I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely. Unfortunately,
one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested with what my wife has
identified through some googling as chickweed. Will regular mowing take
care of this over time or should I consider something more drastic?

"Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely. Unfortunately,
>one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested with what my wife has
>identified through some googling as chickweed. Will regular mowing take
>care of this over time or should I consider something more drastic?

Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you have common
mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this case you will need to
apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little beastie under control.

The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear chickweed has a hairy leaf.

--
Lyndon

Lyndon wrote:
> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely. Unfortunately,
>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested with what my wife has
>> identified through some googling as chickweed. Will regular mowing take
>> care of this over time or should I consider something more drastic?
>
> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you have common
> mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this case you will need to
> apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little beastie under control.
>
> The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear chickweed has a hairy leaf.
>
Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and help me
with a positive ID?
http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg

I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....

If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting the
infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?

Rob Barrett wrote:
> Lyndon wrote:
>> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely. Unfortunately,
>>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested
>>> with what my wife has identified through some googling as
>>> chickweed. Will regular mowing take care of this over time or
>>> should I consider something more drastic?
>>
>> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you have
>> common mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this case you
>> will need to apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little beastie under
>> control. The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear chickweed has a
>> hairy leaf.
> Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and help
> me with a positive ID?
> http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg
>
> I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....
>
> If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
> between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting
> the infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?

I'm no expert, but that ain't any kind of chickweed I've ever seen, mouse
eared or regular.

Phil L <neverchecked [at] hotmail.com> writes
>Rob Barrett wrote:
>> Lyndon wrote:
>>> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>>>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely. Unfortunately,
>>>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested
>>>> with what my wife has identified through some googling as
>>>> chickweed. Will regular mowing take care of this over time or
>>>> should I consider something more drastic?
>>>
>>> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you have
>>> common mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this case you
>>> will need to apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little beastie under
>>> control. The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear chickweed has a
>>> hairy leaf.
>> Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and help
>> me with a positive ID?
>> http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg
>>
>> I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....
>>
>> If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
>> between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting
>> the infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?
>
>I'm no expert, but that ain't any kind of chickweed I've ever seen, mouse
>eared or regular.
>
It looked pretty chickweedy to me.
>

--
Kay

"K" <k [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:LD5VQ5JiiNdEFwS1 [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk...
> Phil L <neverchecked [at] hotmail.com> writes
>>Rob Barrett wrote:
>>> Lyndon wrote:
>>>> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>>>>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely.
>>>>> Unfortunately,
>>>>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested
>>>>> with what my wife has identified through some googling as
>>>>> chickweed. Will regular mowing take care of this over time or
>>>>> should I consider something more drastic?
>>>>
>>>> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you have
>>>> common mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this case you
>>>> will need to apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little beastie under
>>>> control. The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear chickweed has
>>>> a
>>>> hairy leaf.
>>> Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and help
>>> me with a positive ID?
>>> http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg
>>>
>>> I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....
>>>
>>> If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
>>> between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting
>>> the infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?
>>
>>I'm no expert, but that ain't any kind of chickweed I've ever seen, mouse
>>eared or regular.
>>
> It looked pretty chickweedy to me.
>>
>
> --
> Kay

.... and to me. But definitely not common chickweed..

Not sure how I'd handle it in such a new lawn. Perhaps someone else can
help? As you've probably discovered it can spread rather quickly. It *is*
fairly easy to control once you can get the weed-killer on it. In the
meantime I really don't know if you would be able to limit the spread with a
bit of hand weeding?

--
Lyndon

Lyndon wrote:
> "K" <k [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:LD5VQ5JiiNdEFwS1 [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk...
>> Phil L <neverchecked [at] hotmail.com> writes
>>> Rob Barrett wrote:
>>>> Lyndon wrote:
>>>>> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>>>>>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely.
>>>>>> Unfortunately,
>>>>>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested
>>>>>> with what my wife has identified through some googling as
>>>>>> chickweed. Will regular mowing take care of this over time or
>>>>>> should I consider something more drastic?
>>>>>
>>>>> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you
>>>>> have common mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this
>>>>> case you will need to apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little
>>>>> beastie
>>>>> under control. The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear
>>>>> chickweed has a
>>>>> hairy leaf.
>>>> Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and
>>>> help me with a positive ID?
>>>> http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg
>>>>
>>>> I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....
>>>>
>>>> If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
>>>> between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting
>>>> the infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?
>>>
>>> I'm no expert, but that ain't any kind of chickweed I've ever seen,
>>> mouse eared or regular.
>>>
>> It looked pretty chickweedy to me.
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Kay
>
> ... and to me. But definitely not common chickweed..
>
> Not sure how I'd handle it in such a new lawn. Perhaps someone else
> can help? As you've probably discovered it can spread rather quickly.
> It *is* fairly easy to control once you can get the weed-killer on
> it. In the meantime I really don't know if you would be able to limit
> the spread with a bit of hand weeding?

It certainly won't do it any good having clumps of it pulled out between
mowings, and I think this may be your best bet...lawn weedkillers are not a
good idea (that is to say, I would never use them) given that they work on
broad leaved plants like dock, danelion etc.....enough harsh treatment by
you and it will soon disappear.

Phil L wrote:
> Lyndon wrote:
>> "K" <k [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:LD5VQ5JiiNdEFwS1 [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk...
>>> Phil L <neverchecked [at] hotmail.com> writes
>>>> Rob Barrett wrote:
>>>>> Lyndon wrote:
>>>>>> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>>>>>>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely.
>>>>>>> Unfortunately,
>>>>>>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested
>>>>>>> with what my wife has identified through some googling as
>>>>>>> chickweed. Will regular mowing take care of this over time or
>>>>>>> should I consider something more drastic?
>>>>>> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you
>>>>>> have common mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this
>>>>>> case you will need to apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little
beastie
>>>>>> under control. The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear
>>>>>> chickweed has a
>>>>>> hairy leaf.
>>>>> Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and
>>>>> help me with a positive ID?
>>>>> http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....
>>>>>
>>>>> If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
>>>>> between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting
>>>>> the infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?
>>>> I'm no expert, but that ain't any kind of chickweed I've ever seen,
>>>> mouse eared or regular.
>>>>
>>> It looked pretty chickweedy to me.
>>> --
>>> Kay
>> ... and to me. But definitely not common chickweed..
>>
>> Not sure how I'd handle it in such a new lawn. Perhaps someone else
>> can help? As you've probably discovered it can spread rather quickly.
>> It *is* fairly easy to control once you can get the weed-killer on
>> it. In the meantime I really don't know if you would be able to limit
>> the spread with a bit of hand weeding?
>
> It certainly won't do it any good having clumps of it pulled out
between mowings, and I think this may be your best bet...lawn
weedkillers are not a good idea (that is to say, I would never use them)
given that they work on broad leaved plants like dock, danelion
etc.....enough harsh treatment by you and it will soon disappear.
>
Well, I used my study breaks this lovely afternoon to start pulling it
up -- fairly satisfying (even mildly addicting). The big clumps give
bang for the buck, while the new, little plants just pop easily out
(though there are soooo many of them). I'm surprised a periennial has
such a weak root system. The older plants with multiple stems do seem to
require working back to the main stem to keep from breaking pieces off.
If I do it this way, I'll have no lack of time-passing activity, nor
will I lack compost matter!

Any suggestions for how this happened to this one area of lawn and what
to do to prevent it happening again? This part of the lawn didn't come
in as well and the ground is certainly harder, so that may be the
problem. I'm planning on doing some additional seeding of it, though
that may interfere with the hand-pulling plan.

Just for completeness, I tried spraying Verdone on a little bit of the
worst place, just to see what would happen.

In message <RN1dg.74942$wl.52150 [at] text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, Phil L
<neverchecked [at] hotmail.com> writes
>Rob Barrett wrote:
>> Lyndon wrote:
>>> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>> news:e51sfv$rsm$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>>>> I planted a new lawn last fall which has come in nicely. Unfortunately,
>>>> one patch of maybe 15 sq meters is pretty infested
>>>> with what my wife has identified through some googling as
>>>> chickweed. Will regular mowing take care of this over time or
>>>> should I consider something more drastic?
>>>
>>> Regular mowing should take care of common chickweed, but if you have
>>> common mouse-ear chickweed mowing will not help. In this case you
>>> will need to apply a lawn weedkiller to get the little beastie under
>>> control. The leaf is very different on the two. Mouse-ear chickweed has a
>>> hairy leaf.
>> Thanks for the help. Could you take a look at this picture and help
>> me with a positive ID?
>> http://coffeewithbarretts.com/blog/uploads/weed1.jpg
>>
>> I'm afraid it has hairy stems and leaves....
>>
>> If I have to use a selective weedkiller, any advice on the tradeoff
>> between abusing a new-ish lawn (from seed 8 months ago) and letting
>> the infestation continue until it is the recommended 12 months old?
>
>I'm no expert, but that ain't any kind of chickweed I've ever seen, mouse
>eared or regular.
>
>
I came across what appears to be the same plant in a roadside verge this
afternoon. It appears to be a mouse-ear(ed chickkweed), and short of
using a handlens on the flowers I'd say the common mouse-ear, Cerastium
fontanum.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e54kv5$jl2$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
> Well, I used my study breaks this lovely afternoon to start pulling it
> up -- fairly satisfying (even mildly addicting). The big clumps give bang
> for the buck, while the new, little plants just pop easily out (though
> there are soooo many of them). I'm surprised a periennial has such a weak
> root system. The older plants with multiple stems do seem to require
> working back to the main stem to keep from breaking pieces off. If I do it
> this way, I'll have no lack of time-passing activity, nor will I lack
> compost matter!
>
> Any suggestions for how this happened to this one area of lawn and what to
> do to prevent it happening again?

My guess would be that you didn't leave enough time between preparing the
site and planting the grass seed. You need to give any weeds that have been
disturbed in this nice new growing medium a chance to start growing, then
pull them out or administer lethal doses of nasty chemicals, then sow the
grass seed.


>
> Just for completeness, I tried spraying Verdone on a little bit of the
> worst place, just to see what would happen.

Ah. I like that. So before long you will *know* whether or not it was a good
idea instead of taking other people's ideas.

I'd love to know what happens to the grass because I'd be too timid to try
it myself.

--
Lyndon

Lyndon wrote:
> "Rob Barrett" <fumanchu314159265 [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:e54kv5$jl2$1 [at] news.freedom2surf.net...
>> Any suggestions for how this happened to this one area of lawn and what to
>> do to prevent it happening again?
>
> My guess would be that you didn't leave enough time between preparing the
> site and planting the grass seed. You need to give any weeds that have been
> disturbed in this nice new growing medium a chance to start growing, then
> pull them out or administer lethal doses of nasty chemicals, then sow the
> grass seed.
>
Possible, but I spent probably a couple of months preparing the site as
you suggest. Maybe they just weren't germinating in the late summer,
early fall?

>
>> Just for completeness, I tried spraying Verdone on a little bit of the
>> worst place, just to see what would happen.
>
> Ah. I like that. So before long you will *know* whether or not it was a good
> idea instead of taking other people's ideas.
>
> I'd love to know what happens to the grass because I'd be too timid to try
> it myself.
>
I guess it's the physicist in me....