How To Apply Weed And Feed Lawn Fertilizer

Weed and Feed Fertilizer is an option to consider when you want to fertilize your turf in the spring and control weeds with the same application.

In this FAQ, Christina Burton, Horizon's Maintenance Channel Manager, discusses the two main types of Weed and Feed and shares application tips that will help you get a healthy, weed-free lawn.

Weed And Feed Fertilizer Application - Video Transcript

If you want to fertilize your turf in the spring and also control weeds, you would wanna consider a Combo Fertilizer. Or a lot of people know this as a Weed and Feed.

So the way to choose a Weed and Feed is to really first ask the question, "Are you trying to prevent weeds from growing? Or are you trying to control ones that are already there in your lawn and you want to remove them?"

If you want to prevent weeds, you need to use a product that has pre-emergent on it. And what it really does is when you put down the fertilizer and its got the pre-emergent on it. And you water it in, that's really important, you end up creating this barrier underneath the soil. And these weed seeds, as they try to emerge, they hit this chemical barrier and they die before they can sprout.  

A post-emergent on the other hand, you've already got weeds in the lawn and it's really important that this product sticks onto the actual leaves of the weeds. If the product doesn't stick there, getting washed off into the ground doesn't do anything. Because that's not the way that that chemical is taken up. It doesn't take it up through the roots. It's gotta go through the leaves.

So a couple important things to note:

• First of all, you wanna make sure that you water just lightly prior to applying the product so that the leaves are wet and the product will stick to the leaves.

• And then you'll also want to make sure that you shut the irrigation off so it doesn't get washed off. It has time to be absorbed and taken down to the roots. That's the way it carries down the chemical.

And then another common mistake is that folks will think that they should mow the lawn prior to. That that will be better. They'll get the weeds partially mowed down and then apply it. But the problem is if you come in and chop these weeds off, you've gotten rid of a lot of the surface area of the leaves that's going to take up the chemical. So your chemical actually works not as well.

So again, make sure you water it first, have the product stick to the leaf, turn the irrigation off so it doesn't get washed off for 24 hours, and try to not mow for about 2 days before and 2 days after applying the product.