time to start lawn treatment?

[nobody]

Is it time to start treating a lawn in the Baltimore area? If so, what treatment should be applied first?

Alan

[Doug Kanter]

First? There's only one treatment you MIGHT need, and that's fertilizer without pesticides or weed killers. If there's only one thing, then there is nothing after "first". Adjust your mower to its highest setting and leave it that way. A healthy lawn competes nicely with weeds. Your waterways are screwed up enough. No need to add chemicals to them because someone told you to.

[Phisherman]

Depends on many factors. Type of grass, weeds, bare spots, diseases, etc. Is your lawn healthy? What's the pH? Have you done a soil test?

[KCnRichmond]

Well put Kanter. Also if you bag during "weed" or "crabgrass" season you will get up most of your seed from these mongrels. Don't cut if grass is damp and sharpen your blades. Change direction everytime you cut. (90 degrees from last week) Also change to "Our waterways".

[Doug Kanter]

Right: "Our". I said "your" thinking maybe he'd connect this issue with news he should be seeing about what a mess the Chesapeake is these days.

[dr-solo]

We were able to bring back my mother's (RIP) lawn to glorious health with very little. We started with corn gluten which provides both weed inhibitor and gentle fertilizer. We then did need to use a weed killer, applied as a liquid just to spots of weeds. Then we put a watering system on a timer. The mower is a mulching mower which puts the chopped up green nutrients right back into the lawn. I dont think her lawn ever looked as good as it did last summer. It WAS NOT weed free. But it looked so good, healthy, green that the few weeds just dont matter. Ingrid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at

up: the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the recommendations I make. AND I DID NOT AUTHORIZE ADS AT THE OLD PUREGOLD SITE

[George.com]

I used a general purpose turf spray on my lawns for the first couple of years to knock back hard years of lawn negligence (previous owners). It did thin out the weeds dramatically however the more I learnt the more reluctant I have become to using these sprays. My experience of a weed and feed type spray was that I may as well have used cold instant coffee, such was the variable result. Turf spray also didn't control the couch and crab grass. I got stuck in to those bastards with roundup. My preference now however is to simply crown the weeds/grasses with a knife or pull them out by hand. It is quite labour intensive however over time even the hardiest of weeds seem to give up and accept they ain't growing in the lawn. I have not noticed any regrowth of couch in areas I have crowned over the last 3 years. I repeat however that it is quite labour intensive.

rob

[raycruzer]

Corn gluten meal is the safe way to go for pre-emergent protection against broadleaf weeds. There are also many hand tools that can make the job easier when the undesirable plants appear. All types of weed control solutions are available, including weed control advice at the World of Weeds