Native Plants

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Friday - April 18, 2008

From: Hereford, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Weed eradication in Turfallo
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I live in the Texas Panhandle and last June we planted Turfallo in our backyard - we now have lots of weeds - my information says I can use products containing MSM and 2410 to eradicate weeds. I am a novice - can you give me some name brand products I can buy at WalMart- Home Depot -Lowes that contain these products. Are do you have any other suggestions that might be better to use. Thank you!

ANSWER:

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center advises neither for nor against the use of chemicals in plant care, nor do we recommend brands or companies. Turfallo, which is really just a selection of Bouteloua dactyloides (buffalograss), is a monocot, and many of the "weeds" you are dealing with are also grasses, and therefore monocots, too. The problem with any herbicide is that it can be directed to killing the dicots (broad-leaved plants), to monocots, which will kill all the grasses, or can be broad spectrum, and kill everything. At the outset, there is a good deal of maintenance to the buffalograss, which is to say, you've got to hand pull those weeds until the buffalograss becomes well enough established to hold its own. Please read this article from our How-To section on Native Lawns. We believe that you are doing the right thing in establishing a native lawn, and that your efforts now will pay off in the long run.

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Friday - April 18, 2008

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