Weeds in a newly planted lawn

ronn

I've recently planted a new lawn, I got expensive topsoil in to top dress a cheaper load of soil,
The cheap soil was down for a good few weeks, I sprayed it with roundup weekly,
So I planted the finished topsoil and now my garden has more weeds in it than grass,
I've some of these weeds in my back garden and the roots go really deep into the ground at least a foot, I'd tried digging them out,
So my dilemma is should I spray my new lawn with weed killer now and start again in a few weeks or let the weeds grow and try a weed killer that won't kill the grass,
Any help or info be great thanks,
Here's a few pics,

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If it's in since March you could use a lawn weed killer in late summer. To be honest, the trick is to not let the weeds get established in the first place.

Advice from Garden.ie on a similar query suggests...

Mow the grass to the middle notch and keep mowing regularly. The weeds will die.

Feed with a lawn food during damp weather. The patches should fill, if not, shake out some seed in damp weather.

ronn

It's down since the start of June, I've tried pulling them out put the top just comes off them,
I think I'm just going to have to kill everything and start again,
I'm trying to put up some pictures,

ronn

3 more pics

GrumpyMe

It is still a bit too "new" to use a weed killer.
Just get out there mowing it.
The grass will thrive and the weeds will die.
Make sure the mower is sharp so it cuts as opposed to rips and don't cut it too short.
You could add a few more grass seeds to the bare patches.
Don't go starting again.
You will always get weeds germinating (as the grass seeds did) on bare soil.
The trick is to get the grass to grow and smother or at least out compete any weeds.

Teyla Emmagan

You have to get them out by the root OP. Never mind pulling them, dig them out with a teaspoon. Painful, but so would starting again be.

GrumpyMe

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

You have to get them out by the root OP. Never mind pulling them, dig them out with a teaspoon. Painful, but so would starting again be.

Every time you disturb the soil, as you will by digging even if only with a teaspoon, you will bring more weed seeds to the surface to germinate.
They are young weeds. From what I can see they are not clover, knot-weed or mare's tail or anything invasive or persistent like that. Regular mowing will kill them off surprisingly quickly. It will also encourage the grass to grow!

Czhornet

Don't worry about those types of weeds, they will die off when you start cutting your lawn. When you do cut it the grass will thicken up and smother the weeds.
If you still have a few persistent weeds then hand digging may work or else Dichophar weed killer will do the trick.

ronn

Thanks all,
I've filled the patches there starting to come up,
I'll try the cutting suggestions and see how it goes,
I'll roll it today and cut it Monday
Thanks again

FrancieBrady

Keep mowing and the grass will win the battle.
There will always be weeds waiting to come once you neglect it but mowing curtails them. All depends on what you want, a living lawn or a billiard table/golf green.

Teyla Emmagan

GrumpyMe wrote: »

Every time you disturb the soil, as you will by digging even if only with a teaspoon, you will bring more weed seeds to the surface to germinate.

I will pass this info back to my father, I still have bitter memories of the Easter holidays he sent me out for 3 hours a day with my teaspoon to trawl through our new lawn on my hands and knees!

ronn

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Keep mowing and the grass will win the battle.
There will always be weeds waiting to come once you neglect it but mowing curtails them. All depends on what you want, a living lawn or a billiard table/golf green.

I was going for the billiards table look, maybe next year, Santa might bring me one

ronn

The mowing didn't work, the garden looks awfull the weeds have taken over, the weed is like ivy that grows out under the grass like tenticals and there's things that look like leaves from tuilps starting to come up and there's a lot of thistle weeds growing,

Can anyone advise me about spraying and restarting,
When should I spray
How long do I leave it for after I spray,
Any tips or help be appreciated,
I'll put up some pic's tomorrow

looksee

How are you able to mow with the twine all over it? Do you remove and replace it every time?

It is pointless spraying to completely clear it, there will still be weed seeds. Use a weed and feed spray and keep mowing it. The ivy thing you describe could be Veronica, which the weed and feed should sort, or it could be ground elder, in which case you could have a more serious problem - have a look here http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/features/2003/04/garden_from_hell_april.shtml or something else entirely, a photo would help.

johnb25

ronn wrote: »

The mowing didn't work, the garden looks awfull the weeds have taken over, the weed is like ivy that grows out under the grass like tenticals and there's things that look like leaves from tuilps starting to come up and there's a lot of thistle weeds growing,

Can anyone advise me about spraying and restarting,
When should I spray
How long do I leave it for after I spray,
Any tips or help be appreciated,
I'll put up some pic's tomorrow

I think it is too soon to come to that conclusion; persist with it for the coming season. The lawn is still very young.

Hoof Hearted2

ronn wrote: »

The mowing didn't work, the garden looks awfull the weeds have taken over, the weed is like ivy that grows out under the grass like tenticals and there's things that look like leaves from tuilps starting to come up and there's a lot of thistle weeds growing,

Can anyone advise me about spraying and restarting,
When should I spray
How long do I leave it for after I spray,
Any tips or help be appreciated,
I'll put up some pic's tomorrow

With respect (and without actually inspecting the area) it appears the problems you are experiencing now are most likely the result of poor preparation of the area to be seeded, i.e. you didn't kill off the existing weeds before sowing your seed, I know that's not what you want to hear, but the current situation can be sorted with the correct care and attention, but it takes time and there is no easy quick fix.

An FYI, what a lot of people don't understand or realise is that grass is the most expensive plant you will ever put in your garden, for the inexperienced gardeners it appears to be an easy, quick and cheap solution, but the reality is you will never put another plant in your garden that requires as much time and attention as grass does.

Now to the issue at hand you can't spray or use any chemical weed treatment on a new lawn, until the lawn has had one full growing season, in your case that would be spring 2018. What you can do in the first growing season is to manually remove excessively big weeds and shake new lawn seed on those areas.

NB also one cut won't sort the problem out, regular cutting when the grass is actively growing i.e. March to October, will have a positive effect on the lawn, weeds don't like to be cut and as a result the grass will perform better, you should also give the lawn a light application of fertiliser in the spring, use 10-10-20 or similar, the 20 represents phosphorus which is required for good healthy root growth.

ronn

The soil was left bare for 6 weeks before I seeded it, any weed that came up in that time I dug out, the weeds aren't the typical weeds, dandelion or Daisy's, there's bits like an ivy that grows under the grass then flowers a purple flower and there's loads of thistle like weeds
Thanks all for the advice, here's some pictures of the weeds,

ronn

The soil was left bare for 6 weeks before I seeded it, any weed that came up in that time I dug out, the weeds aren't the typical weeds, dandelion or Daisy's, there's bits like an ivy that grows under the grass then flowers a purple flower and there's loads of thistle like weeds
Thanks all for the advice, here's some pictures of the weeds,

looksee

Yes, the first pic is speedwell, a pest but mowing will sort it eventually.
The second one is definitely a bulb, looks like a tulip, pull it up.
Third on is a thistle, dig it up - no real alternative for thistles.

You have a good coverage of grass there and really not too many problems at all. I certainly would not spray it. Even at this time of year you should probably give it a cut on a high blade - I did mine yesterday, it has not stopped growing this winter.

When the weather warms up a bit you have to make a point of cutting it and controlling the larger weeds, don't give up on it, and certainly don't spray it off, you will gain nothing.

Anatom

Mow and mow and mow and mow....

As others have said, it will take time. Yes, it is frustrating, but once we get into the warmer weather it will come good surprisingly quickly.

Once things get a little stronger, you will also be able to rake it or to use a scarifier to lightly rake it and thereby reduce the weed level even further.

ronn

im starting to see a bit of a pattern forming here. 😀😀😀
When's a good time to put down 10-10-20 and how often,

Thanks all for you're helpful tips and advice

Anatom

I wouldn't go near the fertiliser until at least the end of April, early May, but that's just me. You'll be getting a lot of rain between now and then, and not a lot of growth until temperatures start to really rise in April, so you'd just be wasting your money and potentially damaging the grass by putting anything down too soon.

Really, just mow the hell out of it and make sure the blades are sharp. Keep forking it as much as you can too to allow air in and moisture to soak away and just leave it alone after that for the moment.

Hoof Hearted2

ronn wrote: »

im starting to see a bit of a pattern forming here. 😀😀😀
When's a good time to put down 10-10-20 and how often,

Thanks all for you're helpful tips and advice

It depends on what part of the country you are live in, I live in Kerry, I had a couple of lawns that were very hungry looking, i.e yellowish in early December including a newly sown lawn in October, I spread a light application of 10-10-20 and they have greened up nicely, given the mildness of the winter we are currently experiencing there is some growth there all the time, so you can spread fertiliser at this time, but it's important to spread it at the right rate.

Morpheus

Theres a lot of moss in the photos though too... or my eyes deceive me!

looksee

I don't see moss? There is too much grass to tell

ronn

It's probably the only weed I don't have, the soil is quiet sandy and drains really well,

Gruffalo22

Boil the kettle and give the bigger weeds a small splash of hot water. Should sort them out

ronn

Bit of an update/need more advice, I'm not sure if I'm winning the battle or not, I put the 10/10/20 down 17th of march and I've been cutting the grass and pulling the weeds by hand, should I put some more 101020 down it's due to rain for the next 7 days,

looksee

Don't panic, it shouldn't need any more feed, just keep mowing it.

Spanish Eyes

I found "feed, weed and mosskiller" granules absolutely fantastic. But the lawn was well established when I put it down.

Only used it over two years and that was five years ago. Still get the odd buttercup and daisy, but green grass and no moss or major weeds. It is mown to within an inch of its life every two/three weeks though.

Best of luck.

ronn

looksee wrote: »

Don't panic, it shouldn't need any more feed, just keep mowing it.

It feels like I'm fighting a loosing battle, luckily enough I've no daisies or dandelions or any of the standard type of weed, just weeds that look like doc leaves,