Oscar_Lives wrote:

"Greg O" wrote in message
...

"Oscar_Lives" wrote in message
news:WleUc.327420$XM6.265980@attbi_s53...

I just moved into a house with a crappy yard. I want to get it going,

but

don't know where to start. The grass is thin with some bare spots and

loads

of crab grass and weeds. I don't know whether I should fertilize and

weed

killer, or if I should ignore the weeds and fertilize and overseed.

Got any advice?




Weeds are not a problem, you can spray them. Crab grass is more of a
problem, tough to kill it without killing eveything else too!
I had a couple of patches of crabgrass that would not go away, even with

the

pre-emergance, no-halts you apply in the spring. Two summers ago I finally
sprayed it all with Round Up and killed everything in that area. I sprayed
it a couple times over a summer as grass and weeds would appear. Last

summer

I tried to plant grass there and it would not go, too much Round Up? This
spring I tried it again and have a nice crop of grass growing that has

been

going since early spring so I think it will make it! No crab grass as far

as

I can tell.
So I guess if you have a few spots of crab grass I would Round Up the

spots

and re-seed. The weeds I would just hit with a good broad leaf spray
repeating as nessasary. If you have alot of crab grass spray the whole

yard

with Round Up and start fresh!
Greg




My problem appears that I cannot use weed killer and re-seed at the same
time. Most weed products say no seeding for 6-8 weeks. I need to seed in
the next month for good establishment. However, I have weeds everywhere--
lots of clover and creeping weeds and undesirable grass.

Do I work on the grass seeding this fall and worry about weeds next spring?

Do I spray weeds this fall and don't plant seed?

Wish I had the house earlier this year. I would have weeded in the
spring/early summer and seeded now.



I had a similar situation at a home we bought about 25 years ago. I
killed off the entire lawn with a DuPont product called Vapon. IIRC you
applied it as a spray and then put down a lot of water so that it sunk
into the ground and killed everything through its roots. It dissipated
quickly and you could reseed a week or so after application. It worked
great for me then.

If you can find it today or something like it, you'll have what you want.

HTH,

Jeff
--

Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are exams in public schools there will be prayer in
public schools."