News Article for March 17, 2009
We finally received some well deserved rain. It has been very dry. Ryegrass had stopped growing and beef producers were scrambling to get cattle fed.
This week we will pick up were we left off and continue our topic on weed control for lawns. Last week we concluded our discussion of Weed and Feed products.
Another method of weed control is to use sprays to target specific weed problems. You will remember that I cautioned you to wait 2-3 weeks after green up before treating. I still think we should target weed control for sometime in April.
Most of the chemicals that will control the broadleaf weeds that cause us concern will be a formulation of 2,4-D. Some of those formulations that I commonly see on the store shelf would include Greenlight’s Wipe Out, K-Mart Broadleaf Weed Killer for Southern Grasses, Spectrum 33 Plus, Trimec, Fertilome’s Weed Out, Orthene’s Weed-B-Gone for Southern Lawns II, Bayer Advanced Southern Weed Killer for Lawns and Spectracide Weedstop.
It is important that all of these products be put out when the wind in not blowing. In the spring of the year that typically means either early in the morning before the wind starts or late in the afternoon after the wind dies down. These products are very light and tend to drift in wind and can cause problems for flowers, shrubs and garden plants should you get spray on them.
It is also very important to read the labels very carefully to make sure that the herbicides are labeled for your grass specie. The herbicide label must say that you can spray it on your specie of grass (i.e St. Augustine, centipede, carpet, Bermuda, zoysia) or the results could be disastrous. There are some chemicals that would be a good choice for Bermuda and zoysia but would kill St. Augustine, carpet and centipede.
The 2,4-D formulations will sometimes turn the grasses yellow but they recover and green back up in a few days. You can make a second application of the chemical in 2 weeks for treatment of problem weeds.
Another important aspect of weed control is proper calibration. Be sure that you are putting out the recommended rate of herbicide. If you over apply you can kill your grass. If you under apply you will not get weed control.
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I will be conducting a class on Vegetable Gardening 101 at the Denham Springs Library Branch on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 6:30 pm. This class will last approximately one hour and will cover the basics of vegetable gardening. It is design for novice vegetable gardeners and will cover topics such as where to locate the garden, cultivation, making rows, liming, fertilization, irrigation, weed control, depth of planting, plant spacing and recommended varieties to grow. Seating is limited.
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The Livingston Master Gardeners will host a Plant Health Clinic at the Livingston Farmer’s Market in Denham Springs this Saturday morning, 7:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. March 21, 2009. You can bring your plants to the clinic for a diagnosis of problems.
For more information on these or related topics contact Kenny at 225-686-3020.