Weeds invading

[hypernova]

Dandelions have taken over my backyard.  I'm at a loss as to what to do.

About 2-3 weeks ago, I laid some Scotts (stuff you lay in Spring.)  About a week ago, I sprayed some Ortho Spectracide in a hose attachment bottle for 5000 sqft.  I've used a 2 gal pump pressure sprayer and blasted the weeds 2 times.  Did it again today for a third time.

Here are my results so far:



What the hell else can I do?  The dandelions don't seem to be dying.  They seem to be just sprouting new stalks from the same root, and then creating new stalks with all the flying seeds.

Most of the neighborhood has a fence, but not my yard, nor one of my neighbors...whose apathy for yard care is unsurpassed.  I don't know if he has a blade of grass at all in his backyard...Which leads me to a question:  With a neighbor's yard like this, am I fighting a losing, or even futile battle until a fence is erected?

I still know I can win the front yard battle.  It isn't nearly as bad.  The small strips along the sides of the house are still nearly perfect.

If I can still win this battle in the backyard even without a fence...what are the steps I should take?

edit:  Slightly changed title to avoid misconceptions.

[Hoopz]

I thought this was a thread for 4/20 then realized that was yesterday.

On topic, just keep up the treatments.  At some point, it'll kick in and you'll be ok.  Feel free to spray into your neighbor's yard by 5 feet or so.  It will help a little but won't solve your/his problem.  Frequent treatment will stop the dandelions especially if you kill them before they seed.

[ahofle]

This is the only reliable way to instantly kill those damn things that I've found:



Takes some time initially, but it's easier to keep under control after that.
It looks like there are more ergonomic ones now:

[drventure]

Come on!

More Power!

[wp34]

I thought this was a thread for 4/20 then realized that was yesterday.

On topic, just keep up the treatments.  At some point, it'll kick in and you'll be ok.  Feel free to spray into your neighbor's yard by 5 feet or so.  It will help a little but won't solve your/his problem.  Frequent treatment will stop the dandelions especially if you kill them before they seed.

+1

It takes time but you will get it.  And spraying into the neighbor's yard does help. I've had good luck with Ortho Max.

[RobbyMac]

We've used some ortho spray in the past with success. It doesn't kil all of them, but rid of about 90% of them.
I for one don't care much about them, they're usually gone after a few weeks anyways, except they sure dull the mower blades right quick.
Of course, we mow 5 acres... that might affect the amount of time I put into 'manicuring my lawn' (ie as little as possible)

[shmokes]

5 acres!!!  Sweet holy Mary Jesus mother of god!  Of lawn?  My god . . . that's WAY too much.  Like 90% of that should be xeriscaped (or have a tennis court and pool).  Are you mad?  Are you a masochist?  Who needs that kind of upkeep?   

And don't buy into xeriscaping being some ugly nonsense for tree-huggers.  I guarantee if properly done it looks 1000x better than 5 acres of grass.

[Gorotsuki]

Learn to love dandelions?

Heh, ignore this. I'm just a guy
that hates yard work.

[Hoopz]

I tried to convince my dad when I started mowing the lawn that we needed astroturf.

Now, I enjoy watching my stepson mow the grass.  Cold beer in hand as he learns the joy of yard work.  I've got less than an acre so it doesn't compare to the 5 acres that RobbyMac has.   Still, I think I could enjoy watching him mow 5 acres with a beer in hand.   

[RobbyMac]

Its a house out in the country. A rather old house unfortunately that my wifes parents had owned and we wound up purchasing. Thankfully my wife likes yardwork. Apparantly I'm a good handyman? 1 acre would have been more than adequate. I'm not fond of mowing 5. The lot is actually 8, but the back 3 are rented by the christmas tree farm next door. I would love to offer them another 4.

[hypernova]

I used to have around 3 acres to work with myself.  I didn't give a fudge what grew in that yard.

But I do care in our little subdivision home.  Good neighborhood.  Most neighbors have good looking lawns.  I also love the look and feel of a well kept lawn.

What are those tools called exactly, ahofle?

[Hoopz]

I used to have around 3 acres to work with myself.  I didn't give a fudge what grew in that yard.

But I do care in our little subdivision home.  Good neighborhood.  Most neighbors have good looking lawns.  I also love the look and feel of a well kept lawn.

What are those tools called exactly, ahofle?

It's called a weed puller.  Your local store may have it under a brand name but Google returns quite a few hits with that generic term.

[SavannahLion]

I didn't even experience the unadulterated joy of owning a lawn until I turned 30.  For years I lived in a house where the landscape was dominated by four foot tall ferns, flowers the size of baseballs and pine trees.

Now I'm not even sure what my lawn is supposed to look like. It has this hideous plant that grows with stalks as thick as my thumb, fox tails and those damn burr things. I'm one step short of using fire to get rid of those damn things. This year I'm buying the hard plastic blades for the weed eater because it's a bear to cut them down sometimes.

I'd give almost anything to live in that house with the ferns again.

[RobbyMac]

Those plastic weed eater blades (gator something or other?) work alot better than string (and last alot longer)

[RayB]

Fiskar's weed puller. Looks gimmicky but it actually works. So easy. No twisting. Just center it on the weed, step down to force the blades into the soil, then pull back like a lever. Does leave holes all over the lawn though... 

http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/product.asp?pID=771&cID=188&c=231927

[SavannahLion]

Does leave holes all over the lawn though... 

And that is worse than three dogs and a two year old armed with a garden spade how?

[shmokes]

My brother is a gardner in San Francisco.  He recently went and landscaped my mom's back yard in southern Utah.  As you can tell by the plants, southern Utah is a desert.  Nevertheless, 99% of the yards are lawn.  It's so much work and water and expense to keep up with it, and it doesn't look remotely as nice as a properly landscaped yard with native plants.  Here's the before/after pictures of my mom's place:

[LLUncoolJ]

When you put down Weed n Feed, you need to make sure the grass is wet so that it sticks to the weeds. Either morning dew, post rain, or water it first. Just make sure it isn't going to rain anymore for 24 hours or so. I like the Scotts brand because the granulars are smaller and stick better. It takes a week or so to start working. Then you can go back in with the Ortho spray and hit the survivers. I like the stuff you hook up to the hose.

2 summers ago I would've put my front yard in the Pepsi challenge against any house in my hood. Then last year I used TruGreen and was dumbfounded by how terrible of a job they did. I had a bumper crop of clover, I kept calling them out to respray and they treated me like I just didn't understand how there chemicals "worked". I can't believe they would stick their little sign in the middle of a clover patch the way they did. If you opt to go that route, use a small company where you can speak with the owner. Also, my neighbor used an outfit that used all organic stuff. He got about the same results as I did.

BTW, .5 acre and I am in the process of having an inground pool put in. That should eat up about 25% of my lawn.

[hypernova]

Also, my neighbor used an outfit that used all organic stuff. He got about the same results as I did.

The wife bought an organic bag of weed killer granules last year.  It did the complete opposite.  The yard exploded within the next two weeks with weeds.

It has this hideous plant that grows with stalks as thick as my thumb, fox tails and those damn burr things.

I hate the broadleaf weeds that have sharp spikes on the leaves.  Those are the worst.  I made it a point to keep pulling them up by the root whenever they appeared.

My brother is a gardner in San Francisco.  He recently went and landscaped my mom's back yard in southern Utah.  As you can tell by the plants, southern Utah is a desert.  Nevertheless, 99% of the yards are lawn.  It's so much work and water and expense to keep up with it, and it doesn't look remotely as nice as a properly landscaped yard with native plants.  Here's the before/after pictures of my mom's place:

Drives me nuts how people waste water in the desert for a damn green lawn.  Lots of people would love to live with that kind of non-hassle in the desert of laying down a bunch of rocks, pavers, stones, etc like your mom has.  I think it looks great, and would love that myself.

[ahofle]

The problem I've found with the chemical treatments is their requirements for when water must/mustn't touch them.  We have brief showers almost every afternoon where I live (guaranteed in fact if I spray the weeds).  Also, it takes so long to kill them that the dying weeds posthumously release the floating dandelion seeds anyway. 

[hypernova]

Found those tools.  They seem to be commonly called a weeder, rather than weed puller.  That's what I've found on the store sites, at least.