Greetings, everyone! Terrible problem with weeds in my yard. Advice Please?

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Monte
Posts: 1
Joined: November 6th, 2020, 6:21 pm
Location: DFW Area
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Greetings, everyone! Terrible problem with weeds in my yard. Advice Please?

Post by Monte » November 6th, 2020, 6:42 pm

Greetings everyone. This is my first post, and I'm at my wit's end. :banghead:

I live in Texas and kind of have a Bermuda lawn. At least that's what they put down when they built my house. My front and back yard are mostly weeds of many different varieties. I'm really, really wanting to get rid of these weeds. I've tried various granular weed killers to no real effect.

I bought some off-brand Tenacity earlier this year, and did a couple of applications, and that kinda-sorta worked. Maybe a few more applications there?

I would say my front yard is probably 70% weeds. My bigger problem is my back yard. It's probably 90% weeds. All of various types. I have two mowers. One that I use that can barely handle it, and a Fiskars reel mower. I'd like to have my lawn in shape enough to just use the reel mower. And to enjoy my yard again.

I'm looking for tips, and products I can use to get rid of the weeds. If anyone knows of a very effective granular weed killer (or something similar to Tenacity) that I can use, as well as a grass that I could overseed with, it would be very much appreciated.

So far, aside from some results with the off-brand Tenacity, nothing has really worked.

Thank you for any tips or advice!

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andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Re: Greetings, everyone! Terrible problem with weeds in my yard. Advice Please?

Post by andy10917 » November 8th, 2020, 11:12 am

You're very lucky that you didn't kill the Bermuda lawn, and really need to practice reading the whole label information before applying herbicide(s) to the lawn...

Tenacity is not labelled for use on Bermuda, except when it is FULLY DORMANT. There are literally some regimens used by people to deliberately kill Bermuda by using Tenacity when the Bermuda is actively growing. I don't know where the idea came from to say it's OK for use on active Bermuda, but it's wrong.

I would suggest that you reading the article on the Triangle Approach to Weed Control, and I'm providing adjustments for the Triangle Approach for a Bermuda lawn - there is a change that should be made for the "Level 2" application - and potentially the "Level 3" application.

Start with a standard 3-Way or 4-Way product like Weed-B-Gon (3-way) or Weed-B-Gon plus Crabgrass Control (4-way). That is going to probably knock out 60% - 70% of the weeds in a very-weedy lawn.

For Bermuda, I would change the Level 2 product to "Celsius" herbicide, instead of the Triclopyr products used in cool-season lawns. It's not cheap, but very effective.

What to use for Level 3 will depend on what weeds are left - ask for help here when you get there.

Note that the herbicides mentioned here are all liquid products and not granular.

The Triangle Approach has a very high success rate, and eliminates the need for identifying all of the needs to identify specific weeds while doing Levels 1 and 2.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3341
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Greetings, everyone! Terrible problem with weeds in my yard. Advice Please?

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » January 8th, 2021, 3:53 pm

Based on what you have said, I'm going to assume you are new at this. You're new at lawn care, new to Texas, and/or new to bermuda, but you're new enough that I'm going to give you the bermuda basics.

Water deeply and infrequently. Deep means 1 full inch, all at one time. If your soil cannot take it all at once, then write back for other suggestions - don't run off and buy something without some consistent advice. Measure 1 inch by placing several tuna or cat food cans around the yard and time how long it takes to fill all the cans. My oscillator sprinkler on full sweep takes 8 hours to fill the cans. My neighbor with the high flow in ground system takes 20 minutes. Everyone has to measure their own system. As for frequency, that depends mostly on the weather. It also depends on the soil type, health, grass type, mowing height, and shade, but temperature and humidity are more dominant elements. For the hottest and driest heat of a Dallas summer, you might be deep watering one time every 4 days. In the winter with temps below 70 degrees F, then once a month is more like it. With temps between 70 and 105, the watering frequency changes but the depth does not. Infrequent watering is your best defense against weeds.

Mulch mow at the mower's lowest setting all the time. The successful bermuda growers talk about standing on the lawn as opposed to in the lawn. Here's a picture quirky quercus' lawn from many years ago.
Image

In the spring when it is growing fast, you might mow 3x per week. In the summer it is not unusual to mow 2x per week.

Fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer after the second time you mow real grass in the spring. 9-0-0 is fine unless you have a soil test which tells you you need P and K. Continue to fertilize on a 6-week schedule throughout the growing season.

Prevent weeds with a preemergent herbicide in late Feb to early March. If you get a rainstorm in Dallas after Valentines Day, put down the preem IMMEDIATELY. Reapply preem after at least 6 weeks AND when you have the next rainstorm. The rain seems to activate the dormant weed seeds. Kill active weeds with Weed-b-Gon spray in mid April. I have many years of personal experience trying to kill bermuda in my St Augustine lawn using the following product. I can tell you that even though the product is not recommended for use on bermuda, the bermuda will survive perfectly well after the application. Try it in a small spot in your yard to be sure. This stuff will kill all the weeds and in many cases, prevent their return. Poa annua is especially sensitive to the product and should never return.
Image
Some weeds will die nearly overnight and others will take 3 weeks, but it works great.

Chances are very good that when you mow low you find the mower scalping the lawn. This is caused by small depressions in the surface where the wheels of the mower fall in and scalp the top. You can fix that by leveling the lawn. There are several topics in this forum on that subject, but I'll summarize here. Fertilize and water, scalp all the lawn (with a rented mower), fill the low spots with sand, level/water/fill/level until you have it perfectly flat (about 3 times), and keep off until the grass grows back (about a week). Don't walk on it until the grass is tall enough to mow. Early to mid May is a good time to consider leveling. It's not too hot and the grass is growing fast. Check out the topics for more details about the sand and leveling methods.

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