Guinea pigs eating grass treated with weed and feed

[happyvalleyvalley]

We treated our lawn about 6 weeks ago with weed and feed and it contains weed killer.

It says on the packet safe for pets once watered in. But I assume they mean cats and dogs walking on it - not piggies eating it!

So does anyone have any idea how long to leave it before they can go in the run on the grass and eat it?

i would assume that its never safe for animals to eat grass treated with weedkiller

I think you need to wait until after the third or fourth mowing. I never use the stuff - my lawn is full of weeds, but it's lovely and green.

Our lawn is treated by greenthumb who do various lawn treatments for us.

Their general rule of thumb is that their treatments are pet safe for dogs / cats etc within an hour or two; grazing animals should be kept off for 3-4 weeks.

We have four guinea pigs and they've eaten the grass after treatments (following the above guidance) quite happily and safely.

Thank you dietcoke - that's a great help. Just to be sure, I've emailed the manufacturer just in case theirs is different to the one you use. Hopefully the little piggies can get cracking on scoffing all the new lush grass soon!

My piggies won't be out on the lawn any time soon (clay soil like a marsh at the moment) .

When we've used treatment (in the pre-guinea days) the directions about composting have been after the 2nd cut.

So by the time you get the piggies grazing it should be cut a couple of times.

We rely on the 'natural' fertiliser that the hogs deposit. And they scalp the lawn but skillfully leave the buttercups so our lawn looks rough . I get out with a trowel to dig them up when I have time.

BTW - go easy on the lush grass . Limit their grazing to an hour at most on the first couple of times, they can get bloat (which can be fatal) if they gorge.
Ignore their pleading little popping eyes

And you can start them off my cutting grass to stuff their faces , before they start going out.
Counting down the days here !

In case anyone is interested, here's the link to their answer which was not what I expected. But perhaps it's different to pure weed killer.

So consequently I'm happy that they can go out and they have had a (limited) time out today as the weather was nice.

www.lovethegarden.com/advice/questions-answers/lawn-care/animal-re-entry-after-application