At this point we have gone through most of the basics of spring lawn care. Raking and mulching, weeding, seeding, you name it, we’ve covered it. ‘But what about herbicides and pesticides?’ you might ask. Ponder no longer, we’ve got what you need to know to take your spring lawn care to the next level.
Herbicides
What is herbicide? It’s most commonly known as poison for weeds and unwanted plants. It’s used most often on lawns or areas with a lot of weeds where hand weeding is not practical. Sometimes the chemicals inside an herbicide can be toxic even for humans making it important to wear protective clothing while handling the weed spray or spraying apparatus.
There are two main types of herbicides, selective and non-selective. It’s a literal labeling as selective is meant for a specific type of weed while non-selective covers a broader range of plant pests. Some of these herbicides use synthetic imitations of plant hormones, disrupting their growing cycles, which causes withering and eventually death.
Herbicides are most commonly used in gardening and landscaping. Farming does use some herbicides in their spray mixtures but turning soil in spring before crop planting goes a long way towards controlling field weed populations.
Natural and Organic Herbicides
It’s important to note that there are herbicide and pesticide alternatives that aren’t synthetic. In the case of herbicides household items can often be utilized to turn away those unwanted weeds.
Oils, vinegars, citrus and corn gluten meal are the most common ingredients in natural or organic sprays and are easily found at the supermarket if you want to make your own mixture. Just be sure to properly assess what weeds you have and the appropriate plant poison to match.
Pesticides
As long as humans have had crops farmers have used pesticides. A pesticide is classified as any substance or mixture that kills, prevents or repels insects and unwanted garden pests. There are benefits to using pesticides, such as effectiveness, but there are also drawbacks such as potential toxicity to humans and other animals.
10 of the 12 most dangerous and persistent organic compounds are pesticides. If used both properly and sparingly the toxic effects are nominal. It’s important to read the labels carefully to ensure you know what you are putting into your earth.
Pesticides are most widely used in farming. It is the most effective and efficient means of killing pests over a vast space such as crop fields. Smaller planes are used to deliver the sprays by air in some situations, covering huge spaces in quick passes.
Pesticides also have many applications in smaller gardens and lawns but is distributed by more conventional means such as hand pumps and sprayers.
Natural and Organic Pesticides
Natural pesticides are as readily available as their herbicide counterparts. It has been documented, however, that some types of organic pesticides are less effective than synthetics, meaning a larger quantity is needed for the same amount of effect. Some of the most common key ingredients are tree bark, leaves, seeds, animal urine, mineral oil, chalk and even cow’s milk. These elements are used because of their naturally high levels of chemicals, for example, the high nitrogen content in urine.
It’s also important to take several factors into consideration when spraying your lawn or garden such as preparation.
Preparation
1.) How big is the job? Try not to over or under buy. Measure the square footage of your spray area before you purchase. Usually the sales person will know how much spray you need per square foot.
2.) Dress correctly. Some sprays contain harmful chemicals. Protect yourself properly.
3.) Consider your equipment. Do you have the right tools for the job? Do you need a hand pump or automatic? Or maybe you need a flyby? Don’t do a corn field with a hand pump!
4.) Read the label, mix the ingredients properly.
Take all these things into consideration and you’ll get great results every time. For more information on spring lawn care click here to start at the beginning of our spring clean up series and do it right from day one. Or jump forward to the next article in the sporing care line up on Lawn fertilizers and stay up to date.
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