|
Lawn Sprinkler Kits
Lawn Sprinkler Layout
Lawn Sprinkler Maintenance
Lawn Sprinkler Parts
|
How To Spot Weeds And Deal With Them
By Paul Duxbury, Fri Dec 9th
When I was a child, I loved to pick Dandelions. The prettyyellow flowers were small, colorful, and looked nice tuckedbehind my ear! However, if one had popped up in the front yard,my hair accessory would have been considered an atrocity! Ioften feel sorry for weeds. They are plants too. In fact, if youflipped through a botany field guide, you may be surprised atthe plants you find classified as weeds! But simply put, a weedis really defined as a plant out of place. Clover in one persons flowing may be consideredfashionable, whereas on another, not. Golf greens are oftencovered with bentgrass, but if it crept up in some yards, itwould be considered a weed. While perhaps pretty on their own,weeds stick out like a sore thumb in yards because they may beof a different color, size or texture. This is distracting fromthe beauty of the otherwise sprawling green turf. Aside fromaesthetic values, weeds can also drain nutrients from grass andother plants, and this competition of resources can thin whatshould be lush. And what's worse is that weeds are fighters.They can withstand conditions that your wanted greens cannot, sothey are almost inevitable! Treating weeds begins with correct identification. There are twoclassifications of weeds: Grassy and Broadleaf. These arefurther broken down into groups like perennial, biennial, andwinter and summer annuals. These, as you may gave guessed,depict their growing patterns. Grassy weeds are, as they sound,like grass. However, they are unwanted grass, or grass that isgrowing in a different type of lawn. Some examples are annualbluegrass, barnyard grass, crabgrass, creeping bentgrass andfoxtail. Broadleaf weeds may appear more to be what most peoplepicture weed-like growth to be. Since they are broad, they aremore easily distinguished. Some examples are yarrow, knotweed,chickweed, clover, ground ivy, thistle and my favorite, thedandelion.
Once you understand what is growing in your and decide thatit is unwanted, you can treat it and/or control it. Weeds canactually be controlled by your care maintenance. If youmaintain a dense and vigorously growing lawn, you are alreadycombating the problem. Weeds can be a sign of underlyingproblems in the environment beneath. So by just killing
them,you are simply putting on a band-aid, not solving the problem.For example, some weeds grow in situations of compacted soil,such as knotweed. You can also control the growth by takingbetter care of the grass, rather than focus on the weeds. Youcan raise or lower the mowing height, change the frequency ofmowing and changing the amount of time between irrigating. Also,you can increase or decrease application of fertilizer andaerify the soil. This will maintain better grass, thus keepingthe growth dense and vigorous, which as discussed above, doesnot attract weeds. In addition to culture practices, sometimes the assistance ofchemicals is needed to control weed growth. In that case, thereare several types of herbicides that can be used. Pre-emergenceherbicides will affect seeds that are germinating. Since theyare best used two to three weeks before the seeds start to grow,these work best to combat annual weeds. Post-emergenceherbicides are used, as their prefix implies, after the weedshave sprouted. Since they must be absorbed through the leaves,this types of herbicide works best with a spray. These can beused at any time, but are most effective when the weed is stillyoung and growing. Selective post-emergence herbicides areusually used to control annual, biennial and perennial broadleafweeds, as they will not damage grass. But, they can kill trees,shrubs and flowers. These have to be used in proper conditionsas well, with no rain in the forecast for two days to follow,air 60-80 degrees and no winds. Finally, non-selectivepost-emergence herbicides kill all types of weeds, and are bestused to spot treat grassy weeds that are not affected by theselective herbicides. So next time you see a Dandelion plant growing, don't make awish and blow the seeds toward in the direction of a lawnfanatic- they may not get the perfectly manicured theywished for! About the author:Paul is Head of Training for a major UK Charitable Organisationwith a wealth of experience in personal development, managementdevelopment, e-learning and operational management. In additionhe owns PK eBooks (http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk) and has justpublished a Create the You want! eBook which can be foundat http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk/create_your_dream_lawn.htm
|
