Killing a lawn with trees

[CAMAN]

Next week I'll be killing off my old weed choked lawn in preparation of landscaping it over the summer and reseeding it at the end of summer. I have quite a few large mature trees (Ash, Cedar, Maple, Oak). They are all pretty healthy and I don't want to risk damaging them. How careful do I need to be around them and the exposed roots? Is their a distance I should stay away or can I go right up to them. I'll be using Round-Up Weed and Grass Killer Concentrate but if there's something else better available I'm willing to try it.

Thanks!!

[hotrod1]

I spray a nonselective herbide around trees quite a bit with a hand held sprayer to cut down on trimming...havent hurt a tree yet.

I would suggest spraying around the trees by hand for as far out from the tree that you would be comfortable with a broadcast sprayer. And try not to spray the trees.

[fishuhalik]

I would be a little hesitant doing that. Not because of the trees, but because of the weeds in the lawn. If it's as bad as you say, even after you kill all the weeds there'll be alot of weed seeds left in the lawn, and when you put all the effort and $ into seeding the lawn and you see a bunch of weeds popping up, it's gonna be frusturating. I'd start all over, remove the top layer of soil and put down black dirt and sod. It's alot more $ and labor, but it's definitely worth it. Just my .02

[LwnmwnMan2]

I'm with fish.

If you're doing it just to get rid of the weeds, you're better off using a selective herbicide and just killing the weeds, then overseeding.

Get a good quality fertilizer, keep watering. Kill the weeds again, overseed again.

The weed seeds will be in your yard for a long time and keep popping.

[Quetico]

Yeah what LwnmwnMan2 said. Its easier and cheaper to hit it with selective herbicides then to start a new lawn completely. The weed seeds will come right back with the new grass seed. Go grab some lawn weed feed combo for now then do a over seed come fall.

[Pickelfarmer]

Don't spray anything that is ment for a broad leaf around trees. TREES are in the end a broad leaf plant and any kind of spray like Round-up may 1.)stunt the growth of a tree or 2.) Kill them. On the other hand it might get very expencive to lay down new black dirt on your whole lawn as you would have to lay at least 6 inches of sterile black dirt over the whole lawn to completly snuff out any seeds that might germinate and even then theres no guarante.

If it were me I would do as suggested above and use some sort of weed and feed fertlizer and get rid of the seed that the growing plants sow into the soil. It won't all happen this year but if you get rid of the weeds before they seed out this year then there will be less seeds next year and so on and so forth. WEED & FEED is my advise. NO harsh weed killer around trees.

I know some will say that Round up and that kind of weed killer does not harm trees but, I have seen it first hand.

[Tom7227]

Unless weeds are super bad you may be able to turn it around by just fertlizing it a couple of times, aerating in the fall and then putting down some seed and starter fertlizer in September or so. That worked for me. Killing it all, not matter if you bring in new dirt or not, is still going to result in weed seeds being in place. If you grow the grass correctly it will choke out the seeds and you'll be in good shape by mid-summer next year. Sod has it's own problems with die back, requires a lot of watering, plus you have all the work of removing all the old material.

[CAMAN]

Thanks for the advice guys!! I guess I was under the impression that the killer would also get the seeds.

To give you a better idea of what I'm dealing with the house was built in 1920 the previous owner let everything go. Never mowed, allowed the trees to overgrow, had junk laying all over the place, etc.. After I bought the house I did a full remodel inside and out. Now there are areas that have been damaged from the construction, areas that are solid weeds (you name it I probably have it growing), quite a few totally bare spots, and only a few areas that actually have healthy green grass. There are also a few stumps that I have to grind down.

I'm planning on putting rock and landscaping all around the house so I'll still be killing those areas but if its still a better idea to use a selective herbicide on the rest of the lawn, whats recommended for the large variety of weeds I have?

[LwnmwnMan2]

A good broadleaf herbicide will get rid of most of the weeds, unless they're grassy weeds.

Crabgrass will be prevented next season, with a preventer.

A good broadleaf herbicide = checking the active ingredient percentage, making sure you're not getting something too watered down.