Creeping Charlie invasion, advice needed.

robby wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Yes need to attack them when flowering. If you neighbor has it and doesn’t do anything it’s gonna keep creepin.
They are tough little buggers.

Creeping Charlie/Jenny is a bane. I hate it, hate it, hate it. My neighbor does not do anything about his, most of his lawn is Creeping Charlie. His wife will not allow him to use herbicides, she believes it will harm their dogs. So I gave up on that side of my yard. The other side looks good. I will get gung ho about this again, but it will again be like flogging a dead horse.

Shucks she doesn’t like chemical warfare in the yard. I don’t blame her.

robby wrote:

I hear in Arizona and similar climes, they plant this stuff in their yards on purpose. It will grow in that arid climate and sand, where grass will not. Crazy.

Really makes no sense to try and grow grass in an arid climate like Arizona. It just wastes water, which they are short of already. Heck, the entire western half of the country is in a major drought. The grass is a completely different kind there too. Its more resistant to heat and drought. I think its a bermuda-type whereas most of ours here in the Midwest is kentucky bluegrass.

gimruis wrote:

The grass is a completely different kind there too. Its more resistant to heat and drought. I think its a bermuda-type whereas most of ours here in the Midwest is kentucky bluegrass.

We have family in Houston Texas and we were visiting with one of their neighbors who had retired there from Wyoming or Montana. The neighbors next to them were from the Midwest somewhere and hated the grass down there and had their entire yard torn out and sodded with Kentucky Bluegrass. The entire lawn burnt to a crisp even with all the watering. That grass down there hurts to walk on barefoot.

ganderpike wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Between creeping Charlie and dandelions, some of you guys use some real serious chemicals, but complain about the stuff they put on the roads and what flows in to our water sheds, # chemical warfare, weeds must die

Agreed. Same people who mow ditches 30 miles out of town.

This is a whole different can of worms, but also a pet peeve of mine.

We admittedly mow our ditches with a tractor every 4 weeks or so. We only mow them to 6″. It looks “decent” but more importantly gives a little margin for error for seeing critters coming out of the ditch onto the road without trying to keep a finished lawn look. If we did nothing, there’d be 2-3′ of grasses up to the shoulder which is a hazard for drivers and motorcyclists. The county and township in our area does next to no mowing.

I think it’s dumb when people mow their ditches to 2″ long and treat it like lawn. Ditches need some taller grass to slow down water when we get big summer rains. Those ditches with little to no grass aren’t doing anyone any favors for run-off and erosion.

Back in the day I took care of mowing my grandparents lawn. Grandma hated, and I mean HATED, the Charlie as she called it. One year she went after it with Weed B Gon concentrate, not diluted, and carpet bombed areas on the yard. Nothing grew in those spots for years. Adjacent to those spots, Charlie kept advancing. One thing I’ll add, especially if you have neighboring lawns, is watch the wind when using Trimec or any form of Dicamba. It can and will drift, even for days, and will do a number on neighboring shrubs.

Joe Jarl wrote:

One thing I’ll add, especially if you have neighboring lawns, is watch the wind when using Trimec or any form of Dicamba. It can and will drift, even for days, and will do a number on neighboring shrubs.

There have been lawsuits specifically related to the treatment of agriculture fields with Dicamba. As you stated, it tends to drift in the air and if the wind is blowing a certain direction, it can drift and apply to a neighboring field of crops that cannot tolerate it. Apply at your own risk with that one.

A product called Vessel works very well. I purchased a 2 1/2 gallon jug online from one of those DIY sites and have had very good weed control.

CaptainMusky wrote:

We have family in Houston Texas and we were visiting with one of their neighbors who had retired there from Wyoming or Montana. The neighbors next to them were from the Midwest somewhere and hated the grass down there and had their entire yard torn out and sodded with Kentucky Bluegrass. The entire lawn burnt to a crisp even with all the watering. That grass down there hurts to walk on barefoot.

LOL ya kentucky bluegrass doesn’t do so good in a super hot or dry climate. It does best in cooler, damp conditions. Like spring (right now) or fall when its cool at night and we get ample rain.