[garimac]

Hi guys,

Please excuse me if this is wrong place, as this is my first time posting here.

I have a new (fairly large) lawn that was put down roughly April this year. Grass is growing really well, but so are the thistles. I have three small children who like to go barefoot (as do I), and therein lies my problem.

Can anyone please advise as to how we eradicate these thistles, as I am a complete novice to gardening and would not know where to start, apart from using a blunt knife and lot of time.

Thank you in advance
Gary

[GPI]

Welcome Garimac.
Questions for your question.
1. What size of a lawn are we talking here?
2. Is there a lot of thistles?
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[garimac]

Hi GPI, thanks for quick response.

Garden is about 0.5 acre, and there are quite a lot of thistles and growing in numbers.

Gary

[GPI]

Drat...
I was hoping you had a fairly small lawn, you could have spot treated the thistles with a glyphosate stick.

Because you have a large lawn and a large number of thistles it seems spraying with a selective weedkiller is the only option.
But on a new lawn this can pose problems.
You see new lawns are softer, not battle hardened and liable to scorching by selective weed killers.
My rule is....... selective weedkillers are perfectly safe to use on new lawn 7 months after sowing.
The absolute earliest I would allow the spraying of a selective weedkiller on a new lawn is after 3 months.
You are about to cross that threashold, garimac, so you could attempt spraying.

The selective weedkillers that will control your thistles are.....
“Clover lawn weed killer” from Hygeia
D-50 from Shell
or any selective lawn weedkiller containing the active ingrediants, dicamba or mecoprop.

Wait until we get a few rain showers before spraying on a dry day, as weedkiller may burn grass under drought conditions.
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[garimac]

Hi GPI,

Thanks for the assistance.

As a matter of interest, what does spot treating thistles with a glyphosate stick involve, and can it be done in fine weather.

Gary

[GPI]

During fine weather is the best time to use a glyposate stick to spot treat lawn weeds.

A glyphosate stick contains the active ingrediant glyphosate as found in the herbicide "Roundup".
This is suspended in a wax bar.
Its like a "prit stick" or a wipe on deodorant, you twist the base to bring more of the stick to the top.
You simply wipe the glyphosate stick onto the weeds leaves, avoiding the grass leaves.
There is no spray drift and the results are very effective.
garimac, if you have a lot of thistles this will be very time consuming, but it will not damage your new tender lawn.

One more thing, when you apply a weedkiller such as this you should refrain from mowing your lawn for 2 weeks.
This allows the herbicide to travel through the weeds leaves straight to the roots.
_________________
If you benefited from irishgardeners.com, please link to us or tell others, so that the site can grow and benefit more gardeners.

Remember, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.
Garden Consultation & Design in Ireland!

[garimac]

Once again, thanks for the advice.

now just to see if I can find a time window for this.

Awaiting the fine weather....