HELP, fellow Texans!

I was going to suggest you pose your question over on the Weed forum, but I see you're already there. You might repeat the inquiry on the Lawn Care forum. Be sure to mention you're in the Austin area. But how much confidence can you place in the assurance that some service uses "safe" methods? It might be time well spent to familiarize yourself with the various weed controls (they will differ for bermuda and St. Augustine), so you can discuss them intelligently with prospective services. You really need to know what kind of weeds you have. If they have long stems with flat seed pods, 8 or 9 flat seeds on each pod, you may have annual rye grass, which I've been fighting for a couple of years. Unfortunately, it's rather too late for pre-emergents, organic or otherwise. You might find it helpful to do a search for "dogs" on both other forums. I'm sure you will be requested to post photos of your lawn.

Thank you whitecap. Yes, I've already posted on the weed forum hoping for some help. I think I'll just use my homeowners email newsletter and hope someone can recommend. We all seem to gave the same varieties, but I haven't seen any weed control trucks in the area such as True Green yet, so am thinking many of them do it themselves. I'm 71, can afford to have it treated professionally, so that ain't gonna happen. ;)

Ah, but to sink one's fingers into the rich, moist earth of spring does wonders for the joints, and assures an untroubled night's rest.

I take a different approach. I fertilize the grass well, and then keep the weeds mowed until the grass crowds them out. It really isnt' that much extra work as you have to mow anyway, I just mow a little more often until the weeds die.

Whitecap, but I do plant my own flowers and small bushes, and once the weeds get under control with some help from a 'higher power' I *will* be the one doing the weed maintenance, but not the mowing. I've always enjoyed working in the yard, but have never in my life seen so many weeds in a lawn as I have in Texas!

Carrie, I suppose I could do that. We have that god-awful St. Augustine, so it would probably only be a matter of time until it was choked off. Will give it some thought.

But seriously, the problem most of us have is trying to kill the weeds without damaging the surrounding turf grass. If I follow you, your weeds are sprouting through a weed barrier and mulch in your back yard. I've never tried it, but I wonder if the 20% vinegar solution I hear people talking about wouldn't be effective, and safe for your dogs. I would think any lawn service could come up with some sort of safe, organic treatment, under these conditions.

I see that several people in my neighborhood thought they were putting weeds behind them forever by replacing their turf grass with gravel. Well, surprise, surprise!

I have St. Augustine as well (though I am a great fan of it), and with a little help from fertilizing and watering, it will crowd out the weeds. Some of them will be eliminated soon as the weather gets hotter. Good luck on whatever method you decide to use. Mine is just a suggestion that works for me...........may not work for everyone.

I follow Carrie's method-healthy lawn equals fewer weeds, with the exception that I occasionally pull weeds too. I'm not a big fan of herbicides.

The most common lawn weed, annual bluegrass, dies in late summer, encouraging the thought that it has been "controlled." It seeds prolifically, however, and will be back to greet you the following spring. It grows much more rapidly than turf grasses, and quickly mars the appearance of a newly mowed lawn. It is easily identified by its seed stalks. These are round, and end with a cluster of much thinner stalks, each tipped with a flat seed pod containing 8 to 12 flattish seeds. The most effective control is said to be substances which prevent seed germination, or "pre-emergents." Obviously, these need to be applied before the seeds begin to sprout, and I can never seem to get around it it. This treatment requires a little preliminary research, to determine which agent is appropriate for your variety of turf grass.

I don't recommend True Green because they charge extra for nut sedge, which is very common here. I do suggest a pre-emergent twice a year to prevent weeds. In fact, I need to do that myself. If you have a LOT of weeds, it is worthwhile to have a service get things under control, then take over yourself once it's more manageable.

Everytime I posted what we used, someone that I have never heard of before would post not to use it, because it would kill your entire st augustine lawn. I finally stopped posting about wipe out, it is the only thing that would work for us at the coast. We have so many weeds, we are next door to the State of Texas property. The weeds just blow into our yard, and we have almost an acre. Last year, Green LIght sold to another company, so they stopped making green light products.. My husband and I bought every bottle that Fanack's, Rainbow Gardens, and Lock Hill Feed had,. We bought over 25 bottles from just Fanack's. As well as every bottle that Rainbow Gardens, and the feed store had. The man at Lock Hill feed said the new company will be coming out with something that should have the same ingredients that Wipe Out had.. The secret to using it was to only spray lightly once over the grass, it will kill all broad leaf weeds, which includes dollar weed. I can't tell you how great this product is. But, the name wipe out would scare people off. Right now I do not know of anything that would work as good, maybe corn gluten meal on your lawn in April and Oct. We use to use it, but had to stop because it is so expensive. I will post when we find out the name of the new product that the new company will market to replace wipe out. Barbra