Hi guys, You may recall that about this time last year I was working on the lawn on my house that I had just bought. It is fairly small 10 metres by 6 metres. It was full of daisies and dandelions and clover with a few large patches of kikuyu. I started a program of weeding the daisies and dandelions by hand and at the same time filled holes with soil and a few grass seeds. It has really paid off! I also spread some fertilsier a few times This spring my lawn is starting to look really good in some areas. I had quite a few dandelions and daisies come up again, but no where near as many as last year and I have been able to remove them all by now.
I know that I could have used some selective lawn broad leaf weed spray, but I did not want to do that as I would not know where I had done, and the grass on each side of the sprayed area would grow over the top, leaving a sort of bare patch.
Using my method I get nice new grass growing up.
What do you think?
I am now going to start spraying the areas of clover and hydroctyle with a broadlleaf spray, and then mark the areas, so that I can over sew them in a few weeks.
PS The Kikuyu is still there, but that is another story.
golfdiver,
Nov 25, 6:56pm
sooner or later the kikuyu will take over and dominate the entire lawn. If you don't want that. You need to start from scratch and spray it out totally.
maclad,
Nov 25, 9:34pm
I would tend to wait till Autumn to do it as grass sown now can easily be overtaken by weeds, needs heaps of water and it is simply too hot for a new lawn to do well. You will get good growth in Autumn and the weeds should not over take the seed. I like what you are doing, that is how I did my lawn. I find hand weeding the lawn relaxing and soothing but I did not have kikuya or hydrocot. Remember to mow your weed free lawn higher to maintain it weed free. It really helps.
hazelnut2,
Nov 25, 11:25pm
I had a gazillion dandelions on one small patch of lawn. nearly all of it was dandelions. I sprayed with Weed and Feed. Within a month the dandelions had all died away, the existing grass had flowered and seeded and within a short space of time there was only grass growing there. All for 10 minutes work. Though today I hand sprayed the whole of my four lawn areas for suckling clover.
digmen1,
Nov 26, 1:00am
Yes hand weeding is very relaxing and not tiring, I just do fifteen minutes most days.
digmen1,
Nov 26, 1:01am
Good skills. I might try that stuff.
digmen1,
Nov 26, 1:04am
You are a bit pessimistic. I only have kikuyu in one quarter area of my lawn.
If I dug it all up, it can come back again, they all say it only takes one bird or a seed blown from the neighbor etc.
But I am not going to give up! I am just starting.
tweake,
Nov 26, 3:22am
if you spray with a Hydrocotyle spray (eg Yates Hydrocotyle Killer, LawnPro Hydrocotyle Control), spray the kikuyu with it as well. repeated spraying on the kikuyu can get rid of it.
otherwise roundup the kikuyu. if you leave it it will spread. it grows about 3x the speed of anything else and goes everywhere. up bushes, inside walls etc. kill it while you still can.
stevo2,
Nov 26, 10:44am
Spray the whole lot with "Victory". It will kill the Kikuyu and flat weeds and clover etc yet wont harm the grass.
maclad,
Nov 26, 10:53am
Takes several sprays to rid kikuya with Victory one is not enough
koru67,
Nov 26, 12:29pm
I think you are doing a good job by hand, and it is working well for you. I personally don't like using weedkillers or pesticides and prefer to weed by hand.
cantabman1,
Nov 26, 1:01pm
Lawn food can be of great help to your lawn, as it not only encourages healthier lush grass, but tends to smother many weeds as they cannot stand all the food,.EG dock, which tends to only grow in poor, or low nutrient soil. I also now use Seasol all around the garden, and the results this year are spectacular.
tigra,
Nov 26, 6:50pm
Agree. My favourite tool for this is a small sharp knife ( 5" blade)
digmen1,
Nov 27, 12:00am
Thanks for the good comments on my hand weeding. I am convinced that next spring I will see hardly any daisies and dandelions.
Now I need to cocnetrate on the clover and hydroctyle, which seem to demand the use of sprays as they are so small.
And the kikiuyu. Where can I buy that Victory stuff? I don't really like the idea of using roundup.
tweake,
Nov 27, 12:35am
not sure about "victory" as that stuff is extremely persistent, don;t get it in your garden or nothing is going to grow for a fair while. i don't know if it effects kikuyu.
however there is "victory gold" which is different stuff and has the same stuff as the Hydrocotyle spray in it which is known to effect kikuyu.
digmen1,
Nov 27, 11:16am
Just going off topic why do hydroctyle weeds have such a scientific sounding name, when every other weed has a daily english friendly sounding name like daisy or thistle.
charie4,
Nov 27, 11:47pm
Hydrocotyle comes in your water supply so every time you water your lawn you will re-seed it.
tweake,
Nov 28, 12:06am
\ i think thats a different hydocotyle to what most people would be dealing with.
ianab,
Nov 28, 1:52am
While you might not like Roundup, it's hard to argue with results. Hit just the Kikuyu patches with that and reseed in the Autumn when the new grass will get a good start.
Then hand weeding, fert, cut the grass a bit longer and consider a mulching mower. That helps recycle the nutrients, and stops the lawn drying out in the summer, which is when the weeds seem to get established again.
I'm not super proud on my lawn or anything, it's a rather neglected kids pay area really. But the neighbour, who is retired and spends hours pampering his lawn, looks across the fence in later summer, and says "That lawn of yours is looking pretty good" because his immaculately manicured lawn has burnt off once the water restrictions kick in.
My longer mulched lawn has kept the water better, and stays green longer. And I do dig out some of the obvious dandelions etc.
digmen1,
Nov 28, 3:58pm
Hmmm. I'm not so sure about a mulching mower. I don't like the idea of dead grass on my lawn that will smother the new grass growth. I'd rather add compost. Lucky I live in a n area with no water restrictions so I just have to pay for it.
tweake,
Jul 18, 8:57pm
mulching mower cuts the grass up very fine so the dead grass sits down at ground level and composts. it won't smother new grass growth.
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