I am often times asked about when to start spraying for weeds and when to start fertilizing lawns. I'm also asked if I use some sort of schedule throughout the year. I pretty much just did what my dad had taught me growing up. Since I don't actually have a lawn spraying business, I would just tell people what I did as far as Pre and Post-emergent weed and feed when I was asked.
Sometime back I received a post card in the mail advertising a local weed and feed lawn care company. I took one look at the back of the card, and there it was, in black and white, their lawn control schedule. This card stated loosely when and for what they would come out and spray your lawn. They, of course wanted the recipient of the ad to pay for their full schedule of seven applications.
One curious thing I noticed was that, although I didn't have seven distinct applications like they did, their schedule fell pretty much in line with mine. I just had never taken the time to actually put it on paper. As I compared their lawn control schedule with mine, I noticed that three of their applications were, in fact, simple spot treatments that I do pretty much anytime I happen to be out, but they make sense to list them here if you are running your own lawn care business or needing someone to care for your lawn. So, since I didn't really have anything written down at that time, I decided to sit down and make my own lawn control schedule based on mine and their schedule and begin following it.
The following is the combined lawn control schedule:
| SCHEDULE | SOLUTION | CONTROL |
|---|
| Winter/Pre-Spring (January-March) |
Weed Mixed Strong
Or Roundup if your lawn is dormant |
Crabgrass and broad-leaf weed prevention
That crap that grows when the rest of your yard is brown. |
| Early Spring (March-April) |
Weed Mixed NormalFertizer
Insect control |
Crabgrass, broad-leaf weeds and feed |
| Late Spring (April-May) |
Weed Mixed Normal
Insect control (if needed) |
Spot Treat |
| Early Summer (May-June) |
Weed Mixed Normal
Insect control (if needed) |
Spot Treat |
| Late Summer (July-Aug) |
Weed Mixed Normal |
Spot Treat |
| Fall (Sept-Nov) |
Weed Mixed Normal |
Crabgrass, and Wintergrass |
| Late Fall (Nov-Dec) |
Weed Mixed Normal
Fertizer |
Broad-leaf weeds, winter weeds and winter feed |
This is of course fairly loose as far as timelines and may need to be adjusted according to your location.
Also, when you spot treat, don't get lazy and just spray. If you do, you probably will get little round spots
everywhere you sprayed. The reason for this is that often when spot treating, the chemicals get on healthy plants
or grass and sicken or kill them in the immediate vicinity of the spray. When spot treating, spray close down
towards the base of the weed, and don't over treat. (put down too much chemical)
|
