[Red]

Hello to everbody,
this is my first question of many as I am just starting a garden.
I have a new lawn I just seeded.
But a lot have weeds have come up with the new blades of grass.
Can I put on a weedkiller?
Will it harm my new lawn?
I am thankful for all the new lawn help you can offer.

[James Kilkelly, was GPI.]

Welcome Red, so glad you found this site to help you with your home landscaping.

Your lawn problem is quite a common problem with freshly sown lawns in Ireland due to our moist climate.
The moist climate is ideal for the germination of grass seeds but unfortunately it causes a lot of people to sow their lawn in haste for fear that you will not get another dry day all season.
I always suggest spreading your soil, raking it then leaving it “fallow” or untouched for approx 1 month to allow the weed growth to appear.
Spray the weed growth off with “Weedol” or any quality contact herbicide then leave for a week before giving the soil a light raking before sowing.
But now to try and solve your predicament, firstly if the weeds consist of mainly annual weeds such as chickweed, Shepard’s purse and groundsel then regular mowing at a height of 3cm or 1 ¼ inches will eliminate these.


Chickweed (Stellaria media)



Shepard’s purse (Capsellabursa pastoris)



Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)


If perennial weeds such as the docks, dandelions, buttercups and clovers are present you have three options.
Check out your options below these pics.


Dock or sorrel (Rumex acetosa)



Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)



Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)



Common white clover (Trifoliumrepens)


Option 1: On the smaller lawn which has a few perennial weeds you can spot spray the individual weeds with a “Verdone gun” or give them a rub with a Glyphosate stick.
This option is not viable on a larger lawn.

Option 2: For the larger lawn.
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.
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.

Option 3: Re-spray the lawn with a Glyphosate based herbicide and begin again remembering to leave a fallow period.

Hope this helps and please remember to follow manufacturer’s instructions when applying chemicals.

[Red]

Thanks for the info gpi and for the images. Now i can finally identify those buggers.