Source
r/lawncare•
EngineerDave

Some Weed control 'Hacks'

I figured I'd do a post to share some tips/tricks that I've picked up over the years that have helped reduce workload on the lawn. Budget range for these tips are as low as $5 and as high as $30ish.

This is not a comprehensive weed control guide. There's already one of those out there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/comments/bfpdl3/comprehensive_weed_control_guide_cool_season_turf/

Instead these would be the 'next' steps in maintenance that help save time.

1.) Spray bottles are awesome!

At just about any big box store you can get individual, or packs of clear empty spray bottles for anywhere between $2 - 10 bucks.

Home depot example: https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-32-oz-All-Purpose-Sprayer-Bottle-HDX32101/305884969

Label them with tape/sharpie. I keep two in the garage that are filled with Ready-to-use products. Generally I keep one with Ortho Home Defense Max (bugs) and one with one of the pre-mix refills from either Roundup FOR LAWNS <--- important, or Orthro Weed-b-Gon.

Why: A lot of the premixed stuff now comes with those really crappy wands that don't really produce a good pattern in my experience. For Bugs set the nozzle for stream, for weeds set the nozzle for misting. I'm a busy guy, every time I see a weed I don't always have time to go and mix up the backpack sprayer with a batch to go and tackle the problem. And a lot of the concentrates that you see say you can't just mix up a batch and let it sit. This way I've got shelf stable mixtures that I can grab and spritz when needed to tackle that single weed that pops up in the middle of the yard. I also use them to patrol the edges of my yard that butt up against my neighbors to keep their weeds at bay. (see Tip 2 for making those pre-mixed sprays even better.)

2.) Adding a surfactant really boosts those pre-mixes!

Generally at the end of the year when the big boxes are going through closeouts is a great time to pick up herbicides, both Concentrates and ready to use mixtures! You can usually get them as cheap as half off. Which puts them closer to the price of buying the bulk containers online of the individual herbicides.

One way of increasing these (and all herbicides in general) effectiveness is to add a surfactant. There are basically two types:

Methylated Seed oil - https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Ag-Methylated-Seed-Surfactant/dp/B0149IA526/

and Non-ionic Surfactant - https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Ag-Surfactant-Herbicides-Non-Ionic/dp/B004XDHRCE/

You'll have to do a little bit of research as to which ones to use with which herbicides. (M. Seed Oil usually goes in anything with Quinclorac in it for example.) You only need a cap full or two of either product per gal of mixture, but you will see massive improvements on the effectiveness of your spraying.

I typically add two cap fulls to the refills of the ready to use mixtures that I put in the spray bottles mentioned in Tip 1. Shake it up really good, and then add it to the bottle. Give the bottle a good shake before each use and you are off to the races. Really helps to target those hard to kill waxy weeds and grasses.

3.) If you've followed tip 1 and tip 2, Get the refills!

If you've decided that you are going to have some pre-mixes on hand, don't pick up the ones with the sprayer already attached. Get the refills. The refills are the same stuff, but are cheaper than the ones that come with the crappy wand. Since if you are following step one and step two, you won't need that wand so there's no use paying the markup. Sure, in some cases like Ortho it's only saving you $3 - 4 bucks, but for Roundup FOR LAWNS it's a cost savings of around $8.

Another added benefit of this, since you are doing targeted sprays, you are going to in general, use less product on your lawn over the year, by reducing the number of blanket applications you apply. I actually don't do any blanket applications any more outside of a Pre-emergent using this method.

Bonus non-weed control tip:

  1. A clear plastic shower curtain when trimming hedges.

Either save an old one, or grab a cheap new one and have it dedicated to the garage. It folds up really small, and stores easily. Take the curtain and put it around the base of the shrug around the trunk. Weigh down the corners with rocks/stones/weights. (I use bricks.) This way when you trim your hedges, you don't have to spend time afterwards raking out the mulch beds or yard.

You just bundle it up by the corners and put the clippings in whatever your container of choice is. (I compost mine, so it saves me tons of time.) When done just folded it up and store it for later. I use it for all sorts of stuff not just lawncare and it holds up much better than the disposable plastic sheeting, and it comes out much further than plastic reusable paint drop cloths/sheets.

Posted Jul 23, 2022, 5:42 PM UTC

2713
nprajfm•

Don’t forget, you can always pluck that weed in the middle of the lawn without spraying anything.

Good idea with the shower curtain.

9
PastaAnalBowl6a•

That's my back yard weed control. Pluck what i see. If it's not gonna spread seed, i toss it to be mulched. Otherwise it goes into a garbage can. Honestly after 2 years of going ape shit to get my lawn in line, it's easy AF, especially since i seeded clover and can't just spray it.

1
EngineerDaveOP6b•

Depends on the weed, but yep!

1
thepeter•

How do you make a spray bottle of weed killer shelf stable? I'd like to make a glyphosate pump spray ready to go but feel like it would lose potency if left in the shed.

3
FloridaIsFull•

I leave my combo 24d glyphosate surfactant whatever in the shed for months on end. Shit still works when I go to use it shrug. It might not be as potent, but I’d never know.

5
PastaAnalBowl6a•

I leave those sprayers OP motherfucked in the garage and they've lasted me like 3 years. Same results.

4
aveindha25•

Ive been using the same jug of roundup for 3 years and it is still good. Finally ran out last week. Still works great

3
EngineerDaveOP6b•

You get the pre-mixed stuff. Usually labeled "ready to use". You can just pick up a jug of Roundup ready to use for what you are wanting to do.

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degggendorf6b•

Ortho it's only saving you $3 - 4 bucks, but for Roundup FOR LAWNS it's a cost savings of around $8.

If you're looking to save a few bucks, why are you still using brand names? All that matters for effectiveness is chemical and dilution. Or is there some special extra ingredient in the name brand?

1
PastaAnalBowl6a•

Ease of purchase. I use weed b Gon for the active ingredients but buy it because it's on my drive home.

3
EngineerDaveOP6b•

Nothing special. Just using what most folks can find at the big box store as an example. Also not really aware of too many "generic" ready to use weed control products. It's pretty much all Spectracide, Othro or Roundup for lawns out here.

1
PratSpeak•

Good ol' Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo works like a charm as a surfactant for herbicides

1
EngineerDaveOP6b•

It does an okayish job depending on the herbicide. I've had to use it in a pinch. In my experience though the actual stuff designed for it do a way better job. They also last forever. Even the smaller jug should last you 4 - 5 years easy, unless you've got a massive yard using a pull behind sprayer. I've had my Non-ionic surfactant for around 5 years and I've used maybe 1/3rd of the jug.

Methylated Seed oil is a damn wonder product when combined with anything with Quinclorac. Especially when used with a spray bottle. I've been able to completely toast hard to kill grassy weeds that otherwise would require roundup using this method. And since I can get as close as I want to the weed using the spray bottle I can get it properly wet, and cause minimal stress to the surrounding turf.

1