Off with bad back today so i have weighing up different approaches to the feed, weed and moss killing problem. I've been trying to compare using a granular all in one product with applying 3 different products.
Scotts sportsmaster renovator pro is about £35 per 25kg bag. This is what i usually use but i have used liquid selective weedkiller and lawn sand on occasion. Not all granular products are made equal and i tend to ignore the cheaper products but its hard to justify the extra to clients when they have seen wilko's own brand etc at cheaper prices. They have'nt bothered to compare the two and just see the price. The thing i dont like about granular f,w+m is it is'nt that good at killing weeds or moss. Its fine as a fertiliser as can be seen by the hugely excessive growth it promotes. Its not controlled release. The landscaper pro range is but you cant get a 3 in one just fert with weedkiller or fert with iron.
Lawn sand is ok at higher dose rates and it does green the turf up. But obviously it is'nt a balanced fertiliser or a weedkiller. Soluble sulphate of iron is supposed to be the puppies nuts but i have'nt used it. It would take longer to apply than land sand.
Liquid selective weedkiller is probably the best option for weeed killing effectiveness but it results in the need for yet another application.
Option1 - one application of renovator pro
Option2 - lawn sand plus liquid weed killer
Option3 - Soluble sulphate of iron plus liquid weed killer
Option4 - As 2 or 3 plus controlled release granular fertiliser
If there is one thing i hate about using granular all in ones it is the excessive growth that it promotes. You can have a green lawn without all that growth. Lawn sand does have a slight nitrogen content which i think would be adequate for feeding prior to weed killing.
I am trying to put together a leaflet for my customers explaining the options, the pros and cons of each and ultimately the cost of each approach.
What do you lot use and why?
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Your not kidding about the grass growth..I'm about to bung some Scotts on my biggest lawn and have advised the customer it will have to be mowed once a week for a while afterwards, last time I did it I was taking 3 or 4 times as much off !!!!
I use a granular balanced feed, soluble iron moss treatment and liquid selective, as seperate treatments. I don't think it's ideal to try and do it all in one.
I'll usually do an iron treatment, then scarify and lawn feed, then do the weeds once the lawn has recovered from scarifying.
What's the best liquid weed and feed to buy?
if you are getting r/ pro at £35 its cheep, you can get fert with differant NPK ratioes put the granular fert down with a spreder then you are not worried if some goes in the borders then selective weed killer with a sprayer. lawn sand in earley spring and late summer. the stuff some of the lawn treatment firms use is ridiculous as the geass needs cutting twice a week
Stuart, after many years in this game with predominantly sites of half an acre upwards we stopped using the proprietary fertiliser brands as we could not cope with the growth that resulted. Our regime consists of liquid iron spring and autumn and spot treating any weeds. The fertilser we use is a product for the equine market - either "Top Paddock" or "Suregrow" with Top Paddock being in our opinion slightly better. Both in 20kg bags and we pay £25 inc vat per bag collected as we have several local stockists, a bag will do around 600 sq mts so extremely cost effective. We only do 2 applications - early spring and mid summer, the results exceed our clients expectations with very steady growth and colour being retained throughout the season which was maintaned through the recent hot dry spell with none of our sites burning despite weekly cuts. Have used these products for around 10 years with consistently uniform results and would not go back to the so called professional lawn fertilisers. We do transfer the product into plain bags so the clients do not know what we use as they don't need to know and we don't want any arguments over using an equine product. Give them a try you will be pleased.
Hi Peter. Can I ask, is that 4 visits in total then you do? First liquid iron, then a granular feed, then a second granular feed, followed by a final liquid iron? Or do you combine some of those treatments in to the same visit and so only go 2 or 3 times in the year?
We too agree that 4/5 feeds per year is far too much and try and use the liquid iron instead for some of them so it's good to hear someone else is doing something similar. We sometimes add seaweed in to our liquid applications which supposedly improves the soil structure but doesn't actually feed the grass or make it grow too fast.
we put the iron on separately around end feb, fert mid end march then again end june and iron separately end oct. If a client has an event, as most of our work is corporate we will put iron on couple of days prior to ebent for a green up. Hope that helps
Thanks, very similar to what we're putting in place