On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:12:01 -0400, "
wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:56:34 -0400, "
wrote:

zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:27:32 -0500, "bob callaway"
wrote:

What is the process to use to kill the weeds in my st. Augustine grass. I
know it's not a overnight process, but I have to start somewhere?
Is St. Augustine somehow different from other grass? I generally just apply
fertilizer with a broadleaf weed killer in the spring, after the second or
third mowing. Something like (but pretty much any brand will do):
http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/pr...roId=prod70020

St. Augustine is very different and requires special herbicides. Weed
BGone always worked for us for BROADLEAF weeds...used it when hubby was
building manager for our condo. We had loads of dollar weed and other
broadleaafs...WBG killed almost all of the dollar weed first appl. It
is not necessary to use every year...once treated, with proper mowing
and watering, only spot treatment is needed. Grassy weeds, like goose
grass, need other herbicides and very careful timing because they are
pre-emergents herbicides.

Have to be careful with WBG not to get it on shrubs and other broadleaf
plants. There is a caution, I think, about using in root zones but it
never hurt any other plants when we used it. Weeds should be "actively
growing", so we would fertilize and then treat for weeds about two weeks
later. WBG, last time I used it, was labeled for St. Augustine
specifically; don't use an herbicide that is not. Don't want to use
when weather is very hot/dry.

The link above does say it's for St. Augustine. I've used similar products on
Kentucky Blue, Creeping Red Fescue, and the Zoysia we have now, all with good
results. Zoysia is another species that grows so dense nothing else has a
chance. Well, I do see a little clover since it wakes up earlier in the
spring.

A slow-release fertilizer is also best to use. $cott's is a brand I avoid;

It's only a little on the pricey side.

Scott's sells a lot of chemical that is not needed..."if a little is
good, a lot is a hell of a lot better"...nobody needs routine weed
control.

Sure. The reason for the early application of the broadleaf/crabgrass killer
is to get it as it emerges. You don't know it's there until it does and then
it's too late to do anything about it. It's a lot easier to nip this stuff in
the bud, so to speak.

Proper mowing, feeding and watering will do a great deal to
keep weeds down. All-over weed control might be good once; after that,
maintenance will keep weeds down.

Sure, that's pretty much what I do. Watering isn't always possible, however.
Weeds can get a foothold pretty quickly.

Hand pulling one weed might get rid
of hundreds of seeds...common sense. If they begin to get out of
control, then spot treat. IMO, Scotts are like the exterminators who
will not do a one time treatment but insist on only selling "programs"
that overdose the environ with poison.

The "poisons" are very short lived. Like I said, I do it once in the spring
and fertilize once in the late summer or early fall. ...and pile on the ant
killer by the ton. ;-)

There are different versions of Weed B Gone, or were last time I shopped.