Help With Sticker Problem

17 years ago

I have tons of stickers in my front and back yard and wondered if there is a product to spread or spray to get rid of them? I fertilized and seeded grass 3 times this summer, and although the grass is sparse, the johnson grass, crab grass and stickers enjoyed the extra watering and food.At first I dug them by hand, but with the last rains the new crop is too numerous to to do that way. I am reluctant to use chemical warfare due to our proximity to the bay and channels around Ingleside. Is there a more "natural" method to eventually get rid of them?

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jolanaweb

17 years ago

I use to have the same problem and then I found this info and remembered my GF used sugar to get rid of stickers
Just do an organic program, and that will take care of the weeds.
I started putting sugar on my lawn 8 or 9 years ago, and the weeds started dying out right away.
Sugar doesn't kill the grass or anything else.
What it does, is it nourishes the beneficial microbes that work round the clock enriching the lawn. Fertilizers and other chemical products you buy for the lawn, kill all these microbes, and the beneficial nematoses and insects that feed on harmful insects.
Earthworms, tunnel through the soil and keep it aerated, and their droppings ( castings) add nutrients.
Toads, lizards and other harmless critters that cannot live in your yard iif you are using chemicals,will not be able to feed on insects.
I used to spray once a month for insects, and it kind of kept them off my roses etc.
Since I stopped using chemicals, I have no insect problems.
I have no weeds in my lawn, because weeds like poor soil, and will not live long in rich soil.
If I were you, I would broadcast 4 pounds sugar per 1000 sq,ft, and water it in well.
Don't worry about the weeds. The microbes should start reproducing and all of the family of them will work on your lawn all winter.
Apply sugar again in the spring, and next fall. Watr well each time.
Watering to a depth of at least 6 inches encourages a deep root system, and deep roots help protect against heat, cold and drought damage.
I am in North Texas, and have had the same kind of dry weather you are having up there.
I watered only once a week, and my lawn ios still nice and green.When the top 3 or 4 inches of the soil are dry, there is still moisture down where the roots are.
I just broadcast my sugar by hand, like feeding chickens.

Some other things you can broadcast around the yard,that will just add more nutrients are lava sand and alfalfa meal.
You will probably have to get the alfalfa meal at a feed store.
The poundage will be different, but you want about the same amount of coverage all over with these as you get with that 4 pounds per 1000 sq.ft of sugar.
You can even mix them all together. Don't go by weight, go by volume, and use the 4 pounds per 100 sq.ft of sugar to measure the lava sand and alfalfa meal.
Like, one gallon bucket of each.
You can use both of them or either of them. Or just the sugar by itself will do a lot and you will be surprised at the results you get in your yard next year.
If you can find Corn gluten meal, you could apply that at the rate of 15 to 20 pounds per 1000 sq,ft. It wil act as a deterent to the weed seeds germinating over the fall, and you should not get as many, if any, next spring.
The organics would be an easier, more productive, and much cheaper way for you to go.

I go with the sugar and let the microbes enrich the soil, and the rich soil getting rid of the weeds.

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Comments (7)

texasoiler2
Original Author
17 years ago
jolanaweb, thanks, I will try the sugar and alfalfa meal if I can find them. Our house was built on "cleared" land, almost no grass and no care to lawn by first owners. Our "soil" is sand, 2-4 feet deep in most places with some natural composted dead leaves...we are full of live oaks... and left- over house-build fill. I was hoping to encourage grass to help smother the weeds/stickers, but the soil is so iffy, I will take what I can get! Thanks for the advice. Always prefer to go natural, if possible.
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tantanman
16 years ago
Jolana's advise on building the soil is the right
goal but I would try a winter cover grass. Maybe
rye, then try to get burmda sarted in warm weather.
Grass burs or sand bur stickers should go away as
you build your soil.

Rye will leave considerable organic in the soil.
Sorry I didnt find this sooner.
tantanman
16 years ago
I forgot to mention the more economical organic
fertilizer is usually cotton seed meal. I buy it
at the cotton oil factory in Richmond several hundred
lbs at a time or 1 sack at the feed store. They had
a cotton seed oil mill in C.C. when I lived there.
texasoiler2
Original Author
16 years ago
Tantanman, thank you for responding. Will try the rye next winter and go with bermuda again this spring. One half of front yard sun and other half shade with tree cover, so had gone with 2 different grasses last spring. At least they are "divided" by sidewalk, so pretty easy to seed. Thanks again for advice...Jill
wally_1936
16 years ago
I sure like all the suggestions on this post. I don't know if they work but it sure sounds like it must, I am going to have to try this also, but what about the ants, I understood they love sugar.
One way to remove them now is to make a device to pull behind, using burlap bags weighted down and pull it over the lawn, as it gets full make another and burn each of the bags when they won't pick up anymore. You will have to do this many times but it should get a lot of the seeds

I know down this way the "stickers" are nut grass and I have putted them up by the "root" and place some inside a ziplock bag and laid them out on grating without any soil all summer and they were still growing as if they were still in the soil. This is without soil or water as the plastic bag kept everything out during a very hot summer.
Dre LastName
9 years ago
I've found that the only way to get rid of stickers is to get a thick pair of gloves and a screwdriver and go pull them out of the ground manually. You'll only need to do it twice and they'll be gone completely. But if a neighbor has them, they're going to find their way back to your yard. When you pull them out use some lawn starter soil over the spot and grass seed if you have it.