I often get called upon to help customers with controlling their weed problems in a wide variety of areas. Some of these areas include weeds growing in their driveway or parking areas, in areas surrounding their home or buildings, and also larger grass covered fields and pastures. Depending on the type of area that is to be treated, along with the customer’s vision of what they would like that part of their property to become, we will chose which weed control herbicides to use to best achieve those goals. It’s important to have a good understanding of the chemicals you are using, and not only how they work to control the weeds, but also how to avoid any possible negative or unwanted results caused by them. It can be quite easy for an inexperienced pesticide applicator to make mistakes in applying herbicides. These mistakes can lead to things like being unsuccessful in controlling the weeds, or worse yet, accidentally killing things they didn’t intend to, like desirable grasses, trees, nearby flowers or garden, and the list goes on. This is not the type of job where you want to get the new guy who doesn’t have an extensive understanding of the chemical he’s using and how to use them.
In gravel driveways and parking areas the desired goal is typically to eliminate all vegetation and keep it gone for the rest of the year. In these instances I will use a mixtures of multiple herbicides to get the desired results. We often have to accomplish this without the treatment bleeding over into the nearby lawn. I typically do driveways by hand so I can draw very precise edges along the lawn or other desirable vegetation.
I also perform weed control in a wide variety of grass covered areas around customer’s property, including larger grassland fields and pastures. I will first have a discussion with the customer about their future plans for the area they would like treated. These discussions consist of what type of vegetation would they like to have growing on the property after the herbicide treatment is done. Do they simply want to eliminate the weeds in the area and let the native grasses take over, or do they have plans of planting trees, bushes, flowers, or possibly seeding it to grass. These future goals will dictate which herbicide products we choose to use. Sometimes the best product to control the weeds, is a product that can have a negative effect on the plants you would like to put there in the future. In these instances, we are sometimes better off to use a different product than we normally would, as not to affect future plants and vegetation. As I stated before, there are several important factors to consider when applying herbicides, and just killing the weeds is only part of the equation.
The most common type of weed control treatment that I perform in these grassland areas, is to use a broadleaf selective herbicide that will eliminate as many of the unwanted weeds as possible, while leaving the native grasses to fill in and grow thicker in the weeds absence. This approach is usually the simplest and most cost effective, because we just kill the weeds to give the grasses an advantage, then let mother nature take care of the rest. To accomplish this I use a broad spectrum product that controls the weeds in a couple ways. It is absorbed through the leaves of the plant on contact, as well as taken up through the roots as the herbicide is rained into the soil. It does this without harming established grasses. This product also has a good residual that stays in the soil for a year or so and continues to keep new weeds from emerging. This product is also labeled to be used right up to the water’s edge and has no grazing restrictions, meaning that your livestock and the native wildlife are safe to graze the treated area as soon as the treatment is completed. Because of the safeness of this product around animals and water, as well as it being very effective on a wide variety of weeds, it’s my “go to” for the majority of the properties I spray.
Not all spray jobs are the simple kind, and we are sometimes required to develop a specialized treatment plan to achieve the customer’s specific goals. Whether you have weeds encroaching on your driveway, a pasture full of tansy and knapweed, or a lawn full of dandelions, I most likely have a treatment that will work for you. However, if I don’t feel the weed management goals you’re hoping for are realistically achievable, I’m not afraid to tell you so, and advise you on other options that may work for you.
