"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have waited many long years for the required conditions to treat a lawn:
dry lawn (but not during a prolonged dry spell)
no wind (but it will rain within one to two days)
at least 3 days after being cut
at least 3 days before being cut
[According to my calculations this must mean Wednesday :-)]

At last I decided - "Stuff It - JFDI!"*

So I set out and treated the poor neglected lawn despite the breezy
conditions and was just finishing when it started to rain.
Timed to perfection? Quite possibly.

I know from the size of lawn and the amount of reatment used I have put
down
roughly twice the amount recommended but hopefully after the initial shock
of being fed the lawn will rally.

Ramble

One reason I have been slow to treat the lawn is my lawn spreader - it is
a
Fisons model which has a rotating 'troughed bar' at the bottom which picks
up a measured amount of lawn treatment and as the wheels rotate it tips
this
out through holes in the bottom.

So far fine and dandy - but the mechanism for opening the holes when the
spreader is moving and closing them when the spreader stops is a spring
loaded shutter which is activated by two plastic legs behind the wheels.
Theory seems to be that as you push the spreader along the drag on the
legs
allows lawn treatment to be dispensed but when you stop the legs spring
backwards and close the shutter.
In fact, the spring/leg combination is stronger than the push handle, and
the spreader keeps twisting and stopping, plus digging two furrows in the
lawn.
So not a good experience.

Yesterday I bought a spreader pack - a choice between J Arthur Bowers and
Phostrogen and I went with J.Arthur Bowers because it seemed better value.

Good points - it seems to work as advertised and you can refill it by
unscrewiing the top and pouring in more lawn treatment from the standard
packs.

Bad points - the refill pack I bought was just a cardboard box - not lined
with anything - and it started to leak before I got it home. Need to
vacuum
the boot. Also there must have been a little damp penetration because
there
were a few bigish lumps which blocked the spreader nozzle when they tried
to
get out.

All in all, though, a quick and easy way to treat a lawn.

Additional thoughts:

The pack recommends that you spread from 0.5m height (around knee height)
but at this height there is quite a bit of 'drift' in the slightest
breeze.
To counter this, when working near borders, I tried moving faster in
narrow
strips with the spreader nozzle almost touching the grass. I seemed to get
good coverage and no drift but I have used more treatment. We shall see.

The Homebase generic treatment comes in a plastic bag (so no leakage or
moisture ingress) and is also spread at 35gms per square metre. I finished
the bottom corner using this (it has been sitting there since last year
whilst I attempted to overcome my aversion to the spreader) and this
seemed
to work fine as well - roughly the same grain size. Will probably use this
in future assuming all goes well.

Colour - ISTR lawn feed used to be bright blue so you could see where you
had spread it. Both these treatments (JAB and Homebase) are neutral in
colour and so are very hard to see once you have spread them. The blue
colour was such a good idea, why was it dropped?

Grass clippings - do not use for mulch but intead they must be buried at a
crossroads at midnight on a moonless night with a stake through their
heart.
I presume it is O.K. to put them out in the brown wheelie for the council
to
compost?

/Ramble

The pack says you can treat again after six weeks - how many times a year
(maximum) is it safe to treat a lawn?

If your lawn is starved and neglected, how often should you feed with just
a
lawn feed (assuming you can get one - weed and feed seems to be everywhere
at the moment).?

And finally I also bought a pair of spikey sandals as they were only about
£3 but haven't used them yet.
They should provide a lot of light entertainment for onlookers over the
summer :-)

Cheers

Dave R

*JFDI = Just Finally Do It!
--




Toplawn is the blue "see where you've been" FWMkill you are thinking of.