Homeowners can easily find fertilizer with weed control in any garden center. This leads laypersons to believe it’s much healthier for your landscaping than it really is. Companies promote these combos as a good way to save money, but they’re a bad idea for most properties. There are exceptions, however. It all depends on the reasons you want to add fertilizer and weed control to your lawn and the other plants you have growing there besides grass.
Why Add Fertilizer to Your Lawn?
Your grass takes nutrients from the soil around your home. As it dies off, the plants break down and those nutrients return from whence they came. Unfortunately, for many reasons, this process may not provide all of the minerals your landscaping needs. When the soil is depleted of certain properties – such as magnesium or calcium – the result can lead to a lawn that is more yellow than green, sparse and easily overrun by pests and weeds. Adding fertilizer helps you achieve that lush, deep green look homeowners are after.
Why Add Weed Control to Your Lawn?
At the same time as your grass is gobbling up your fertilizer, unwanted plants are doing the same thing. Invasive growth, called weeds, can crowd out your lawn. This leads to more weeds than grass, sickly looking grass and often an unsightly yard. Weeds can also have painful stickers or barbs, or they can give off bad odors. In order to keep your grass healthy and your yard pleasant, you add weed control to prevent the wrong types of plants from growing.
What’s Wrong with a Fertilizer with Weed Control Combo for Your Lawn?
There are several problems associated with fertilizer with weed control solutions. The first is the potential for killing off other plants in your yard. Most of these solutions contain herbicides for broadleaf weeds like dandelions, but many of the decorative plants commonly included in Georgia landscaping are broadleaf types. Even deciduous trees will be affected by these products; so, they are a bad choice for any lawn with decorative flowers or leaf trees or shrubs.
Second, depending on the weeds you have on your property, a combo might be completely ineffective. There’s a reason the professionals treat some plants by spraying them directly while they manage others through whole-yard applications. It’s more complicated than just treating for “weeds.” You need to invest some time figuring out what’s on your property.
Who Should Use a Fertilizer with Weed Control?
If you have a yard that is just grass, and crabgrass or broadleaf weed varieties are overtaking your yard, it’s safe and practical to use a fertilizer with weed control mix. These will kill off the invasive plants you don’t want, and your grass will be able to re-establish itself. You may want to work with a specialist on reseeding and future fertilization schedules once your weeds die out. You may also need to follow up with separate weed treatments to prevent a reoccurrence the following season.
Need help deciding whether fertilizer with weed control is right for you? Talk to the experts in the area by contacting Think Green Lawn Service today.
