What weed in lawn/how to treat it

BoardsMember

Hi - I have an somewhat of an infestation of weed in my lawn. Pic attached of some I pulled up. Any ideas on how to treat the lawn to get rid of it?

It's quite therapeutic pulling it up, it traces quite far in some cases, but never get it all out. Seems to be only in some areas of the lawn.

I think I need to also feed the lawn, so if u have some recommendations for treating it that would be great too - some pale yellow areas, look almost burnt after the first cut a month or so ago.

Thanks!

magicbastarder

that's clover. many people would not class that as a weed, it's actually quite useful. it actually feeds the lawn as it grows, and is more drought resistant than grass, IIRC.

GinSoaked

If you have the time and energy a good way to slowly decrease it is to rake any clumps (may be rake the whole lawn?) with a spring tine rake every time before you mow so you lift it up so the mower can get to more of it.

Outkast_IRE

BoardsMember wrote: »

Hi - I have an somewhat of an infestation of weed in my lawn. Pic attached of some I pulled up. Any ideas on how to treat the lawn to get rid of it?

It's quite therapeutic pulling it up, it traces quite far in some cases, but never get it all out. Seems to be only in some areas of the lawn.

I think I need to also feed the lawn, so if u have some recommendations for treating it that would be great too - some pale yellow areas, look almost burnt after the first cut a month or so ago.

Thanks!

A few things you can do to help

1. The pale yellow is possibly thatch if you want a good looking lawn you need to scarify this time of the year, if its a small lawn and you want some exercise by hand is doable with the right type of rake . If its a large lawn an electric scarifier can be got for reasonable money.

2. Dont cut the grass too low , its better to give it weekly runs to keep it at a reasonable height than leaving it get too long then hacking it back to nothing.

3. Once you scarify this will allow alot more nutrients down to the grass and help aerate the soil. Consider aerating the soil if you want it helps, put down some grass seed and water well.

This is the perfect time of year to get your grass in order.

BoardsMember

Thanks for the replies, really helptful.

Lawn is not too big. I have been raking with a spring tine rake, but was concentrating on the "infected" areas. I'll do the whole lawn this evening. I dont have any weed and feed at the moment so may order some online.

Since my petrol mower died I've been using a flymo eletric thing, short is not an option so all good there.

Re aeration, looks like using a 4 pronged harden fork would be ok. Not ideal maybe, but its all I have.

Outkast_IRE

sounds like you are on the right track.

If you have scarified you will need to wait a few weeks to see the benefits.

BoardsMember

I have scarified half the grass. It looks quite stalky to me, does it look ok to an educated eye?

Irish_peppa

Would not using the grass collector bucket on the mower & leaving the grass clippings on the lawn help it from a nutrient point of view (despite it looking kinda untidy) Im wondering as it decays would it a) Release minerals into the soil top layer for new grass, and b) Choke off light to the clover and other weeds like dandelion?

magicbastarder

yep, leaving the grass on the lawn means you're not continually pulling nutrients out of it.
i don't think it serves much benefit in terms of choking off light though, and again - clover is not a weed!

Outkast_IRE

Mulching the grass as your mowing is an ideal way to keep the nutrients in the grass . but it wont help with a weed issue.

The way i generally look at it is , you can either have

1. A healthy looking lawn with some various weeds through it that is ecologically ok and only requires moderate maintenance.

2. A perfect lawn that is ecologically speaking poor, and requires chemicals to maintain it and alot of maintenance and work.

I think scarifying , aeration , reseeding works well for most lawns. If you get some bigger weeds like plantain or a serious daisy infestation then you may resort to some chemical assistance. As discussed above mulching the grass helps.

BoardsMember

Is it better to leave the box off when using a normal mower? I don't have a mulching mower. Or should I leave the box on because my mower doesn't mulch?