Creeping Charlie Problem

[mooseseven]

I've had a pretty bad creeping charlie problem, last year it was in only one area, and I used some Weed-B-Gon that got rid of most of it but i ended up raking almost all the grass up and just planted seed(which looks great this year!) But it has basically taken over my entire back yard this year and I just cannot dig the entire yard up!

What should I do?

Also-I'm not positive it's creeping charlie but it has the looks of it.

[Marcos]

I've had a pretty bad creeping charlie problem, last year it was in only one area, and I used some Weed-B-Gon that got rid of most of it but i ended up raking almost all the grass up and just planted seed(which looks great this year!) But it has basically taken over my entire back yard this year and I just cannot dig the entire yard up!

What should I do?

Also-I'm not positive it's creeping charlie but it has the looks of it.

The more appropriate name for "creeping Charlie" is ground ivy.

Is this the weed you're talking about ?...in this link :

http://landscaping.about.com/cs/weedsdiseases/a/ground_ivy.htm


If so....the presence of viney, aggressive weeds like ground ivy, chickweed, spotted spurge, purslane and crabgrass are typically symptoms of a much larger problem in a specific stand of turf :

LACK OF ENOUGH COMPETITION IN THE LAWN.

In other words...
The best "weed control" doesn't come from any bottle or bag...it comes FIRST by establishing a THICK stand of turf that will, in essence, "compete" most weeds to death...(or even better)...keep them from ever getting started !!

That's where stuff like looking at soil types when planting lawn & making needed amendments... checking soil pH...planting correct grass specie(s) for the climate...annual soil aeration...irrigation ...proper mowing according to the season...are ALL so individually important.

You're having your entire back yard taken over by (something)... I think "ground ivy", but the name really isn't important.
The month of May is the wrong time, in my opinion, to go about any renovation work !
I'd suck it up for now...just keep "MOWING IT DOWN" :laugh:, and figure on starting your renovation work, say, the middle of August, 1st of September at the latest.

But do some homework as to the proper seed types, etc now if you want.

:waving:

[weekendDIY]

I had the same problem with Wild Violets. I found some stuff 2 years that looks like it kills them off. I then sliced seeded to get my lawn thicker. Last year they came back but not as strong. I used the same chemical to kill them off again (at the end of the year). This year I still see some but not nearly as much. The back of my yard has something else growing now though. I used the same chemical on them and they are slowly dieing off. Part of my problem is that my neighbor doesn't take care of her property. She has wild violets EVERY WHERE. I do admit, that when I spray for my weeds, I don't watch the property line too closely. I might go over that line by 10 feet sometimes to keep them back

[Marcos]

I had the same problem with Wild Violets. I found some stuff 2 years that looks like it kills them off. I then sliced seeded to get my lawn thicker. Last year they came back but not as strong. I used the same chemical to kill them off again (at the end of the year). This year I still see some but not nearly as much. The back of my yard has something else growing now though. I used the same chemical on them and they are slowly dieing off. Part of my problem is that my neighbor doesn't take care of her property. She has wild violets EVERY WHERE. I do admit, that when I spray for my weeds, I don't watch the property line too closely. I might go over that line by 10 feet sometimes to keep them back

Our 1st house here in Cincy, 16 years ago, had this monster throughout the entire yard.

http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/nimblewill_44/

Nimblewill proved to be a VERY formidable foe.
At first I tried beating it by "spotting" with Roundup...and seeding, but I soon realized I was swimming upstream.

Then, like you, I switched my strategy... and slice-seeded the lawn real hard with fescues two years in a row...and aerated regularly, too.
The lawn, honestly, got as thick as a 'chia pet' !! :)
...so thick that virtually everything in it's way, including the nimblewill, was gradually 'crowded out'.

It was this very weed that taught me the concept of "competing the weeds to death"...that I implement in my business strategy today.

[mngrassguy]

You may want to consider hiring a profesional lawn care company to spray this for you. We have a very good product to use called Momentum fx made by Lesco. However, it is a restrictive use pesticide meaning you need a license to purchase it.

Other than that I know of nothing the homeowner can use to get rid of Creeping Chuck. Sorry

[Marcos]

You may want to consider hiring a profesional lawn care company to spray this for you. We have a very good product to use called Momentum fx made by Lesco. However, it is a restrictive use pesticide meaning you need a license to purchase it.

Other than that I know of nothing the homeowner can use to get rid of Creeping Chuck. Sorry

Momentum FX is NOT a restricted use pesticide.

For proof, look at the 'Product Identification' part of this Riverdale site :
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Product.jsp?REG_NR=00022800418&DIST_NR=000228

The people at Lesco / Deere cannot stop homeowners from buying Three Way, Three Way Ester II, Momentum FX, or for that matter Roundup Pro or Merit, etc.

As scary as it may seem to some pros on this site...'Lesco-eaten-by-a-Deere' is as much as a 'retail outlet' as it is a drive-thru one-stop shop for the green industry foreman.

State approved RUP licenses apply to specific 'items' on the shelf...not to a specific 'category' of customer, of course.

[mngrassguy]

Sorry, I just saw the label that says "For professional use only...." I shouldn't have assumed it is a RUP

[greenbaylawns]

We use Surge, Google Surge Hrebicide and the label tells all

[mngrassguy]

Wait a min Marcos, If the label says this:

FOR USE BY PROFESSIONAL TURF MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL,
LANDSCAPING OR COMMERCIAL APPLICATORS ONLY.

And you sell it to anybody, are you not in violation of Federal law?
Or doesn't the label mean anything anymore?

Just a thought

[greenbaylawns]

So that's why they call after they tried the home depot ect, stuff