Is there an eco-friendly way to kill weeds?

gasstingy · 03-31-10, 01:25 PM

When we built our house, the yard was turned into a dirt pile. We bought grass seed and spread it, watered it and then made a big mistake. We were told to spread hay over it so the seed wouldn't blow away. Turns out that putting hay on the yard meant we now have 5 times more weeds than grass.

How do I get rid of the weeds? I have a couple of portable pump up sprayers, a 15 gallon tow behind the mower sprayer, and a small walk behind spreader for seeds / fertilizer and such, so I think I have the tools to apply most of the ????????, I just don't want to kill the blueberry bushes, or ornamentals.

Higgy · 03-31-10, 01:37 PM

Skerz posted the main page for this for fertilizer for gardens, but I found this in there as well for lawns:

Organic Weed and Feed, 40 lbs

gasstingy · 03-31-10, 03:17 PM

Thanks for your taking the time to reply. I went to the site and looked at the product description. It is not suitable for my lawn, because, and I quote:

Corn gluten meal doesn't kill existing weeds. It actually prevents weed seeds from germinating. So the best time to use it for weed prevention is early fall for winter weeds, and the end of winter for spring weeds.

I have more weeds than you can imagine and they are in full bloom (if that's a correct term).

Higgy · 03-31-10, 03:39 PM

Oh ya, you'd have to use that in fall or spring. This is another product from their site:
Organic Liquid Lawn Fertilizer

That might be better.

If you can't find anything else...use the non-organic fertilizer to kill all the weeds, throw down some soil on top after they've died and seed it (make that OVER seed it) right away and then water the hell out of it. Try and choke out any new weeds. Then use that corn gluten in the fall and spring. Although if you have grass all year round then that is useless to use I guess. I would just keep seeding and weed anything that comes up after by hand. Scotts and some other companies also make some organic fertilizer that work pretty good. I use mostly Scotts on my yard.

03-31-10, 01:25 PM	#1
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	Is there an eco-friendly way to kill weeds? When we built our house, the yard was turned into a dirt pile. We bought grass seed and spread it, watered it and then made a big mistake. We were told to spread hay over it so the seed wouldn't blow away. Turns out that putting hay on the yard meant we now have 5 times more weeds than grass. How do I get rid of the weeds? I have a couple of portable pump up sprayers, a 15 gallon tow behind the mower sprayer, and a small walk behind spreader for seeds / fertilizer and such, so I think I have the tools to apply most of the ????????, I just don't want to kill the blueberry bushes, or ornamentals.

03-31-10, 01:37 PM	#2
Higgy The Gardener Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Manitoba - Canada Posts: 492 Thanks: 17 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts	Skerz posted the main page for this for fertilizer for gardens, but I found this in there as well for lawns: Organic Weed and Feed, 40 lbs

03-31-10, 03:17 PM	#3
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	Thanks for your taking the time to reply. I went to the site and looked at the product description. It is not suitable for my lawn, because, and I quote: Corn gluten meal doesn't kill existing weeds. It actually prevents weed seeds from germinating. So the best time to use it for weed prevention is early fall for winter weeds, and the end of winter for spring weeds. I have more weeds than you can imagine and they are in full bloom (if that's a correct term).

03-31-10, 03:39 PM	#4
Higgy The Gardener Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Manitoba - Canada Posts: 492 Thanks: 17 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts	Oh ya, you'd have to use that in fall or spring. This is another product from their site: Organic Liquid Lawn Fertilizer That might be better. If you can't find anything else...use the non-organic fertilizer to kill all the weeds, throw down some soil on top after they've died and seed it (make that OVER seed it) right away and then water the hell out of it. Try and choke out any new weeds. Then use that corn gluten in the fall and spring. Although if you have grass all year round then that is useless to use I guess. I would just keep seeding and weed anything that comes up after by hand. Scotts and some other companies also make some organic fertilizer that work pretty good. I use mostly Scotts on my yard.