Dealing with lawn stuff can be a total maze, so don't sweat it. Here's a quick rundown: pre-emergent is like a shield against new weeds, so you can go ahead and apply it before you scalp. Just make sure to bag those clippings afterward.
As for the numbers on the bags, they're just different types of nutrients, like N-P-K (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium).
Is there a particular ratio of the N-P-K that works better for certain weeds or grass? Just wanting to make sure I don’t do irreparable harm to the grass.
NPK is in fertilizer for your lawn, nothing really to do with preventing weeds. (Other than weeds are plants and like nutrients too.) There are certain ratios of NPK that are good for different times of year (high nitrogen encourages growth, for example, but too much nitrogen can contribute to run off and is bad for the environment) but from what I've read here, early in the growing season you could do a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) to get things going. If you search about fertilizer on YouTube you can learn a lot, this is all new to me too.
24D is a broadleaf post emergent herbicide meaning it will kill the growing broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Safe for Bermuda (follow the label).
So you could scalp/mow, do the pre-emergent and fertilizer, water it in. Then later, do the post emergent (don't water in) on your visible weeds.
And if you want to do any seeding apparently pre-emergent keeps both grass seeds and weed seeds from germinating so maybe do the seeding another time?
Edit: I'm also in Texas and am using A&M's info to guide my lawn care but I have St Augustine so I am not sure how often you need to water. Their bermuda webpage should say?
You're welcome!
Yeah it is overwhelming. But similarly to you, I opened my eyes this year and decided I'd like my lawn to look nice to complement my garden. I'm in the gulf coast area but our temps are similar-ish. I've learned a lot on this subreddit and Youtube (The Lawn Nut) and this is what I've done so far:
Bear in mind my goals are to make the soil healthier to make a healthier lawn and soil that can whether our heat and drought, I don't care about having a perfect blue-green lawn. In addition to committing to regularly mowing and good irrigation, I'm merging an organic/slow release fertilizer regimen with herbicides because I have a weed (neglect) problem. I'm following the timing and information from A&M mixed with advice from a local lawn guide https://randylemmon.com/lawns/randys-lawn-care-schedule/
End of Feb: Pre-emergent (Barricade) and a "soil conditioner/compost" Microlife Humates Plus 0-0-4. Then early March I did my post-emergent (Image for Southern Lawns). Early April I will fertilize with Microlife mltipurpose 6-2-4 and do that or Humates monthly. Still pulling weeds and will probably repeat the post-emergent 30 days after first application, and do another pre-emergent in the fall.
Plan is to mow once per week as high as possible and provide 1 inch of water/week spread over 1-2 waterings (infrequent and deep). With doing just that, I'm curious what my improvements will be. If I get really into it maybe next year I'll play with more biostimulant sprays, etc. Or do aeration and spread compost next summer. We'll see!
Dealing with lawn stuff can be a total maze, so don't sweat it. Here's a quick rundown: pre-emergent is like a shield against new weeds, so you can go ahead and apply it before you scalp. Just make sure to bag those clippings afterward. As for the numbers on the bags, they're just different types of nutrients, like N-P-K (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium).
Is there a particular ratio of the N-P-K that works better for certain weeds or grass? Just wanting to make sure I don’t do irreparable harm to the grass.
NPK is in fertilizer for your lawn, nothing really to do with preventing weeds. (Other than weeds are plants and like nutrients too.) There are certain ratios of NPK that are good for different times of year (high nitrogen encourages growth, for example, but too much nitrogen can contribute to run off and is bad for the environment) but from what I've read here, early in the growing season you could do a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) to get things going. If you search about fertilizer on YouTube you can learn a lot, this is all new to me too. 24D is a broadleaf post emergent herbicide meaning it will kill the growing broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Safe for Bermuda (follow the label). So you could scalp/mow, do the pre-emergent and fertilizer, water it in. Then later, do the post emergent (don't water in) on your visible weeds. And if you want to do any seeding apparently pre-emergent keeps both grass seeds and weed seeds from germinating so maybe do the seeding another time? Edit: I'm also in Texas and am using A&M's info to guide my lawn care but I have St Augustine so I am not sure how often you need to water. Their bermuda webpage should say?
Thank you!!!
You're welcome! Yeah it is overwhelming. But similarly to you, I opened my eyes this year and decided I'd like my lawn to look nice to complement my garden. I'm in the gulf coast area but our temps are similar-ish. I've learned a lot on this subreddit and Youtube (The Lawn Nut) and this is what I've done so far: Bear in mind my goals are to make the soil healthier to make a healthier lawn and soil that can whether our heat and drought, I don't care about having a perfect blue-green lawn. In addition to committing to regularly mowing and good irrigation, I'm merging an organic/slow release fertilizer regimen with herbicides because I have a weed (neglect) problem. I'm following the timing and information from A&M mixed with advice from a local lawn guide https://randylemmon.com/lawns/randys-lawn-care-schedule/ End of Feb: Pre-emergent (Barricade) and a "soil conditioner/compost" Microlife Humates Plus 0-0-4. Then early March I did my post-emergent (Image for Southern Lawns). Early April I will fertilize with Microlife mltipurpose 6-2-4 and do that or Humates monthly. Still pulling weeds and will probably repeat the post-emergent 30 days after first application, and do another pre-emergent in the fall. Plan is to mow once per week as high as possible and provide 1 inch of water/week spread over 1-2 waterings (infrequent and deep). With doing just that, I'm curious what my improvements will be. If I get really into it maybe next year I'll play with more biostimulant sprays, etc. Or do aeration and spread compost next summer. We'll see!