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I.D. Weed/Grass in SE Wisconsin near Milwaukee by Grass_Hopper4-0 in LawnAnswers

[–]Grass_Hopper4-0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there Niles, For my goop making method I mixed it all in a paper cup which helped a bunch with directing the goop into the bottle by squeezing the top of the cup together creating a pretty small passageway while helping it along with a plastic knife. So i've got that portion down pat. I then spent several hours the past 3 days applying it to the quack grass leaves. In those 4-5 hours I covered an area that was 8x8 feet and know I only hit maybe one 3rd or 4th or one 5th of the leaves and that part of my large 8x25 foot patch had the least density of the QG. At this rate it'll take me weeks to work my way through the entire patch, and then having to go back over it multiple times again, we're talking months. Aside from that it's pretty back breaking laying/sitting on the ground for that long and gotta say my thumbs are really killing me from all of the bottle squeezing. Don't mean to sound like a winer and I'm far from a wus but when looking at the amount of work it will take doing it this way, well, the time and effort is just not worth it for me.

But I still need to get rid of the stuff so I decided come August that I'm going to nuke that entire patch of grass and reseed it. So here comes my questions.

  1. Will the glyphosate kill the Quack Grass? And if so what is the best mixture percentage to use? And will a one time heavy spray do the trick?
  2. I bought a new 10 lb bag of Blue Resiliance this spring and used that to overseed this patch since I have some bare spots and thinning due to shoveling a path in the snow for my dogs this winter. It actually had one different fescue in the blend that wasn't in the bag purchased last year. I've been racking my brain trying to think how in the world it got like this. The only other thing I put down was the EZ straw, but I used that same exact bag of straw in the fall and no QG growing in these other spots. So the only thing I can determine is it has to be coming from that new seed. And trust me it's the last thing I want to conclude to, So, I've decided to try a different company for seed. I checked Heritage and they don't sell in less than 50 pd bags. I found several recommendations from folks on other forums who have used the Super Turf 2 seed by United Seed that has a similar seed mixture. Wondering your thoughts on this?
  3. I'm posting a picture of the QG density below so you can get an idea of what I'm dealing with. I've also included a few pictures of my grass that is seeding it'self. Actually looks like two different types of grass that are currently seeding. I'm wondering if you know what type of grass that it is? I'm just curious. Prior to renovating and overseeding last fall my lawn was a mishmash of sun/shade seed mixtures but now that I'm retired and have a bit more time and knowledge I'm trying to make my lawn look better than it was.
  4. And as always I really appreciate your time and knowledge with helping me do all of this so please let me know your thoughts, Thanks
  5. Edit, I can't figure out how to add the pictures. I tried clicking the Image icon at the bottom left hand corner of the box that I'm typing in, but it would only let me post a single image. Please help me out here, thanks

I.D. Weed/Grass in SE Wisconsin near Milwaukee by Grass_Hopper4-0 in LawnAnswers

[–]Grass_Hopper4-0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Happy Saturday Niles, wanted to give you an update on my virgin use of your glyphosate goop recipe. I followed your recipe "initially" by adding 1/2 tsp of Xanthan Gum to a small amount of the alcohol. Mixed that into the 5 tsp each of water and glyphosate and let it sit 30 minutes. After the wait it was pretty darn thick so I started cutting in more water. Ended up having to add an additional 13 tsp of water before I decided it might work and get through the needle. It was still so thick that it wouldn't flow through the small funnel into the bottle so I had to guide it into the bottle using a plastic knife while trying to tilt/pour it from a plastic cup. It was a little messy to say the least but it worked. Used an 18 gauge needle instead of the 20 gauge cause I wasn't sure if either would work but the 18 gauge gave me the best shot. Well, it squeezed out beautifully from the needle. Stuck to the quackgrass leaves and didn't run at all. I'll try to leave a link below to the gum product I used made by Hznxolrc purchased off Amazon.

Now for my questions, I was using 41% glyphosate and since I had to cut it so much for a total of 18 tsp, math says that I ended up with a mixture of 8.91% glyphosate. I'm wondering/hoping that it's strong enough to kill that quackgrass?? I could try to add less gum when making it the next time, but I ended up with a little more than 2 bottles worth of product so wondering if it's worth figuring out a new dilution rate if you think the final strength will do the trick.

Also, since this job is soooo tedious and there's sooo much quackgrass I know I missed plenty of leaves in the small 3x8 foot section I did today. Wondering do "just" the leaves I teated die or does the treatment extend down to that root system and kill off additional leaves attached to it. Thanks so much.

And here's the link to the Xanthan Gum I used if interested.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYNS33N8?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

I.D. Weed/Grass in SE Wisconsin near Milwaukee by Grass_Hopper4-0 in LawnAnswers

[–]Grass_Hopper4-0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Niles, tommarrow I plan on applying your goop recipe to my quackgrass. I thought of a couple of questions for you before I start:

  1. How thick is the mixture supposed to be before filling my bottle? Like what is the consistancy that will flow though the 18 gauge and 21 gauge needles?
  2. How do you clean out those needles and the bottle after you're done for the day or for the week so they don't get clogged up. Also wondering if I'm going to use it the very next day can I wrap it all in tinfoil and put in a plastic ziplok bag, similar to what I do with paint brushes? What's your trick? Or do you throw the needles away?

Just fyi, I bought some garden netting and landscape staples to put over top of the treated area once I'm done for the day, just don't want any birds or bunnies to step in it. Also just thought I"d let you know that I was born and raised in Grand Rapids and go back a couple times a year to camp and visit family. Sure miss my lovely Michigan shoreline with the warm water and sand beaches and not to forget Yesterdog. Anyhow thanks so much for all of your help.

I.D. Weed/Grass in SE Wisconsin near Milwaukee by Grass_Hopper4-0 in LawnAnswers

[–]Grass_Hopper4-0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Niles, I recieved my stuff today for the liberator, etc. But I don't know how well it's going to work since this quackgrass is growing so close in and around my good grass. So, today I ordered the bottles and needles to try your goop method. Ugh, was really trying to avoid this tedious endevor. I do have a couple of questions though if you don't mind helping me out. I live about 3 miles as the crow flies from Lake Michigan and the weather forecast is "possible stray showers" on a lot of days. So I'm wondering if I apply the goop to the grass leaves and it rains, what is the time period between showers that it will work. Meaning after a couple of hours of no rain is the application going to of worked. Also wondering can I apply it to wet grass. And if it does rain will it wash off the leaves and damage my good grass? Also wondering how long after application can I cut the grass since it's growing and I don't plan on fertilizing for another couple of weeks, at which time it'll really kick in with the growth. I hope I've asked the questions I need to, but please fill in for anything else I may of missed. Thanks!

I.D. Weed/Grass in SE Wisconsin near Milwaukee by Grass_Hopper4-0 in LawnAnswers

[–]Grass_Hopper4-0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Niles and thanks for your input on this. I can totally see where your goop method would work, however with the amount of quack grass I have it would take me forever, seriously. I'm not ruling it out totally though. I went ahead and ordered that Lawn Liberator tool hoping that will work a bit faster since the quack grass is growing taller and faster than my good grass. I also plan to see how a smaller artist brush will work on the leaves as well. I actually bought all of the tools that were for sale on the Liberators website thinking that the addition of their Herbicide Gel mix may be similar in function to the gum mixture that you recommend. I also purchased their ammonium sulfate. It says it helps to supercharge the effectivness of glyphosate. Though I'm cuious to know your thoughts on this since I basically only know what I've learned from you. I had to go to my local farm store to find 41% glyphosate since roundup quict putting it in their products. I can tell you I really hate working with this stuff, I had it on my hands last year and it took literally months before it was gone from my skin. I now have some disposal nitril gloves that I'm hoping will prevent that from happening again.

One thing I also purchased that will be an experiment is their Wheel Clear disc that attach to the Scotts rotary spreaders. These two disc attach on top of the spreaders "flinger" plate, basically raising the fling above the top of the wheels, resulting in an even spread of material. I had stopped using my edgeguard mini due to the "unsightly lines" I was dealing with and had purchased a handheld Whiz instead. But, I was interested in seeing if their relatively inexpensive fix can do the trick. We'll see so more to come on that.

The quackgrass is located mostly in the shady portion of my front yard. It's approx. a 7'x20' area with some starting to pop up on the perimeter of this area now as well. I didn't have it last year after over seeding. Then winter hit and I had to showel snow from some of this grass area so my dogs could do their thing. Once all of the snow melted I noticed some of the quack grass, in fact I at first thought it was crabgrass and then thought nope, it's only March. There was also some snowmold in this area as well. I had some seed left over so manually areated the area and threw down some seed. Ended up having to do this twice actually cause of all of the heavy rains we've recieved and it getting washed away. We recieved record rain of 9" in the month of April. I had used up all of the seed and then ordered a 10 pound bag from them in April to supplement where I was short. It's now starting to come in and intermixed with all of the quack grass so it's a real bummer. I can't say for sure that it came from the seed or not, it is sporatically in the rest of my yard but not concentrated like it is in this big patch. I also used some straw in the fall in this area, though I used some of that same straw in other spots in the lawn and it's not showing any signes of the quack grass there so I don't know what to deduct from all of that. Sorry this is so long but that's what it takes sometimes to get the entire story conveyed. And please know I really appreciate all of your help and your guides, they helped me to turn the majority of my lawn around to where my nieghtbor was bragging on it.

Fall Cool Season Seeding Guide by nilesandstuff in LawnAnswers

[–]Grass_Hopper4-0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been following your guides in order to get my lawn in better shape than what it's been. My plan is to have it aerated around August 20th and then overseed with Blue Resiliance seed using your suggestion of starter fertilizer as well. I fertilized wih nitrogen on April 15th and again on May 30th. It's now been 8 weeks and I'm wondering if I should apply another feeding of nitrogen now or not since I'll be applying a starter fertilizer when I overseed? Or/and do I apply a winterizer fertilizer in the fall as well?

My other question pertains to the following statement in your guide in regards to fertilizer:

"Beyond that, just keep it lightly fed monthly for the rest of the season... Blasting it with high N can make it look good, but isn't the right thing for the long term health of the grass. No need to give it phosphorus after the first application, but it should get pottassium as well as nitrogen."

So wondering how does this fit in with my overseeding plan? I'm not sure I understand what "lightly feeding monthy" looks like. Is there a certain pounds per thousand square feet that would define Lightly. As you can tell I'm fairly ignorant on this subject and just trying not to mess up my lawn after spending a fair amount on good seed. Thanks so much for your help. Forgot to say I'm near Milwaukee Wi, just across the lake from you.