Lawn weeds and new lawn

Hi

I had a query which I hope you can help with.


I am based in London, UK with a south facing garden approximately 80sqm.

The lawn has been established for many years but has become overrun with clover. Approximately 80% of the area is covered with white clover. I have attempted to use a herbicide containing 2,4-D and Mecoprop which has succeeded in killing the clover flowers and leaves. The actual roots and stems of the clover remain and do not seem to have been affected by the herbicide. Therefore, these have to be dug out manually. However, due to the amount that exists this seems to be unfeasible.

Are there any other treatments you could suggest?

Alternatively, if I were to re-lay the lawn with new turf, how would i go about this?

Would it be best to use a herbicide that would kill all grass and weeds and turnover the soil? Are there any you can suggest? Before laying new turf, would new top soil be needed?

Or should i dig and remove the turf as it is at the moment so that only soil remains and then lay new turf?

Any help is much appreciated.


Many thanks

 

There are profeshional use selectives that kill clover, Bayer spearhead being one, Fairly expensive but effective. i sudgest getting in a lawn care firm/ contractor experienced in turf spraying.

Are you using a sprayer, in order to acheive sucess with clover the grass should be cut on a low setting and the chemical sprayed using a medium flat fan nozzle. Ive never really had problems with 24-D mecoprop spraying clover, 2 aplications using the above method seems to work.

If you decide to ree turf or seed then spray the existing lawn with roundup 2 weeks prior to turfing. Finally after killing off the old lawn ( if you go down this route) the best method is to run a cultivater over and rake off stones etc before rolling and turfing. If the soil is poor then extra topsoil will do no harm.

 

I would try to kill the clover (with a selective herbicide) rather than re-seed or re-turf. But I agree with Pro that you will need some chemicals that are not OTC!! I seem to remember that upping the Nitrogen level (via fertilizer) helps, but that would be in conjunction with a kill-regime.

Is the lawn level, and smart, in other respects? If not, and if you want it to be, then killing it off and rotovating and re=seeding, or turfing, might be the way to go - but I would give you good money that you won't kill the clover completely and you will still have a problem, to do battle with, after all that hard work. A smaller problem, probably, but a residual problem none-the-less

 

You can help the grass to out-compete the clover by raking with spring tined rake prior to mowing. This drags up the runners of the clover so they can be mown off. Also clover is something that doesn't need nitrogen whereas grass does, so it helps to make sure that the lawn is well fed.

 

You can eradicate clover using the standard weed and feed products sold in any garden centre but they're definitely not a "quick fix". They require at least two applications each season (spring and mid summer) for several seasons, plus all the usual lawn care routines of spiking, raking, etc. In other words, quite a bit of effort.

 

do not spray your clover with any chemicals as this does not work, you need to fight it. clover loves nitrogen low soil as it produce its own making it survive easily, put a high nitrogenuos fertiliser on and watch it out grow itself. you need to cut the lawn more often for a while but will save you money in the long run.

Best of luck