Weed and feed products are rarely ever recommended. They are a very inefficient way of addressing any weeds as you must blanket the area with product including areas where weeds may not exist, applying as much as 20-30 times more herbicide than is necessary. And because you should keep to an appropriate fertilizing schedule, there are stretches in a typical lawn fertilizing regimen that provide ample opportunity for more weeds to grow.

Because most W&F are granular, they dissolve with rain or irrigation and leach into groundwater, streams and lakes. Commonly applied lawn chemicals have been proven to be some of the largest fresh water pollutants.

The herbicides also tend to be harmful with small children or pets, who can track the granules indoors. They tend to be more vulnerable to the toxicity of lawn weed herbicides than adults. Spot spraying weeds as necessary with a dedicated product is much preferred. The product can be used as often as needed, coats only the weed foliage so does not leach and once dry, is safe for both kids and pets. I prefer to use a handheld sprayer when necessary as even the hose end sprayers are too liberal in their application. And much too easy to overspray and damage desirable adjoining plants.

Fertilize separately according the annual schedule recommended for your area and lawn type.

I am wondering why you are wondering if you need a fertilizer, or is it just that you wonder if a combo product is better than the fertilizer you are using?

if you successfully grown a lawn turf ... as that thickens and thrives.. you barely need anything else ...

crabgrass need to be attacked before it emerges ... hence the term pre-emmergent ....

once i had my lawn thick .. then all i needed was a one gal pump tank.. and an hour to walk around and shoot errant dandilions ...

one way to start a good lawn.. is either to hire out the job for a year or two ... or use that 4 bag system ... per label instructions... but that can be a very expensive prospect on a large pot .. but consider a small front.. could use that.. and do other things in a huge back yard ....

in a few years.. once that lawn is primo .. then you can reduce down to ferting about twice a year.. with a cheap 16-16-16... and get the same result.. without have to mow your lawn every 90 mins due to ridiculous amounts of fert per the program ... took me a few year to figure that one out.. lol ...

ken

ps: hose end anything is a travesty.. lets try to move you away from anything in that realm ....

I replied to the duplicate thread. Lots to read there.

Regarding hose end sprayers: I've been very happy with a hose end applicator for spot spraying small areas of weeds in the lawn. I have also used it for spraying molasses and shampoo.

We have used Scott 4 bag system with less than optimal results. Expensive and disappointing. You can use separate weed and fertilizer or weed/feed combo. The difference is you have to mow the lawn more often when you use fertilizer. We only have an acre and hubby use to spread his own, but now that he is older and can't walk like he use to he just hires a lawn service for weed/feed/ grub control.