Bindii Ballet Back For One More Season - Jul 15, 2008
It's time once more to treat your lawn to control clover and bindii. This is one of those jobs that you just can't put off or you will be doing the bindii ballet all summer long.
I still believe that 'Chemspray Bindi' is the best product to use on all lawns including soft leaf Buffalo. Before applying this chemical read the instructions carefully. For best results don't mow lawns prior or after application for at least 7 days. Don't spray on windy days or if rain is expected. Wear long pants and shoes so your legs are protected.
Measure your lawn so you know how big it is in square metres. The correct application rate is 30 mls of chemspray bindii in 5 litres of water sprayed over 50 square metres of lawn. If you don't know how big your lawn is then you can't accurately apply the product.
When mixing the chemical add a squirt of dish washing liquid. This will act as a wetting agent and make the spray stick to the leaves much better.
Test your sprayer on the concrete and adjust the nozzle until you get an even spray pattern. Walking slowly move the sprayer from side to side being very careful to avoid spray drifting onto shrubs in your garden. If you finish spraying the 50 square metres go back over the same area until all the spray is finished. This is where most people go wrong. They keep spraying over a bigger area so you are often using the product at half strength.
It takes 10 to 14 days before the weeds start to turn yellow and look sick. A follow up spray now will knock off even the hard to kill weeds.
Its safe to walk on the lawn 10 minutes after spraying on a sunny day.
In Spring fertilise your lawn so the grass grows thick leaving no room for more weeds to grow. Mow weekly so any persistent weeds don't get time to flower or produce seeds.
Tim Pickles is a horticulturist and a director of Tim's Garden Centre 2 Queen St Campbelltown 46267022.