Big Weed Problems

[Johnson]

Here is my problem. I took this landscaping job this year, really simple. Edge the beds, weed the beds, trim the shrubs and trees on property and apply 10 yards of mulch. I treated the beds with round-up, cleared the beds of weeds and now (3 weeks later), you can't even tell that I was out there. Another company has the mowing account for this property (friend of mine) and he called me and made me aware of the situatuation. I went out tonight and was totally amazed. Thistles all over the place. It's like the fricken mulch just fertilized them and they're coming back in full force. This is a decent paying job for the hours, $1,500 and I need to get this fixed at no cost to them like....now.

My question is, what is the best route for me to take. Round-up is not getting the job done. Please help.

[AGLA]

How long after you sprayed Roundup before you removed the weeds?

[lqmustang]

I would never guarantee weeds won't come back after a mulch/weeding job, especially if thistle is one of the problem weeds. Thistle can be extremely persistent. If the beds needing weeded are severely overgrown, I usually advise the homeowner to keep a bottle of roundup handy and shoot anything that tries to poke back out. I will also try to upsell them on treating the beds with treflan or snapshot, but that still is no guarantee that a severely weedy area won't have some stuff try to pop back out.

[TOMMY1115]

You're going to have to remove the new weeds, either by manually removing them or spraying RoundUp again.

Then, you need to put down a pre-emergant, Treflan or Snapshot. Personally, I would go with the Snapshot just because it works better, longer, and controls more weeds. If you use the Snapshot just becareful on annual plants.

[DoetschOutdoor]

Did you make the beds this year, like just applied mulch over dirt or were the beds already there? If you started from scratch why didnt you put down a weed barrier fabric? Im guessing that the beds were already there...

[Drew Gemma]

round up and no I mean Dam it no weed fabris god should strike down the man who invented that crap. Mulch rots on top and weeds grow then it pulls up through the mulch and shows that looks trashy.

[lqmustang]

round up and no I mean Dam it no weed fabris god should strike down the man who invented that crap. Mulch rots on top and weeds grow then it pulls up through the mulch and shows that looks trashy.

So Drew, tell us how you really feel about fabric. :)

I agree tho, fabric has no place in landscaped beds.

[Drew Gemma]

ok her is what you do when you do the renovation as I call it weed edge trim mulch I include a retreat price where we come back and treat all the weeds in a certain time period depending on weather. Since most won't buy the upsell of snapshot. next year they are gonna get it in the estimate and they are gonna take it!

[mowerdave]

Sounds like you are going to have to Round up and do some more hand weeding. I wish weed control was as easy as one treatment in the spring. We usually apply a preemergent on beds in the spring and spot spray with Round up every couple of weeks throughout the summer to keep on top of weeds. That way, they do not get out of hand.

[TurfProSTL]

Apply RoundUp again. If you mulched immediately after your previous RoundUp attempt, the dust/dirt in the mulch probably neutralized the spray.....

Removing the weeds right after they were sprayed would not have allowed the RoundUp to work, either.

[Tharrell]

I had the EXACT same situation. I'm there weekly mowing so, it's not a problem for me to spray. The only thing is, the district manager watches too much tv. He sees the commercial for instant weed kill and thinks that's what is supposed to happen. Weeds in concrete expansion joints are a real problem. Sometimes they are so tiny it's easy to miss them. After 7-8 days they'll be full grown even in drought conditions.
I've had the worst time with plantains this year.
Here's a couple of pics to show you the area I'm talking about.

[Johnson]

I just got back from clearing the beds AGAIN! I went out last week and applied a heavy concentrated dose of Round-Up to the beds. I went back out tonight and saw that the Round-Up treatment was very effective and all other plants were fine. I went back out this evening, cleared the dead weeds and raked through the mulch and it looks much better.

I did notice that other weeds, mainly thistle were growing again. I cut them off at the base of the ground, leaving the root exposed and applied more Round-Up to the beds. This should help some. I will bite the bullet and purchase the pre-emergant and get it done to keep this customer happy.

To answer some questions asked, the beds were already there. They were just unhappy with the last company who in all honesty just had the same problems I am having. I guess the difference is they were not willing to come back out and take care of the problem. There was also a 2 day laps from the time I applied Round-Up and applied mulch when I did the initial service a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the pics and replies. And I also apologize to the Mods for placing this question in the wrong thread initially.

[Tharrell]

Update. Here's a couple of pics I took today. I was supposed to mow but it's been raining. I was able to mow 4 locations but this one will have to wait till tomorrow. I'm already 2 days overdue.

[PR Fect]

The problem you have is Thistle. We have one place that is also the same. This is the third year we are on this property. We use Snapshot in all of our mulched beds. And spot spray with Glyposate. The thistle keeps coming back. Its not as bad as the first year, and there is less every time. Thistle can have roots that go for 20 feet I am told. There is an un maintained field and drainage ditch on the edge of this property. Our plan is to keep pulling, spraying, and per-emerganting. I also sprayed the first few feet of the un-maintained area. Good Luck!

[TurfProSTL]

Update. Here's a couple of pics I took today. I was supposed to mow but it's been raining. I was able to mow 4 locations but this one will have to wait till tomorrow. I'm already 2 days overdue.
You have fungus! There's a huge pink mushroom on the left side of the second photo!

Just kidding. :D

[Tharrell]

Yeah, I think it's called finger fungus! It was raining so hard, I didn't want my camera to get wet and I took that behind the head shot quickly.
But seriously though. Can you believe the weeds after 9 days? That was just 2 spots to represent the whole big area. Oh well, I'll be there in about 2 hours to take care of it.

[jsf343]

I think someone else said it, but after you get them cleaned out or even before, put down a preemergent! use Ronstar or Snapshot they work really good and will become your best friend! no weeds (or very few) for 6 months. I usually put the stuff back down again in the middle of the 5th month. I sound like a commercial for the stuff.:laugh: seriously, it is well worth the money!!

[Tharrell]

I've never used either of those last 2 chemicals. How expensive are they? Can you give me a per mixed gallon or 1000sf cost? Thanks

[TurfProSTL]

Snapshot $95.00 /50 lb bag
1/4 acre coverage; $8.63 per 1000 sqft

Ronstar is probably close to that.....