BiggerPockets

What is the best type of Fertilizer to use on your lawn to control and get rid of existing Broad leaf weeds. I have recently been using a weed and feed and putting a lot on it and it does not seem to be getting rid of them.

Go to a garden shop in your area, not Lowes or Home Depot, and take along samples of the weeds. A good garden shop will have people who can help you choose the right product.

Notice you said "fertilizer" to control weeds. Better to use a separate, weed specific product.

Some weeds are nearly impossible to control. Around here we have one called "field bindweed", and its extremely tough. Its roots can be 20' deep, so pulling it is out of the question. It resists most herbicides. You just have to keep knocking it back and hope it gives up.

As Jon said, there are some weeds that are just not going to respond to anything. But others can certainly be controlled with commercial products purchased at home or garden centers.

This will be a bit lengthy, so bear with me.

There are 2 types of spreaders in common use for granular products such as weed-n-feed: drop spreaders and rotary broadcast spreaders. Each has pluses and minuses.

I personally prefer the drop spreader. Each pass can be aligned with the previous track far more easily, so you don't have missed tracks that end up looking like stripes. But you will have to make more passes since the coverage stripwidth is only as wide as the container on the drop spreader. And if the grass is long and/or wet, the openings at the bottom can become clogged thus preventing the product from falling out onto the grass.

Now the broadcast spreaders cover a wider swath with each pass, but the edges of that are determined by how fast the user is moving and by how heavy the particle grains are. So it is not uncommon to have gaps in coverage where there is no product applied, as well as too much overlap and areas that then get twice as much product as intended. A broadcast spreader is not as easily clogged caused by length of lawn or wetness.

Now, all weed-n-feed products that I have seen must be applied to a wet lawn, so that the particles stick to the growth. Those wet particles will affect the targeted weeds and that is the means of killing them. And, the lawn must then remain unwatered for a specific time so as not to wash off the particles.

Applying too much of the weed-n-feed is just as bad as over-fertilizing; you will burn out the lawn in all likelihood. Not a thing that I would recommend at all.

Most users of weed-n-feed don't read instructions, and so they don't have a wet lawn first. And now you're using a broadcast spreader that might miss spots, or you're using a drop spreader that will probably get clogged. so some weeds will likely be missed even when instructions are followed. And if it rains too soon, well you can't re-apply or else you will over-fertilize.

What I do for weeds is quite different from the normal weed-n-feed, and I am pretty happy with the way my weed control has been. I use a liquid product called "Bayer All In One Weed Control For Lawns", and I only buy the concentrate as it is more cost-effective when used with the pump sprayer that I already had for other liquids; there are other similar liquids from other brands, but I tend to stick with what I've had success with. The few pennies per application saved is a potential big expensive waste of my time if the other product fails to work.

Applied as per the instructions, it will handle most broad leaf weeds and crabgrass type weeds as well. The best thing is, if I missed a weed, or if one is truly stubborn, I can re-apply as per the directions (usually within a week even). Re-apply weed-n-feed - is a DON'T!

Using this liquid, I treat exactly what I want to treat, without fertilizing additionally when I don't want that.

"IF" there are NO underlying desirable tree roots,, the best product alive is something with the active ingredient of Tordan in it,,,I think that is piclorin,,or something like that. You can probably buy that or similar to it in a Farm service store. Something similar to pasture thistle spray.

One note- you wont get new grass to grow in it,,,neither will you get a vegetable garden to grow for a few years afterward.

2, 4, -D is the least dangerous,,, cost effective way and safer to trees if not sprayed directly on them.

There are lots of in between products like Ally and banvel products. IF you can find pure products rather than the diluted 'ready to use' they are ALOT cheaper.

be careful with ALL products cause your roses,your neighbors flowers,tomatoes and anything else can be gone over night. Some products up and walk in right conditions.

I prefer the walk and pump spray method of liquid. Seems to work better for me,,unless your just fighting dandelions etc.

A rotation of weed control methods avoids some weeds being resistant to some chems