprinkle it on (read the instructions). And I've also heard that potassium bicarbonate sprinkled on the wet crabgrass can do the same thing. If you use a vinegar weed killer, either 10% pickling vinegar, or one of the new orange oil and vinegar blends, they kill everything they hit (vinegar doesn't kill the root, but if you hit the leaves on sunny warm days a couple of times that will tend to kill it off). If you aim just at the weeds then the grass (is that Bermuda?) that you want that's mixed in with the weeds should fill in. Will fill in. (Pretend you're trying to keep it out, like in my garden, and Bermuda comes in like gangbusters!)

If, on the other hand, that wide-leafed grass is young dallis grass, you'll have to dig it out. A weed popper does a pretty good job when it's early in the season and fairly small.

If those little round leaves are dichondra, Howard says let the lawn dry a bit and that should slow it or get rid of it. (He likes it.)

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PostPosted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:00 am 
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We have had several dry summers and I have not watered the lawn, in advice of this board and still weeds....so that does not work work.

Its like this all over the lawn....so vinegar the whole lawn? Seems very costly and very time consuming to spray each and every of the 100 weeds I have in the lawn. I know it works but vinegar $25 bucks a bottle does not go very far.

Also if you notice in the picture there are multiple kinds of weeds dollar grass, broad leaf weeds and spine leaf weeds....so that is another of the mess I have to deal with.

Im just trying to get some suggestions on how to basically start over and I have searched the data base and the search is a bit lacking....if you have some suggestions on postings please feel free to include so that I can narrow my search field.

I have tried the crab grass killer and you see how well it works.....sort of....needs to be stronger.

After many years of being organic....I wonder how well it works on lawn? If I were not so allergic to the chemicals I would probably trying them to get rid of my issue as Im tire of it and seem to be at a dead end with answers.

Any help would be appreciated....remember is not a 2 foot spot your dealing with the whole 1/4 acre lawn looks like this.


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PostPosted: Wed May 22, 2013 2:27 pm 
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If you buy vinegar at a feed store, it's expensive. Last time I was out of Fort Worth, driving through Grandbury or Glen Rose, I stopped in at David's Supermarket and picked up Pickling vinegar (9%) at about $2.50 - $2.75 a gallon. This is the strength Howard recommends. Regular table vinegar is standardized at 5%.

My yard is also very large, and while I do pull up the stickers from some burr grass in one area, I just keep the rest of it mowed short. If I have time I go out with the weed popper or spade fork and take out the big stuff (thistles, dallis grass, etc.)

It isn't going to look like a golf course without a lot of work and/or expense. Maybe work on it by zones? Or maybe one of our lawn gurus who really drills down on turf issues will come along and offer help. Like I said earlier, take a look at the active topics. And visit the Commercial Turf Management forum.

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:45 pm 
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I can almost assure you that you did not get advice to stop watering the lawn from this forum. We try to help people grow lawns, not let them die.

Your only solution is PROPER watering all year long. If you are unwilling to do that, then you are going to have weeds.

Proper watering means deeply and infrequently. Deeply means 1 full inch all at one time. Infrequently means monthly during the winter changing as needed to weekly during the summer heat. Now is the summer heat for most of us, although many of us are getting an inch per week of rain.

Proper mowing depends on your grass. For bermuda you should be mowing one notch up from the bottom of the mower two times per week. For St Augustine you should be mowing at the top setting of the mower every other week. Note that these suggestions are directly opposite of each other. Bermuda must be kept low while St Aug must be kept tall as practical. I have St Aug growing up to 32 inches high in part of my yard. It is thriving without any supplemental irrigation since Oct 2011. So the taller the better for St aug. Also tall St Aug is 100x better at keeping weeds out than short bermuda.

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