Lawn tips... new sod and weed issues.

[VitruvianDoc]

So... with our new house came new sod. The established lawns around the neighborhood are growing in well but our grass has barely grown in but the weeds are bad!

I would think new sod needs to be treated differently established grass. Should I treat the whole lawn with say Ortho Weed-B-Gone? is there something better to use since the lawn is starting to grow, but the weeds are so rampant?

Trying to stay away from corporate companies, I prefer DIY stuff.

 

[KenL]

Just keep it watered until it starts establishing itself. Often times regular mowing keeps weeds at bay. Broadleaf weeds are easy to kill at any time of year with the Ortho stuff. The grassy weeds are the ones you need to kill while they're young because they are hard to get rid of once they mature without damaging your good grass.

 

[cowzrul]

Not saying this is accurate, just passing along what I recently found out. I have new sod that I wanted to get treated. My Weed and Pest control company from my old house said the sod had to be establish before you treated it. They said mid June would be good for the first application.

 

[mapcon1941]

Spot treat big weeds with Roundup and pump sprayer. Add a little liquid dishwasher detergent to roundup to help it stick to leaves and be careful of overspray. Best to use this early when weeds are qrowing, but grass is still dormant. Once high temps. are regularly in the mid 80s, you might not want to use spray weedkiller at all. Once weeds are dead, the grass should backfill the bare spots.

 

[ProBusiness]

man, i don't know about spot treatment a lawn with round-up, round-up will kill anything it touches so the grass that the spray touches will be dead. could end up with a whole lot of little brown dead spots. how new is your grass? you have to be careful with real new sod, fertlizer can be too strong and kill it. weed-be-gone will take care of the weeds but it does retard the growth of all your grass you spray it on.

if the grass is established, i believe you need to fertilize and fertilize the grass and it will help take over the weeds.

i worked at it myself for years and finally went to a lawn company, best move i every made, really not that much more money but very good results.

 

[OKCShooter]

Don't mess with it. Just live with the weeds until your lawn is established...

 

[mapcon1941]

I agree with using a lawn service for weeds/fertilizer is worth it. I figured 2 applications of Scott's turf builer + 2 applications of a weed spray costs about the same as having a service do it for the whole season. Plus, if it happens to rain unexpectedly, the service will come back and reapply.

 

[Devilsbcoach]

Be careful with the Round-up. Round-up is a photosynthesis prohibitive and kills by basically starving anything green. I do know guys who use it to kill weeds while the turf grass is still dormant, but get it on any bermuda or other lawn grass that it starting to green up and it will die. Sod needs to be established before any treatment. Good luck.

 

[BadgeBunny]

I agree with using a lawn service for weeds/fertilizer is worth it. I figured 2 applications of Scott's turf builer + 2 applications of a weed spray costs about the same as having a service do it for the whole season. Plus, if it happens to rain unexpectedly, the service will come back and reapply.

We used a lawn service for a couple of years and it was well worth the money.

A couple of other guys here suggested concrete in another thread ... just saying ... lol

 

[Lurkerinthewoods]

When we built our house back in 06, we had the same problem. We looked at the model home and it had dang near a golf course lawn(thick and weed free) before we built. Sod was never mentioned as an upgrade. When spring came and the majority of the lawn was nothing but weeds, we called the company that laid the sod and they said the builder uses "builder grade" sod and that the model home had upgraded sod.

We called the builder and raised hell and let him know it was not acceptable to place weed infested sod in a new build. We gave him 2 options, pay for 1 year of Tru Green full service lawn care or re-sod the yard. He basically told us that he was taking neither option.

After a couple calls to the BBB and the Tulsa Home Builders Association, we had a Tru Green rep show up at the door. They applied their magic and then applied some pre emergent the following spring. I have used Scotts Turf Builder every year since. I still have a few pesky weeds that won't give up the fight but nothing like it was before.