MC wrote in
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On Mon, 01 Mar 2004 13:00:03 +0000, Pam - gardengal wrote:


"MC" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 15:06:50 -0800, JeffLaw wrote:

We started having weed problems (mostly dandelion) in our lawn
last summer I & was hoping to get some tips for better control
this year. I've seen several posts from people saying manually
removing weeds is the best bet, but each time I've tried that I
either don't get the roots or leave huge pot holes in my lawn.
I've tried several weed removal tools (i.e. "as seen on tv" weed
pullers) that also leave the big holes. I will start using
Scott's spring fertilizer with weed control soon, but it didn't
seem to help much last year. Has anyone had luck with any brand
of lawn friendly herbicides? Any weed removal gardening tool
suggestions? Any tips for this lawn care newbie would be
appreciated .

Mechanical weed removal works fine. I have used a combination of
that and Weed-B-Gon. This method works great on dandelions,
creeping charlie and other broadleaf pests. I usually make 2-3
applications over the entire lawn at 2-3 week intervals.
Eradicating creeping charlie works best if you can hit the plant
when it is blooming, a period in its life when all the plant's
energy goes into bloom production thereby weakening it a bit.

There's nothing wrong with chemicals as long as one uses common
sense and can read/follow instructions to the letter.

At the risk of starting a huge flame war (and hasn't it been quiet in
that regard lately?), not all chemical weed controls are exactly
benign. I would encourage the OP to consider something other than a
combo weed'n feed type product. This is probably the most inefficient
and problematic use of chemical herbicides. Run off with this type of
material is flagrant - there is more pollution of streams and ground
water from residential use of weed and feed products than from any
other form of pesticide. Much better to use manual control whenever
possible or spot treat persistant perennial type weeds rather than a
broadcast granular product.

http://www.huronview.on.ca/gardening_04.html

pam - gardengal


I always felt that runoff is problematic with regard to lawn
treatment. After hearing several lectures by turfgrass experts from
the university's turfgrass facility, I am now of a different opinion.
Fertilizers and chemicals do not wash off lawns and into streams and
lakes. They go into the soil which acts as a giant filter. Chemicals
in use now have a short life of just a few weeks. The only way to get
chemicals to our waterways is to physcially dump them in storm sewers.



What do these chemicals you are referring to degrade into?

What is the filtration capacity of a typical lawn?

What happens when the lawn becomes saturated? (if I read some current
post correctly, extremely little soil particulate is incorporated into
plant biomass)

What is the mechanism whereby these new chemicals decompose? I assume
they are not inherently unstable (or else they would lose efficacy in
transit or sitting on the store shelves)

What are some representative products and the university your are
referring to?