Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
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- Posts: 2
- Joined: July 22nd, 2020, 1:54 pm
- Location: Southern Maine
- Grass Type: TTTF, CRF, Ryegrass
- Lawn Size: Not Specified
- Level: Not Specified
Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
Hey all. First post here. I live in Southern Maine zone 5b and I have been planting about 12,000SF on my property over the summer and it came in great until the summer heat came in. It went from thick and green to overtaken by crabgrass in just one month. I am not sure what I should do. I don’t want to lose all the grass I planted.
I brought in all new loam about 6-8” thick to improve runoff and then seeded it with a mix of TTTF and Creeping Red Fescue along with some Perennial Rye and Annual Rye... I also used a starter fert with weed preventer on it... didn’t seem to help.
I just got my bottle of tenacity in and I am faced with a problem. Do I hit it now (1-2 month old grass mowed 5 times at 4” now height already) or do I wait until a month until late August when I plan to overseed again?
I don’t want the weeds running rampant for the next month but I also don’t want to spray the young grass during the extreme heat of the summer. Do I spray now then again in 4-5 weeks when I’m getting ready to overseed? Would the tenacity stress the newly grown grass out too much? It feels like a lose lose right now but I couldn’t put a whole lawn in during the fall, I have to do it one section at a time. Any advice would be appreciated!
I brought in all new loam about 6-8” thick to improve runoff and then seeded it with a mix of TTTF and Creeping Red Fescue along with some Perennial Rye and Annual Rye... I also used a starter fert with weed preventer on it... didn’t seem to help.
I just got my bottle of tenacity in and I am faced with a problem. Do I hit it now (1-2 month old grass mowed 5 times at 4” now height already) or do I wait until a month until late August when I plan to overseed again?
I don’t want the weeds running rampant for the next month but I also don’t want to spray the young grass during the extreme heat of the summer. Do I spray now then again in 4-5 weeks when I’m getting ready to overseed? Would the tenacity stress the newly grown grass out too much? It feels like a lose lose right now but I couldn’t put a whole lawn in during the fall, I have to do it one section at a time. Any advice would be appreciated!
- 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
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Re: Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
Maine has extreme heat? You need to get away from the extreme heat to Houston or New Orleans for August - then we'll talk...
You can use Tenacity on the crabgrass, but while it does help, I find it is nowhere near as effective as Quinclorac. And on mature crabgrass, even Quinclorac + MSO isn't perfect. Now you have direct evidence as to why we discourage Spring seedings.
You can use Tenacity on the crabgrass, but while it does help, I find it is nowhere near as effective as Quinclorac. And on mature crabgrass, even Quinclorac + MSO isn't perfect. Now you have direct evidence as to why we discourage Spring seedings.
- MorpheusPA
- Posts: 18129
- Joined: March 5th, 2009, 7:32 pm
- Location: Zone 6 (Eastern PA)
- Grass Type: Elite KBG
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Advanced
Re: Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
With an overseed coming, I might be tempted to simply push the Big Red Button and use Weed B Gon Crabgrass Killer. It'll probably take out some grass (it'll take out some grass would be the takeaway point here), but with an overseed in the works, I'd rather get rid of the crabrass.
Which I wouldn't want seeding out.
Then use Tenacity (or starter with Mesotrione, same thing) at seeding time to suppress sprout of crabgrasses.
Which I wouldn't want seeding out.
Then use Tenacity (or starter with Mesotrione, same thing) at seeding time to suppress sprout of crabgrasses.
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- Posts: 1123
- Joined: April 14th, 2010, 7:01 pm
- Location: Syracuse, NY
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- Level: Experienced
Re: Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
I have been spot spraying my crabgrass with tenacity and I would say that 20% has been killed off, 20% showed whitening and then recovered and 60% showed no ill effects.
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- Posts: 2
- Joined: July 22nd, 2020, 1:54 pm
- Location: Southern Maine
- Grass Type: TTTF, CRF, Ryegrass
- Lawn Size: Not Specified
- Level: Not Specified
Re: Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
Yeah we have had 90’s with what feels like 100% humidity a lot this summer, which is a bit abnormal.
I know not to plant in the spring but I have way too much yard to plant and I couldn’t do it all in the Fall. Plus the wife was sick of looking at dirt.
I wish I knew that tenacity did nothing before dropping $100 on that and surfactant and dye... of well.
I will use some type of crabgrass killer then.
Should I start now or wait until I overseed? Can I use weed be gone crabgrass killer while seeding? If not how long do I have to wait before seeding?
I know not to plant in the spring but I have way too much yard to plant and I couldn’t do it all in the Fall. Plus the wife was sick of looking at dirt.
I wish I knew that tenacity did nothing before dropping $100 on that and surfactant and dye... of well.
I will use some type of crabgrass killer then.
Should I start now or wait until I overseed? Can I use weed be gone crabgrass killer while seeding? If not how long do I have to wait before seeding?
- ken-n-nancy
- Posts: 2571
- Joined: July 17th, 2014, 3:58 pm
- Location: Bedford, NH
- Grass Type: Front: KBG (Bewitched+Prosperity); Side: Bewitched KBG; Back: Fine Fescue Blend + Prosperity
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Experienced
Re: Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
It's not that Tenacity does nothing -- there are some things that Tenacity can do that no other "lawn tool" can do. It's just that Tenacity isn't the best tool for eliminating crabgrass from an existing lawn.
As Andy mentioned, quinclorac + methylated seed oil (MSO) is the tool of choice for crabgrass.
For the future, since you have it now, Tenacity is kind of in a class by itself for two common challenges,
- be a pre-emergent applied at seed-down of a new lawn to prevent weeds, particularly weedy grasses such as Poa annua and Poa trivialis, which are very hard to control in an established lawn, and
- elimination of bentgrass from an existing cool season lawn.
On the other hand, for crabgrass removal from an existing lawn, Tenacity is only about half as good as quinclorac + MSO.
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- Posts: 546
- Joined: April 19th, 2018, 5:12 pm
- Location: S. New Hampshire
- Grass Type: KBG
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Some Experience
Re: Tenacity on newly seeded lawn
I’m going to disagree about Tenacity not wiping out crabgrass on an existing lawn. Ive had Quinclorac fail to kill the mature stuff.
Three apps of Tenacity and it wiped out my crabgrass and by late summer I had a weed free lawn. Spring seeding was my only option that year.
I documented the whole thing here on ATY.
Three apps of Tenacity and it wiped out my crabgrass and by late summer I had a weed free lawn. Spring seeding was my only option that year.
I documented the whole thing here on ATY.
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