Tenacity

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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outbackmac
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Tenacity

Post by outbackmac » July 24th, 2021, 8:54 am

I am in Ohio and have a few questions regarding Tenacity.
1) Is tenacity used as a all purpose weed herbicide?
2) If i aerorate in the fall, can i apply Tenacity in the spring?
3) How often should tenacity be used for weed control?

Thanks

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Tenacity

Post by MorpheusPA » July 24th, 2021, 9:34 am

1) No, it's reasonably specialty. I kind of use it as a middle-of-the road because the weeds I get tend to be Tenacity-susceptible, but I'm a bit of a rare bird.
All purpose herbicides are more like Weed B Gon or Weed B Gon Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis. Tenacity takes out some very hard to kill weeds that other things won't touch. It also keeps new weeds from sprouting for 30 days or so.

2) If you aerate, you can apply Tenacity 3 seconds afterward if you want. Aeration doesn't impose a restriction on use. As to whether you need to aerate (you probably don't) is another argument entirely.

3) That's complicated. There's a yearly limit for use per acre. Blanket spraying, I think (off the top of my head) that you pass that in 3 uses. Spot spraying, you can spray quite a lot. I spot spray, and come nowhere near a tenth the yearly use at this point.

I'm getting a few mixed signals here. What goal are you trying to accomplish? If you have a really weedy lawn, Weed B Gon Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis might be the place to start. It'll probably knock out 95% or more of what you have--and be cheaper besides. Weed B Gon Crabgrass Control will take care of any crabgrass issues you have. And if you want a pre-emergent for a longer period, there are better ones than Tenacity.

Tenacity really is a specialty product. It's invaluable when you need it, but it's like trying to hammer a nail with a knife when you don't.

Masbustelo
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Re: Tenacity

Post by Masbustelo » July 24th, 2021, 8:43 pm

My experince is that Tenacity is very effective against Poa Annua, Poa Trivialis, and Nimblewill and some Fescues. I wouldn't use it as first line of defence against anything else. I'm in the Midwest, maybe in other parts of the country there are a few more species it is good for. I guess it is effective for Bentgrass as well, but I have no experience using Tenacity on Bentgrass.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Tenacity

Post by MorpheusPA » July 24th, 2021, 9:14 pm

The stuff took out my globe thistle problem (that even laughed at Round Up for years) for good and all.

If I ever want to clear out the cleome, I'll try it, but I probably won't. I've let that take over the north face since it's very pretty and descended from Sparkler Rose with the pale pinks bred out.

I've also used it to knock out P. annua and P. trivialis.

outbackmac
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Re: Tenacity

Post by outbackmac » July 25th, 2021, 8:21 am

So, Tenacity is more of a specific weed control. what would be a good general purpose weed control?


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andy10917
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Re: Tenacity

Post by andy10917 » July 25th, 2021, 8:55 am

The answer depends a lot on what you mean by "general purpose weed control". There are no herbicides that kill all weeds. The "Triangle Approach" article uses a 3-Way weed killer for the first layer of the Triangle. and gets then gets more specific when you find what weeds you have that don't respond to simpler/cheaper weed killers.

bazilbrush
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Re: Tenacity

Post by bazilbrush » July 25th, 2021, 11:46 am

I think Tenacity has done a great job of marketing itself, particularly on YouTube. Tenacity was one of the first herbicides I bought to address a clover issue. Despite glowing YouTube reviews (‘this is how pros deal with clover!) It did a poor job of fixing it.

My personal view is that the only real use of Tenacity is for weed control when seeding. It’s ability to not interfere with grass seed growth is invaluable. But if you aren’t seeding, there is often a cheaper and more effective solution to your weed problem but without the glowing YouTube videos and marketing.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Tenacity

Post by MorpheusPA » July 25th, 2021, 4:10 pm

Exactly. Got a broadleaf problem? Weed B Gon Max. This is probably where to start for most people if you're really not sure WHERE to start and the lawn is weedy. It's pretty broad-spectrum. Then start identifying specific weeds and targeting them in groups as efficiently as possible.

If your problem is clover? Weed B Gon Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis (which will also take out, as advertised, Chickweed and Oxalis, plus a ton of other weeds).

And so on.

My arsenal is actually extremely small. I use Weed B Gon Max, Weed B Gon Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis, Tenacity, and Round Up. The reason is that these cover the weeds I get in my personal lawn, and I actually don't use large amounts of any of the above. The Round Up sees the most use on the pavement and the gardens, to the tune of maybe a quart mix a year.

The last thing to consider is that, if you aren't taking care of the lawn, you're going to get the weeds back. If there's open space, a seed, sunlight, resources available, and rainfall, a plant will likely grow. That will be a new weed.

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Re: Tenacity

Post by northeastlawn » July 25th, 2021, 9:10 pm

As usual Morph is right on the money.

Every summer I notice parts of the lawn start getting a little thin and some misc clover or other weed pops up. Often I’ll just pull it, or wait until the fall when it’s a bit cooler.

When I do hit them I mix up 32oz spray bottles and keep them at the ready. I usually try to avoid spraying in August when we are in the 90’s. I’d rather wait until I am spoon feeding, it helps the lawn recover from the herbicide.

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