Help! Roundup/Lawn Care help!

[texmati]

My DH and I are at our wits end with the weeds in our lawn. He's tried to spray two different chemicals two times, with no real results (except the weeds look watered).

Our entire lawn is covered with weeds (has been since we bought the house), and if we don't do something now, our neighbors are going to flip. We are getting desperate.

Right now our weeds are aliving and thriving. Our grass is brown and dead. The home depo dude says that we can safely spray round up, kill the weeds now, and then the grass will come up in the spring. Does anyone know if this is true? Or are there any round up alternatives?

[FarmerCathy]

You can try something natural like this. http://groworganic.com/item_PWC212_B...Killer_Re.html or boiling water, but esp. on the parts in the shade.

[texmati]

Thanks! I don't know about the boiling water over a .25 of an acre, but I'll def look at the other stuff.

Thanks again!

[Evenstar]

The Lawn Bible

This book tells you how to help your grass beat the weeds

We found that spraying does not work.

Get into a good lawn care routine and the weeds won't stand a chance.

Spring - aerate, topdress with 2 inches of compost, overseed

During the growing season mow at least once a week, without taking more than a 1/4 of the length of a blade of grass. Keep the grass long-ish, mowing frequently. Water somewhat infrequently, like once a week, but deeply, like 2 inches

Fall - thatch, aerate, topdress with 2 inches of compost, overseed

[nattybo]

your lawn is brown? is it Zoysia? If it is, then you have no worries. Zoysia will (given time) will squeeze out practically every weed in its way. PPs gave good advice. And some agri. lime 2-4x a year will help too.

Roundup/Monsanto corp. is evil and to me represents our society's way of dealing with every little thing with a pill...soon the pills don't work and then we are left with a bigger mess then what we had in the first place. ok steping off my soap box now and going to go play in the dirt :

[texmati]

It's actually bermuda, but I've heard really great things about Zoysia. I live in Dallas, so we need a drought tolorant grass like Zoysia.

Thanks everyone for the responses. We decided not to round up. We are going to hire a lawn care company for this year only, so that we keep going with the organic stuff once the grass is healthy enought to have a fighting chance at choking out the weeds.

If we lived further from our neighbors, or if the weeds weren't so nasty (they actually hurt to walk on/touch), we'd consider letting it go wild. But as it is, I think this is the best route. I'm still going forward with the veggie garden though!

[binxsmom]

not to be pessimistic but bermuda can be just plain evil. corn gluten as a pre emergent is your best bet. and this can get pretty expensive if you have a large lot. it also takes a couple of years to really kick in.

i can totally relate as i have a large lot and TONS of weeds. my neighbors all have gorgeous lawns that are precisely manicured. i have a yard full o' weeds. seriously. and it has happened pretty quickly. i hope to get things under control within the next year or so.

i would encourage you not to go with a traditional landscape company but to try and find someone who uses organic/natural methods. if you have children or pets that play outside, they will continually be subjected to these chemicals. in addition, so many of the beneficial insects that are crucial to a healthy lawn are killed off with chemical fertilizers and such.

also, don't be fooled into thinking that a few treatments of chemicals will help you get things under control. i have found that weeds and invasive plants can grow back very, very quickly. a chemical service may make your yard look nice this year but next year, your problems will return with a vengence.

i may have a yard full of weeds but i feel confident knowing that my kids can play in my yard without having chemicals enter their skin as they walk and roll around on the grass (remember, the skin is a very porous organ). as a benefit, i have also noticed that the birds tend to flock to my yard. i generally have 4x more birds in my yard than i have noticed at neighboring homes.

my intent is not to sound preachy. i hope i don't come across that way. but, trust me, bermuda is just nasty stuff.

[texmati]

Stephanie, not preachy at all. I would totally give this a lot more thought if we had children playing in the yard. We've also warned the neighbors that we'll be spraying just in case they want to keep their dogs off too. We are not trying to kill the bermuda... that's what we are trying to keep alive! lol