Weed And Feed For The Lawn

[podgey]

In Oz there is a product called weed and feed that is a weak herbicide / fertilizer combination. Is there anything similar to this available in Thailand? Cheers

[xen]

Make your own . It is only sulphate of ammonia , sulphate of iron and sand if your are using it as a powder to spread. If u are going to use it as a liquid just dissolve it in water and leave out the sand . Use a watering-can to apply . Use about a 3 to 1 mix of sulphate of ammonia to sulphate of iron . Apply it to the area and let the sun react with the chemical fertiliser to burn the broadleaf weeds. Afterwards the fertilizer will kick in giving you a short green hit to your lawn .

Edited August 12, 2010 by xen

[podgey]

Sounds good, any idea where to buy this stuff?

[xen]

If u can't find sulphate of ammonia u can use any chemical fertilizer and it will work. It works best if you do it early morning and if there is no dew or moisture on the turf then give it a wetting down . Then sprinkle it over the affected areas.Only a small amout will work dropped on the weed or disolve the fertilizer in water and water the whole area as i have mentioned. After the sun has been on it for a while u will notice the area going brown. Experiment with an out of sight area first if u are nervous about using it too heavily , but if it does burn off too much, the turf will come back because of the fertilizer. I have used Shirleys No 17 and other fertilisers in Oz so any u can find in LOS will do the job. I am sure u can buy 5 kg bags of general purpose fertiliser in Tesco, Big C etc.

If u do this constantly over a few years , it is a good idea to check the ph level of the soil occaisionally because the chemical fertilizer will send it towards the acidic side. it can be adjusted with the application of lime .

[Milo]

Great advice, thank you!

I was looking for weed & feed myself some years ago but was told you couldn't buy it because it was dual purpose? Allegedly there's a law here against such things, which is why you also can't buy the likes of Nurofen Cold & Flu or even Lemsip? Unsure of how true it is but looking around since being told so I've started to see the possible truth in the statement.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

[drtreelove]

Make your own . It is only sulphate of ammonia , sulphate of iron and sand if your are using it as a powder to spread. If u are going to use it as a liquid just dissolve it in water and leave out the sand . Use a watering-can to apply . Use about a 3 to 1 mix of sulphate of ammonia to sulphate of iron . Apply it to the area and let the sun react with the chemical fertiliser to burn the broadleaf weeds. Afterwards the fertilizer will kick in giving you a short green hit to your lawn .

I don't know what product Xen is referring to that is only ammonium sulphate, etc but most weed and feed products that I am familiar with, in addition to the fertilizer components, contain selective herbacides like atrozine, dicamba and 2, 4, D. Research the toxicity studies on these powerful chemicals and read the product labels and material safety data sheets if you want to be informed. As well as environmental contamination and mammalian toxicity potential, weed and feed products are well known to cause unexpected and of course unwanted photo-toxicity of plants and trees that were not the intended target. In the course of consulting on plant problems over many years, I have come across numerous cases of tree and shrub damage or mortality that was eventually attributed to weed and feed products. After all, the herbacides used are selected to kill broadleaf weeds in monocultures of grass. What are your shrubs and trees that grow in or near your lawn? Yes, broadleaf. With the correct application rates and following label directions to the T, most problems can be avoided; but who follows directions to the T? Not many people I have found. don

[drtreelove]

Make your own . It is only sulphate of ammonia , sulphate of iron and sand if your are using it as a powder to spread. If u are going to use it as a liquid just dissolve it in water and leave out the sand . Use a watering-can to apply . Use about a 3 to 1 mix of sulphate of ammonia to sulphate of iron . Apply it to the area and let the sun react with the chemical fertiliser to burn the broadleaf weeds. Afterwards the fertilizer will kick in giving you a short green hit to your lawn .

I don't know what product Xen is referring to that is only ammonium sulphate, etc but most weed and feed products that I am familiar with, in addition to the fertilizer components, contain selective herbacides like atrozine, dicamba and 2, 4, D. Research the toxicity studies on these powerful chemicals and read the product labels and material safety data sheets if you want to be informed. As well as environmental contamination and mammalian toxicity potential, weed and feed products are well known to cause unexpected and of course unwanted photo-toxicity of plants and trees that were not the intended target. In the course of consulting on plant problems over many years, I have come across numerous cases of tree and shrub damage or mortality that was eventually attributed to weed and feed products. After all, the herbacides used are selected to kill broadleaf weeds in monocultures of grass. What are your shrubs and trees that grow in or near your lawn? Yes, broadleaf. With the correct application rates and following label directions to the T, most problems can be avoided; but who follows directions to the T? Not many people I have found. don

Correction: Should read: phyto-toxicity = toxic to plants, not photo toxicity.

" There are three ways to deal with weeds: Poison them, pull them, or change your attitude toward them." from Please Don't Eat the Daiseys, a 1970s book on organic gardening.

[xen]

I don't know what product Xen is referring to that is only ammonium sulphate, etc but most weed and feed products that I am familiar with, in addition to the fertilizer components, contain selective herbacides like atrozine, dicamba and 2, 4, D. Research the toxicity studies on these powerful chemicals and read the product labels and material safety data sheets if you want to be informed. As well as environmental contamination and mammalian toxicity potential, weed and feed products are well known to cause unexpected and of course unwanted photo-toxicity of plants and trees that were not the intended target. In the course of consulting on plant problems over many years, I have come across numerous cases of tree and shrub damage or mortality that was eventually attributed to weed and feed products. After all, the herbacides used are selected to kill broadleaf weeds in monocultures of grass. What are your shrubs and trees that grow in or near your lawn? Yes, broadleaf. With the correct application rates and following label directions to the T, most problems can be avoided; but who follows directions to the T? Not many people I have found. don

Hi Don,

The weed'n feed I was referring to is a basic home gardeners method of contolling broadleaf weeds (it probably dates back to the thirties or earlier as my father taught it to me) that was later marketed as a weed 'n feed containing the sulphate of ammonia,sulphate of iron, and sand to bulk it up for easier spreading. I have seen , but never used those other weed'n feeds products you mentioned. i would not advocate the use of the herbides you mentioned particularly when there are safer and more envirio friendly chemicals that have entered the market in the past decade especially in the greenkeeping industry . Some of the new pre-emergents formulations for example, are much safer and the use of growth promoters/regulators for turf are now showing good results in weed control especially in golf courses and sporting fields. Dicamba is still used occaisionally in mixtures with broximil and MCPA , but for the home gardener , the method i referred to is much cheaper and safer using the sun to react and burn the broadleaf weed. I have used it many times with good results everytime the weather has co-operated . Apart from the eventual changes in pH and perhaps fertilizer run -off it has fewer envirionmental consquences unlike the chemicals you mentioned. It has been fairly well documented what those chemical do to the envirionment especially when they enter the water table and the subsquent damage to trees & shrubs like you mentioned..

Regards

Xen

[drtreelove]

Hi Don,

The weed'n feed I was referring to is a basic home gardeners method of contolling broadleaf weeds (it probably dates back to the thirties or earlier as my father taught it to me) that was later marketed as a weed 'n feed containing the sulphate of ammonia,sulphate of iron, and sand to bulk it up for easier spreading. I have seen , but never used those other weed'n feeds products you mentioned. i would not advocate the use of the herbides you mentioned particularly when there are safer and more envirio friendly chemicals that have entered the market in the past decade especially in the greenkeeping industry . Some of the new pre-emergents formulations for example, are much safer and the use of growth promoters/regulators for turf are now showing good results in weed control especially in golf courses and sporting fields. Dicamba is still used occaisionally in mixtures with broximil and MCPA , but for the home gardener , the method i referred to is much cheaper and safer using the sun to react and burn the broadleaf weed. I have used it many times with good results everytime the weather has co-operated . Apart from the eventual changes in pH and perhaps fertilizer run -off it has fewer envirionmental consquences unlike the chemicals you mentioned. It has been fairly well documented what those chemical do to the envirionment especially when they enter the water table and the subsquent damage to trees & shrubs like you mentioned..

Regards

Xen

That's an interesting method. I guess the premise is that the broadleaf plants sustain burning from the salts before the grasses do. I would think that exact application rates would be important so as not to cross the line. And I would caution using this with Ya Malaysia, as I find it burns quite easily with over fertilization.