Killing lawn weeds but not the lawn

[hollyblueivy]

We have weird weeds in our lawn, they have thick stem and wide leafs and cover it in areas like a carpet. Difficult to remove by hand.

Is there a weed killing product I can use to get rid of them but not kill the grass?

You need a gas or electric weed burner, targets the weed directly and fun to use!

Try Weed and Feed or Grazon, one of those will do it.

Usually (but not always) lawn weeds are very good for our bees and hover flies. Do you have a picture of it? Does it have yellow flowers?

A general purpose lawn weedkiller would do it, but would also take out the clover, daisies and other lawn flowers that are best kept. One of these is the best option: media.prod.bunnings.com.au/api/public/content/8fb4e3f3cfcc4df5b1cff6f6414f4b7f?v=34f9b59f

It's kind of like this - creeping and B-road ish leaves but never any flower

That's ground ivy - aka Glechoma hederacea - and if you leave it alone it will have pretty purple flowers. Personally I'd leave it be.

Thank you the only thing is that it's on the lawn so gets cut when I mow the lawn

@hollyblueivy it has a pleasant scent when walked on and it's green so, to be honest, I wouldn't be bothered about it, flowers or not. Accept it as a little gift from the birds/ants.

I work for a man who has acres of lawn and while I'm tending the plants, he's constantly going around spraying buttercups and what have you. This has gone on for eight years now and hasn't made any significant difference. Unless you're obsessive, killing one plant just leaves a gap for something else to germinate.

I know I said about weed and feed/grazon earlier, but that was a work reaction and this is my true opinion.

Good thing @UnDruidlyWords knows what it is as I was puzzled by your photo 😂 I have many many not-grass plants in my lawn so thought I might know, but nope, thats a new one!

I've just bought some Weedol for my lawn. Kills the weeds but not the grass. I've used it before and it does work really well.

I won't use any weedkiller or chemicals.I get creeping buttercup and dandelion and the odd plantain in our lawn.I take my trug and a sharp gardening knife out now and then and find the base of the weeds and just dig them out.The grass soon covers any holes and it really doesn't take long if I do a little and often.

Yes I think it may actually be creeping buttercup. I was inspector earlier and it did look like a couple of small yellow flowers were there too.

It isn't creeping buttercup, the leaves are the wrong shape. Look at the leaf details here: https://botsocscot.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/three-of-our-common-buttercups-telling-them-apart/

If you’d have done No Mow May you’d have seen the flowers.

it’s not a buttercup, of any species.

You could weed-and-feed; if you do manage to kill it you will need to rummage over it and reseed, and the way the weather is going that’s best held off until the autumn.

I’m all for a bit of variety in my lawn, but even I can imagine that great sheets of that with no grass would be a bit annoying.

I use salt for a weed on my lawn. Has large flat waxy leaves then a yellow flower. Not buttercup or dandelion. I keep the daisies, buttercup and dandelion.

Celandine?
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/lesser-celandine/

I think it is ground Ivy. It's getting more and more cover over the lawn.

What is the best / easiest way to remove please?

At this point im thinking if pulling the whole lawn up and starting again.

I got some stuff from my garden centre. It’s from Westland feed and weed. After every cut I scatter some around, then water. I’ve been doing it since first cut and now have lovely lush green grass, no weeds whatsoever and it’s pet friendly.

I planted clovers and dandelion in my lawn and it has encouraged all manner of beneficial insects which is just lovely. Grass lawns are becoming a thing of the past and rightly so. They are a stupid French trend that never should have caught on.

What is the best / easiest way to remove please?
Same as normal ivy. It's shallow rooted so easy to pull up. Grab it by the root and a whole runner will come away in one satisfying go. Repeat.

When we had a lawn I used the Fiskars weed puller.

That’s going to be either

a) pretty expensive if you get it re-turfed or
b) a fair bit of work if you remove it all yourself and re-seed

I would maybe try to embrace your lawn.

Mine is a complete mish-mash. Can easily see where previous owners have re-seeded as grass type varies a lot re growth/thickness etc. I have a fair amount of moss. Lots of clover/clover flowers. Buttercups, daises and dandelions.

I’ve decided that life is too short to try to create a “perfect” lawn. With all of the above, when I mow it, it still looks neat, tidy and green. When it gains a little growth, it is lovely to see lots of bumble bees etc enjoying what’s on offer.

The only things I occasionally dig out are the weeds with spikes on - can’t remember what they’re called. And there’s one patch of lawn where creeping buttercup can run rampant - I usually pull it up by hand once a year and, after that, it seems to keep it under control for the rest of the season.

As an aside, just a pointer to not water your lawn if it’s established. Even when you’ve had lots of warm weather and it looks like straw. Grass is resilient - all the “growth” takes place below surface. It WILL come back lush and green, don’t waste water on it.

The lawn of our previous house had a lot of speedwell in it. I didn't mind it but the lawn is DHs garden domain.... he used selective weed killer, and then when that didn't eliminate it went for something like glyphosate. Big bare patch....and the speedwell returned.

The late in-laws garden accidentally turned into a wildflower lawn when they got older and didn't bother with looking after it just had a bloke to mow it. Lots of short plants including clover, so many bees (including ones which made their individual burrows in it). It was rather nice!