You are with most others who write in here. WNF products don't W or F very well. If you need to fertilize then use a real fertilizer. If you need to kill weeds, use a real herbicide.

What you use depends on your grass. What kind of grass do you have? Also where do you live?

I don't know what kind of grass it is. Its a fine blade grass, with a good share of weeds mixed in. How do I go about figuring out what kind of grass it is?

pic

The picture is a good start. For some reason it's out of focus. It's most important to know where you live.

I think I can eliminate St Augustine from the possible grasses. It's the sensitive one. You should be able to use the Weed b Gon products. It might be best to begin with Weed b Gon Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis Killer. That's the full name. Spray to moisten the foliage, not saturate the soil. Most of the modern sprays take a few days or more to show results. Give them time to work before you think about spraying a second time or with a different product.

We live in SW Iowa. Zone 5a, I think.

Hi glad I found this thread. this is my first time taking care of a yard - I just moved into a new house (Nebraska) and there are SOOOOO many dandelions! I used Scotts weed and feed last night and I think I have more dandelions today... How long does it take for this stuff to work? And if it doesn't work after a few days, is there something else I should try? I have more dandelions than grass I think..

trlynn86, WNF doesn't work. Had you read the first reply above, you would have seen words to that effect.

Plus, now is not the time to apply fertilizer. That's one reason why WNF is not well liked by the forums. Second reason is to do it right, it takes more than one person to apply it right. One person needs to go ahead of the second with a hose to wet the grass. If you apply WNF to dry grass, then absolutely nothing happens. That is what most people do. It's counter intuitive to lawn care.

Also I mentioned yesterday on this thread that Weed b Gone Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis killer is a good product.

Here is some general lawn info.

Basics of Lawn Care

After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct.

1. Watering
Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds.

You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week.

2. Mowing
Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush.

3. Fertilizing
Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it (unless you use organics in which case you may overdo it without fear of hurting anything).

At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide.

Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

Thanks for sharing all these tips! I did water the lawn before I used weed and feed last night, as I had read it needed to be damp. Since I just moved in last weekend, this was the first opportunity I had to do anything to try to get rid of the dandelions. If this won't work due to the timing, is there anything I can do now to get rid of them or am I just stuck with them all summer?

Since you watered it first, give it 3 weeks. If that doesn't work, please write back. If/when you write back please open an new topic, remind us about this one, tell us where you live, and what kind of grass you have. In the mean time, there is a lot to learn by reading other people's discussions.

Killerv, I don't have enough time left in the rest of my life to try to pull them all. Seriously they take up the majority of the yard. I was horrified when I moved in and need to try some whole yard control for them. They have taken over.

And thanks dchall... I will give it a little time and hope for the best. Maybe something will start to happen.

One answer: Q4 herbicide this stuff rocks cool season and warm season grasses.

one thing for sure, you have good soil, dandelions love fertile soil, ph from 6 to 7.

...so you have that going for you

I am with the above poster who said take them out. While you can not remove all of them at once, if you spend a couple of minutes each week digging out the dandelions, over a year or two they will slowly disappear from you yard.

Killerv, haha! Thanks, I guess?! :) dark tower, thanks for the suggestion! Krnuttle, i would have a big dirt yard... :)

A few days ago I sprayed 1/2 of my lawn with weed b gon plus crabgrass killer. Yesterday I noticed the dandelions were looking wilty. Yay! Hopefully they continue to die and don't revive! I'm waiting on more weed b gone to arrive (ordered online) and I'll do the rest of the yard. I'll probably have to hit it all again here soon. I really don't think removing all the dandelions manually is an option for me. (4 kids 8 and under to take care of too)

Killerv I'm glad to hear that our soil must be fertile! If it wasn't for the dandelions and a few other weeds my lawn would be quite beautiful.

I ended up contacting a lawn service. The weed and feed didn't really do anything. They came and did their first application yesterday, and the dandelions are now withering. Not sure what they use, but it's stronger than what I used!

They used the same active ingredient in Ortho

Will the dandelions i sprayed turn to seeds? My dandelions mostly just had the yellow heads and no puffs yet.

Also I'm afraid I damaged my lawn. I used ortho weed b gon on 1/2 the lawn and on the other 1/2 high yield 2 4 d. I used the ortho dial n spray set at 2 1/2 for the ortho and 3 for the hi yield(instructions said 3 oz for 1-3 gal water), but it seemed to use up the hi yield 2-3 times as fast as the ortho stuff. How easy is it to damage a lawn and how accurate is the dial n spray?

I would think it would be hard to damage grass with a broadleaf killer.

The yellow flower dandelions should not be a problem, but any seeds from earlier could still be a problem. If you're mowing at the mower's highest setting and watering deep and infrequent, weeds should be minimized.

It may sound silly, but I went through the yard and burnt the little seed heads off with a small propane torch like you use for sweating copper line. They go up quickly and are usually high enough above the surrounding grass as to cause no damage to the lawn itself. The go up in a matter of seconds. Once I start spraying, and assuming I've started early enough, I usually don't see too many seed heads, so it's fairly quick and easy to run through the yard, torching the seed heads before I mow, that way I'm not mowing them off and sending the seeds flying all over to settle in and germinate in my yard.

Thank you all for your help!

This pic is how my lawn looks 2 weeks after spraying exactly according to WBG plus crabgrass preventer package instructions. I used the Ortho dial n spray. When I sprayed all the flowers were yellow, now alot of them have turned to seed. Should I hit them again now, or shall I wait until fall? Did my spray not work? They are sorta weak and wilty looking, but seem to be alive yet.

You can tell me what to do with my too-steep-to-mow ditch while you're at it. :)

Kymbrea, mine look sort of wilty like yours now as well. I used the weed and feed first, and then ended up hiring a service to come. They're not "gone" but appear to be struggling. Not sure if that's the normal step before they completely die and don't come back or if I should do something else. I'm using the "wait and see" method right now :)

I'd hit them again and this time use maybe 25% higher concentration than recommended. The big box store stuff is low concentration to make it dummy proof. Not to mention you have to use more of it which translates to more sales.