Weed control

[green pinky]

Have a large area with plants that takes a lot of time to cleanup each year. I’ve tried mulch, and have put a weed barrier there but I still have a lot of work. Can someone tell me the right way to do it. And I am now using Preen as well,the six month strength. Will putting this product on the mulch every six months help?

 

[jonereb]

I'm not familiar with Preen "6-month-strength". I use regular Preen as well as another product of similar nature but only after eliminating all weeds possible which I do in the spring while it's still cool. I then use Preen or another product as recommended every 6 to 8 weeks. I also Roundup some stray weeds as they emerge. I get reasonable results. Nothing is perfect, so I pull weeds as needed. Using a pre-emerge like Preen is certainly better than nothing at all. At least that's my experience.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Some weeds start growing when it is about 70f and go dormant around 85f or higher. These are winter weeds, and the idea is to get ahead of them in your area. Poa annua is one weed that is commonly controlled that way. Here that pre-emergent would be used at the end of August to September. 6 Months later, the heat weeds will have begun to emerge as a cool spring transitions into warmer soil temps. At that temp transition the pre emergent could be used again. Any you miss can be cleaned up with post emergents. These are all very strong chemistry. A weedy yard is also a safe yard to play in. Or in my case, to walk barefoot in.

 

[Matriste]

Are you saying that you shouldnt walk barefoot in a yard that has pre-emergent?

 

[DirtMechanic]

Are you saying that you shouldnt walk barefoot in a yard that has pre-emergent?

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a study of 9,282 people nationwide, found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person carried 13 of 23 pesticides tested.

here are the footnotes from the chart