Weed Killer and Fertilizer

[JerriJ]

What is the best combination weed killer and fertilizer that you can buy and attach to your garden hose and water your lawn with?

[freckafree]

JerriJ, where do you live and what type of weeds do you have? If you live in the US, you probably have a county Extension office that can give you advice appropriate to your area.

Consider that when you are applying a weed and feed product all over your lawn, you are applying pesticide where the weeds aren't and fertilizer where they are. Different types of weeds are susceptible to different pesticides. You'll probably achieve better control by identifying and treating for the specific weeds you have.

[Mangosteen]

You don't want to be doing these two things at once.

You want to keep the grass dry after applying a herbicide to kill the existing weeds in the grass. Water can dilute the weed killer.

On the other hand, after applying fertilizer which is usually salt based, you need to water it in well so you don't burn the grass.

Weed and feed products are fertilizer and PRE EMERGENT weed killers. This type of weed killer will prevent NEW weed seed (and any other type of seed) from germinating and have no effect at all on weeds already growing in your grass.

[JerriJ]

I live in the US, midwest. Basically a lot of dandelions. I thought there was a combo type thing in which it killed the weeds but fertilized the grass. I'll have to keep researching.

[Turble]

Sta-Green Lawn Weed & Feed

Scotts Liquid Turf Builder with Plus 2 Weed Control

There are plenty of other brands -- just look around where you buy lawn stuff. I suggest choosing by price rather than brand as they are all pretty much the same, at least in their effect on dandelions. You'll do best if you have a local landscaping or farm store but you can certainly fix up a lawn with the stuff available at Lowes or HomeDepot too.

That said, I prefer to use separate weed killer and fertilizer. You have to shop around to find it -- Ortho Weed-B-Gone comes in two different forms of gallon jugs. There is the ready to use stuff that costs around $15 per gallon and there is the concentrate that makes 64 gallons for about $30 per gallon. You can either mix up a gallon and use it to selectively spray just the weeds or you can put it a hose end sprayer to spray the whole yard; either way, it is much cheaper to buy the gallon of concentrate.

A few years ago I decided to declare war on dandelions in my lawn that hadn't had anything done to it but mowing for at least 50 years and possibly 150 years. This spring I had one dandelion. It can be done.

[nate]

Originally Posted by Mangosteen

You don't want to be doing these two things at once.

You want to keep the grass dry after applying a herbicide to kill the existing weeds in the grass. Water can dilute the weed killer.

On the other hand, after applying fertilizer which is usually salt based, you need to water it in well so you don't burn the grass.

Weed and feed products are fertilizer and PRE EMERGENT weed killers. This type of weed killer will prevent NEW weed seed (and any other type of seed) from germinating and have no effect at all on weeds already growing in your grass.

I'm not sure much of this is correct.

Most weed & feed combinations are of fertilizer and 2,4-D which would need to stick to and disolve on the leaves of broadleaf weeds to be effective. That's why they recommend you spread this type of dry fertilizer while your yard is moist.

Scott's W&F is a little more expensive, but it also allows you to apply it to your yard anytime as it doesn't require watering-in.

If getting rid of broadleaf weeds is the OPs concern, I'd recommend buying a nice backpack pump sprayer and 2,4-D cocentrate from a co-op or tractor supply store. It's much cheaper and effective to apply with a pump sprayer than a spreader.