[davidhunter]

Dear all,

First post here as I need help. I used Gallup on an old lawn in Glasgow killed everything off. Then used a tee and fairway no rye grass. All was going well for a few weeks until the attached weeds appeared and covered the entire area.

Can anyone identify what it is. I have a oak and 2 rowan trees in the garden could it be them or I also brought in 20 ton of sand as the garden is full of clay. I was wondering could it be redshank?

Any help much appreciated

David

[Sive]

I've no idea what it is, but we had a similar problem with a newly seeded area of grass, and it turned out to be an annual weed and it just vanished after the first time we cut the grass....we never saw it again.

[davidhunter]

thanks Sive that's what my mother and father in law are both saying. I talked to the local seed merchants and they recommend longbow selective weedkiller but say it will kill some of the new lawn possibly. I feel like letting it grow just to see what it is as there was nothing in the old grass.

I wonder did all my rotovating activate a seed of some sort in the lawn and the original Gallup did not kill it as it was in dormant seed form.

Cheers

David

[James Kilkelly]

Yes I believe your rotovating did activate a seed of some sort in the lawn and the original Gallup did not kill it as it was in dormant seed form.

You should always leave the cultivated site to settle and regrow any dormant weeds for at least a month after rotovating then respray any fresh weed growth again with a Glyphosate based herbicide. All this spraying and respraying may seem excessive, but it will provide you with a lawn free of perennial weeds and tufts of coarse grass.

Your weed seedlings look like redshank AKA lady's thumb, willow weed or the Latin Polygonum persicaria.
This is an annual weed........ one year to complete the life cycle.... sprout to death.

The commonly available selective weed killers such as "Verdone" or "Clover lawn weed killer" cannot be applied to the new lawn for at least 7 months after sowing as they will damage the fresh grass so we must look elsewhere.
Longbow selective weedkiller would be similar.

There is a selective lawn weed killer on the market specially created for new lawns; it will go under a name such as "new lawn weedkiller" depending on the manufacturer.
Bear in mind your local garden centre may have to order this product in especially for you and it may slightly check the growth of your lawn so you will have to feed the grass about one week later.

I believe regular mowing would put paid to this weed if you do mot wish to go down the chemical route.

[davidhunter]

Thanks James I had thought of respraying etc was just to eager to get the lawn going and now regret it.

I have just applied the longbow to the areas that are worst effected, ie where there is little grass. The rest I am going to mow and hopefully mow it out. If its bad again next year I still have 4.8L of the 5l of Longbow left !!

Thanks again for the help.

David