Monday, May 11, 2009

How do I kill off fescue and crabgrass with out chemicals?

My flower bed has been taken over by fescue and crabgrass, is there a way to kill off the weed seeds without killing the Iris and DayLily in the same bed. Do not want to use chemical as have a 4 yr old grandson who plays in that area.

How do I kill off fescue and crabgrass with out chemicals?
Try spraying the leaves of the plants you don't want with bleach. Yup, good old household beach. You may want to take an old empty bottle cut the bottom out so you can place it around the plants you don't want then spray the bleach in the opening of that bottle. That way you don't get bleach on anything but the plant you want to kill. The other way to do it is good old table salt. Sprinkle the salt at the base of the plant. When it rains, the salt dissolves into the soil and dries the roots out. The problem with that though, is it may kill some of the other plants that the salt leaches to in the rain.
Reply:Depends how closely planted it is. If not too dense, i would pul up all the weeds you can see then mulch with about 4 thicknesses of newspaper, overlapped well at the edges and put some compost or grass clippings or other loose mulch thickly on top. This will stop seeds germinating and will help to kill off the roots left in. But make sure the soil is well watered before you do it as rain will not penetrate well. The newspaper will rot by next spring.
Reply:you cant


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