New Lawn _ Weeds

Bluefoam

I have a newly seeded lawn, but it has a healthy (or otherwise) growth of weeds... whats my best course of action... do I need to pluck them all out? Soil is very mushy...

Car99

Bluefoam wrote: »

I have a newly seeded lawn, but it has a healthy (or otherwise) growth of weeds... whats my best course of action... do I need to pluck them all out? Soil is very mushy...

You have three options .

Weed kill everything and reseed.

Let everything grow and cut it as normal then maybe end of next summer you could spray a selective weed killer like dicophar to kill just the weeds.

Unrealistic but you could pick everyweed by hand.

I'd take option 2 in your case

Was your topsoil left settle and all weeds sprayed with weed killer prior to seeding ?

Bluefoam

Car99 wrote: »

Was your topsoil left settle and all weeds sprayed with weed killer prior to seeding ?

No, absolutely not... its a new house, so a microlayer of topsoil and a good base of builders rubble...

*I'm exagerating, but It's semi true.

Alex19

The soil looks quite compacted. If the area isn't too big you could aerate it with a garden fork. This will help it to drain better. If the ground is compacted the grass will always struggle. For the weeds I would spread a weed and feed mix next spring or spray with a selective weedkiller.

If you wanted a perfect lawn I would also recommend digging over the lawn and adding some good quality topsoil. Wait a few weeks for the soil to settle and spray any weeds that emerge. Then seed over that.

Bluefoam

Alex19 wrote: »

The soil looks quite compacted. If the area isn't too big you could aerate it with a garden fork. This will help it to drain better. If the ground is compacted the grass will always struggle. For the weeds I would spread a weed and feed mix next spring or spray with a selective weedkiller.

If you wanted a perfect lawn I would also recommend digging over the lawn and adding some good quality topsoil. Wait a few weeks for the soil to settle and spray any weeds that emerge. Then seed over that.

Thanks, I'll use your suggestion regarding the fork and the weed and feed... Sounds less difficult than I had thought.

macraignil

When the grass has started to get more established simple mowing and competition from the grass will kill off most weeds anyway so a selective herbicide chemical like that found in a weed and feed product may not be needed. Grass grows from the base of the plant where as the non grass plants you regard as weeds will often have their growing tip removed by mowing and are therefore much more damaged each time you mow. Just insure you start the mowing on a high setting and try stay off the lawn area when it is very wet. I like to see some common daisy and clover in my lawn area so would never use a weed and feed product that would kill these valuable plants which fit in well with a lawn and benefit pollinators. A pure grass lawn to me looks too boring.

PhilOssophy

Patience!
Leave it - lawns tend to get weedy/mossy at this time of year. Give it until the end of next summer - it is more likely that when the grass growth becomes established that the weeds will get overrun. My lawn was incredibly weedy for the first few months and then the grass started to grow properly. Still have occasional problems with weeds but give the lawn a growing season first and then decide.
Note - there is an awful lot of stones there.....did the builder just spread out his rubble/shale and compact it? I'd be picking them all of it.

The Continental Op

Really bad time of year to be using any form of herbicide on a new lawn. Slowly growing plants have the maximum time to take up more of it than usual and immature grass can be damaged. Ideally leave it 12 months from sowing to spraying.

Looks fine to me btw, some bald spots and very very little weed so just leave it and cut if the weed starts outgrowing the grass. Set mower at about 3 inches and top it off on a really dry day when the weeds get taller than that. Ideally bag the clippings off.

Bluefoam

Thanks for all the resonses... Seems like its not as bad as I had thought. Will use the fork to help the water and sit tight till spring.

looksee

While I agree with the 'wait and mow' theory of dealing with the weeds, close inspection of the pic shows the ground is incredibly soggy - how long after rain was that taken? The soil looks very poor, more like gravel. You could probably save yourself a lot of heartache in the long run by digging it properly, taking out the rubbish and putting in more topsoil. If it is compacted clay underneath you might consider some drainage.

PhilOssophy

looksee wrote: »

While I agree with the 'wait and mow' theory of dealing with the weeds, close inspection of the pic shows the ground is incredibly soggy - how long after rain was that taken? The soil looks very poor, more like gravel. You could probably save yourself a lot of heartache in the long run by digging it properly, taking out the rubbish and putting in more topsoil. If it is compacted clay underneath you might consider some drainage.

Yeah, but there's no point in him doing it at this time of year, might as well wait until Spring. I said the same, the soil does look like rubble or something which the builder just levelled out.