# Lawn fertilizer /weed killer



## teresaquinn

We moved into a new place and the lawn is trashed. Weeds everywhere and crab grass. We are generally big fans of organic methods but this lawn is huge. We are thinking of putting Scott's turf builder weed control down. How long should I wait to let my chickens out on the lawn?


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## Apyl

Personally never.


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## Energyvet

Why don't you plant s garden instead if a lawn? Lawns are pretty useless. A nice garden could feed your family and give you fresh flowers.


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## MamaHen

I'm wondering the same thing. We have a ton of dandelions and weeds! We have a big yard cause we have 4 kids but don't want to use harsh chemicals for the kids and chickens health. I'm going to see what I can find out. Hopefully some great natural method is out there!


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## MamaHen

This won't help with the crab grass but the weeds can be treated by dousing them with either a bunch of salt right at the base or vinegar right at the base or a mixture of 1gal vinegar with 1 cup salt and 1 teaspoon dish washing soap and spray/pour it on the weed. Maybe cut out the crab grass and lay in new sod just or those areas? Probably not much more than. $20-40 bag of Scott's...? Good luck!


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## Roslyn

I would lay down a pasture seed, that way you have great forage for your chickens, and that extra step will show up as better vitamins and minerals in your eggs. Win, win.

Crab grass can be taken care of like thistles. Just pop out the clumps with a shovel and then put some compost into the little hole.

Many of those "weeds" make great forage for the chickens, some are medicine! I pick through my lawn for yarrow, which is a healing herb and I let the lawn grown pretty high when the chicory is in bloom. I LOVE the chicory bloom.


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## Apyl

MamaHen said:


> I'm wondering the same thing. We have a ton of dandelions and weeds! We have a big yard cause we have 4 kids but don't want to use harsh chemicals for the kids and chickens health. I'm going to see what I can find out. Hopefully some great natural method is out there!


Chickens LOVE dandalion leaves I would leave them be.


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## MamaHen

My chicks are little so no dandelions for them yet and I also read that they only like them when they are small and prefer the leaves, not the blossoms where the seeds will be (?). Anyways, I want to treat it before the chickies head outside and before the weeds invade my veggie garden.


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## kahiltna_flock

I am with EV, never. No chemicals. They end up in your soil and water. I wonder why our country is so bent on having beautiful weed free lawns? I keep adding more garden beds every year, less mowing too! I pull the dandelions with a cool tool I bought a couple years ago. It works pretty well, just can't remember what it is called. I get them before the go to seed, it aerated the lawn too. Don't know a thing about crab grass though


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## teresaquinn

I read that the Scott's turf builder works to kill weeds in around 4 weeks. But it makes weeds more appetizing to chickens. So I guess if you dug them up so the chickens wouldn't eat them... Also some have said that as soon as the weeds are dead or the pellets are absorbed fully into the ground it's ok. I don't plan on making a habit of using the chemicals. But I think once we will to give the lawn a head start. 

We're renting and the landlords want to spray really harsh chemicals. I can't just get rid of the lawn. I'm thinking this is middle ground. It's so close to the time that I plan on planting our garden. But the chickens don't have to free range the lawn till its all really absorbed and gone. 

My friend is a horticulturist. He said the half life of most weed killers is 3 weeks. So if I wait 6-8 weeks it should be ok.


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## MamaHen

kahiltna_flock said:


> I am with EV, never. No chemicals. They end up in your soil and water. I wonder why our country is so bent on having beautiful weed free lawns? I keep adding more garden beds every year, less mowing too! I pull the dandelions with a cool tool I bought a couple years ago. It works pretty well, just can't remember what it is called. I get them before the go to seed, it aerated the lawn too. Don't know a thing about crab grass though


Good to know. I have that special tool but with hundreds of dandelions it would take me forever!! I'm going to see how the salt & vinegar works since I know in 4 weeks the grass will be fine for the chickies.


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## kahiltna_flock

MamaHen said:


> Good to know. I have that special tool but with hundreds of dandelions it would take me forever!! I'm going to see how the salt & vinegar works since I know in 4 weeks the grass will be fine for the chickies.


It does take forever , I had a ton. This will be my third year pulling. I just refuse to dump more chemicals on it so it will look nice. I just don't care if people don't like it, I guess I am getting old. The company called down to earth has a product called corn gluten meal that keeps the dandelion seeds from germinating. It has to be put on first thing in the spring, before they germinate. I tried it last year. We will see how many pop up this year.


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## Roslyn

teresaquinn said:


> My friend is a horticulturist. He said the half life of most weed killers is 3 weeks. So if I wait 6-8 weeks it should be ok.


You need to read about "killer compost". These toxic weed killers that are "supposed" to break down into inert substances are lasting for YEARS. They are being sprayed in hay fields, eaten by animals, pooped out and then composted for YEARS and then are still able to kill a persons ENTIRE garden in a single season. That person buys horse manure or compost and thinks they are being natural to find that their garden gets sicker and sicker.

I have read several stories about people losing their entire property and having the soil become so contaminated that their properties are sterile and will grow nothing. The only solution is to bring in machines and strip the top soil down and then try to build it back up with green manure.

If the label says it's toxic to waterways and frogs then you know it should NEVER be used anywhere. Period.

I now have a closed system and bring in nothing from the outside except perlite and locally grown wheat straw. My soil is a work in progress.

In the Spring allow your lawn to grow high and mow on the highest setting. This will allow the root structure to become strong and it will weather drought better. Lawns are the top users/wasters of water. If you are in a drought, let the thing die. If you allow natural plants (what many call weeds) to grow it most likely will weather dry spells much better than turf grass that needs coddled more than an orchid farm!!

I know that I'm coming off a bit snotty, I prefer the term passionate. This issue isn't going away and people just can't believe that these products could possibly be harmful. I was talking to someone who blew me off and said "If it were harmful to the environment or to people then they wouldn't sell it in stores." Wow. They had very thick rose colored glasses on. But that's how many people think.

My Husband's Uncle used to try to give us veggies from his garden. I wouldn't take them. He sprays Seven about every 5 days or so for the entire season on his entire garden and property. No mask, no gloves, no long sleeves. It's just scary. His garage looks like a chemical factory. If you can't drink it, don't spray it on my food!


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## Roslyn

One of the best things for a lawn, besides free range chickens. Urine. Yup. In the warmer months I have a bucket with water in it behind the house and the males pee in the bucket for me, the water dilutes it and then it gets poured into the garden. I kept the deer out of my first big garden by peeing on the perimeter. Until they figured out that I wasn't going to eat them raw, then they didn't care, but for a year it kept them out.

When you read about people spreading "Urea" on their fields to jump start growth, well, that's what it is. High class, powdered pee.


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## teresaquinn

Mamahen: I've tried the salt, vinegar, soap.. It works. But you have to get in and pull the weeds/grass before it starts growing again. I like that its natural. I do hate spray and chemicals.


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## teresaquinn

Kahilta_flock: what was the corn gluten product called? I've heard it works awesome! Where did you purchase it?


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## teresaquinn

So I went on the Down to Earth website. Lots of great information! Thanks!


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## kahiltna_flock

teresaquinn said:


> So I went on the Down to Earth website. Lots of great information! Thanks!


I bought mine at a local feed/gardening store. I just found their products last year. We have a garden columnist named Jeff Lowefell(s), he is always saying what great products they have.so I decided to give it a try. I was happy with the corn gluten last year. I still had some pop up but way less. Glad you found them online. Let me know how it goes


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## Sundancers

One persons weed is a herb for someone else ... Not a lot of help I know but it was what came to mind. 

The low dandelion ... salads, fritters and wine ??? The next think you know you checking out the lawns down the road for herbs ... (Or it was for me)

Best of luck ...


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## kahiltna_flock

Sundancers said:


> One persons weed is a herb for someone else ... Not a lot of help I know but it was what came to mind.
> 
> The low dandelion ... salads, fritters and wine ??? The next think you know you checking out the lawns down the road for herbs ... (Or it was for me)
> 
> Best of luck ...


I read somewhere that you can make mead from dandelions too.....hummmmm


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## MamaHen

Wow! All great suggestions! I do love having a yard and want to try and keep it "yard" for my kids. I also know that someday we will move and i don't want to sacrifice house price because the yard is all weeds.

I have read and seen others eating dandelions and using them as herbs (I take them in capsule form when I feel an infection coming on) BUT I don't want a yard full of them and I could never eat them cause they taste awful. Mead or wine is quite interesting, we don't consume alcohol though. I think for me killing them with vinegar or picking them is the way to go! I will definitely try the corn meal stuff though! Thanks!


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## Energyvet

Just heard too that pesticides are linked to Parkinson's, and other diseases on the rise. Plant a garden.


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## kjohnstone

Half life means that half of the poison is gone at 3 weeks, only half of the remaining half in the next 3 weeks, leaving a quarter (still too much for my liking) and only half of the quarters is gone in the next 3 weeks (so at 9 weeks, you still half of 1/4 , or 1/8 left of the original poison level. By that time, many weeds will be rebounding. That's why, for the purposes of organic gardening, it is believed to take 2 or 3 YEARS before the herbacides are considered gone.


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## kjohnstone

Besides, aren't chickens themselves the best weeders/insect getters? Their little dinosaur metabolisms are nothing like our mammalian ones.


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## lovemyflock

*non toxic weedkiller*

You can apply corn gluten in the spring when forsythia is blooming, at least that's the correct time in CT. It will prevent germination of annual weed seeds like dandelions and crabgrass. Crabgrass is not like other grasses, it is an annual that has to grow from seeds each year. The corn gluten also acts as a fertilizer too. It's non toxic to animals and people and the environment. Buy it at a farm store.


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## kjohnstone

Are you northern or southern hemisphere? If northern, the weeds are mostly done for the year (except for no-freeze sones) so not recommended, free-range chickens can do a lot for the property (mow the grass, fertilize, kill bugs, etc.).


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## JudyLandauer

MamaHen said:


> My chicks are little so no dandelions for them yet and I also read that they only like them when they are small and prefer the leaves, not the blossoms where the seeds will be (?). Anyways, I want to treat it before the chickies head outside and before the weeds invade my veggie garden.


When my chickens were small they preferd the dandelion seeds over the leaves. They still eat both now that theynare grown. That really endeared them to my heart when I saw that.


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## chasesams

i wouldnt even think of it because if the chickens see the fertilizerthey will eat it whether or not it has weed killer in it the fillers in it might not be good either


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