To Roundup or not Roundup

Kurt Ullman wrote in news:PKWdnZ99uLglsZTTnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

Use the Roundup and wait. If you don't, you are guaranteed to eventually have weeds like you wouldn't believe.

I doubt Roundup will do much good. It has to be sprayed directly on the plant as I remember. There are some pre emerge herbicides that farmers use. The names of those escape me now. You might try the local seed supply place for suggestions. Weeds will grow as long as there is no shade. Some seeds have germinated after literally decades of storage.

Turn the soil - let ig green up, roundup, turn again, let green up, roundup, turn and seed.

you could nuke it and throw seed the same day. Roundup doesn't hurt seed.

Since the ground is bare, Roundup will do nothing.

A pre-emergent herbicide could help. If the area is sunny, so would staking down some black plastic over the area and letting it cook the ground for a month or so.

Start at a local nursery. Note I did not say WalMart Garden Section, nor Home Depot. Preen is a pre emergent herbicide that works well when applied at the right season. Roundup is good, too, but has to be sprayed on the plant. It is neutralized when it reaches the soil, hence you are not killing the soil for a year or two. But yes, kill it out, then plant. Tilling helps to get out the roots, too. You can simply spray the fresh tilled soil to hit the roots. Spray and wait then hoe or rake. Takes a while, but the time and effort will come back to you later.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

Cover with black plastic for a few good hot days to bake the soil? Can also apply specialty soil fumigants under the plastic. As someone noted, Roundup has to be applied to actual plants, not soil.

Good advice. Cook in summer, reseed in early fall. Worry about weeds next year. Eliminating every weed and bug is not advised :o) We use insane amounts of poison on our lawns and gardens; better to leave at least some area to native plants and trees.

Is hoeing considered tilling in this case or do I need to actually rent something?

Kurt Ullman wrote in news:Rt-dnZ2grs5TUJTTnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

Just saw a facebook page where strawbaling was used to kill weeds etc. Second link when you google "hoeing and tilling". I have no idea whether you are talking 20x30 feet, 200x300 feet or 2x3 miles of land. We killed the lawn in front of our first home by covering with newspaper. Worked just fine, and we got a very nice front garden. The next owners of course promptly took all our nice plants out and made it a lawn, but we had 18 years of a nice front flower garden. No chemicals other than mulch.

"Pete C." wrote in news:4e09c67a$0$32628 $ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.usenetmonster.com:

As Normie said, leave some native plants. Wife's philosophy: Perennials are better. I'll try anything,preferably native or native-like. If it grows, be kind to it. If it doesn't, too bad, onwards with the next plant. Just be careful with invasive plants, such as mints.

Would you like a few thousand dog fennel? :)

"dadiOH" wrote in news:iuckrc$63u$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

No, thanks. Tried and discarded, even before we moved to the US in '69.

Hoeing is tilling "lite"...tearing up sod, breaking it apart and levelling soil is heavy labor :o) The average roto-tiller can't do it well, but a heavy one can. The black plastic approach, or simply putting down heavy mulch (all of next fall's leaves) might make it plantable in the following spring. Or try a cheat...buy a few hostas, plant them here and there, and wait...they grow almost everywhere, shade out most weeds, and make for a nice low-maintenance bed.

Hi, I'd plant wild flowers.

I've seen people around here using cardboard held down with rocks or cinder blocks. Looks like %&!#, but it works.

Depending on the size of the area, I'd just pull up the turf.

Jon

The wife wants grass. So grass we get (grin)

Try reading the instructions on the product!

Most pre-emergent herbicides will also kill the sprouting grass seed.

This is a two-step task: seeding and weed control. The OP has to decide which one to do first. Since we're headed into the hottest time of the year, I'd suggest waiting a month or so anyway to start the lawn, and it sounds like that's what he planned to do anyway. If he wants to hit emerging weeds in the meantime with Roundup or Finale, that'd be okay. Broadleaved-only weedkillers persist in the soil for several weeks, so he should avoid using those. If he wants to use a pre-emergent, he'll need to look for one that won't harm grass seedlings. Not all that easy to find, and it's a good bit more expensive.

I'd not worry too much about weed control for the time being. If it's a smaller area, the weeds can be prevented by laying a barrier over the area. When he's ready to seed, he can remove the barrier (I have some old tarps I keep for this), apply a starter fertilizer, and seed or sod. Once the grass is up and has been mowed at least three times, he can safely apply a weedkiller if he needs to do so.