Mexican Clover

[Steve0]

Does anyone know a herbicide that reliably kills Mexican clover (richardia) without knocking over Buffalo grass?  All I can find is "repeated applications of Buffalo broadleaf killer might work". The Yates Buffalo Pro tried did kill the broadleaf weeds, but not clover of bindii that it should also kill. At his time of year, I'm stuck pulling bindii by hand (1/3 of a 25L potting mix bag so far)

 

[Hoods]

I found it difficult to source MCPA this year which is the main one used for broadleaf & bindi, clover etc.

Not sure what they are going to replace it with.

[noelm]

I have had good success with Buffalo specific Bindii. Give Turfco in Berry a call, they should be able to tell you what’s what.

[BaitDropper]

Hi Stevo,  I've just gone through a Richardia infestation, our whole area seems to be effected. I have a small reserve next to me and the land/grass there is infested.

I tried all the normal herbicides for buffalo grass, all knocked it back ( including one out of site small area where I near put straight roundup on it, it came back !!! )

So, a few things to be aware of about Richardia, it is a prolific seeder and it is classed as a "Root type weed", so even if you try and spend hours trying to pull it out, the roots of it entwine with the Buffalo, break off, then regrow... Same with the normal buffalo herbicides, there not designed for a Root type weed...

The product you need to get is called " Bow and Arrow ", if you search on site you will find where, ( PM me if you want an outlet).

Now, its not specifically designed to kill Richardia, its predominantly used as an all in one, BUT, unlike the others, it nails the Root type weeds.

I have 3/4 of an acre, out front, maybe 900m2 was ridden with the damn stuff, I had no clue what it was until the old bloke over the road came and told me, he had the same issue for over 2-3 years and was ready to pull it up and re grass.

I mixed it up at about 60ml to 8 litres of water with a wetting agent ( really important) and I target sprayed the whole front yard, its slow acting ( up to 6 weeks) but had some good results, I redid the spray again after another month, got all the stuff I missed AND because its a prolific seeder, sprayed the new stuff as well.  I left it over this winter and completely re sprayed again and I can honestly say, it's nailed it.  There's unfortunately not much you can do about killing some of the buffalo, you will be spraying alot stronger than what the Bow and arrow was designed for and if you dont, the damn Richardia will definitely spread and will ruin your lawn. Because of the reserve next door, I will have to spray annually for the damn stuff but at least now I have it under control.....

One advantage is that on a "mist type spray" over a large area, it will kill pretty much everything, bindi included..

The actual herbicide that will knock Richardia on its butt, Dicamba based herbicides, will kill buffalo...

Edited Wednesday at 08:36 AM by BaitDropper

[Ryder]

Lawn Hub NSFW could be worth a try it’s got higher active ingredient 300g/l MCPA.

Iron Sulphate might knock it around too. I’ve used it to enhance the colour of lawns, it burns the weeds. Need to be careful it will stain clothes and concrete Rust.

[Peter KH]

2 hours ago, Steve0 said:

At his time of year, I'm stuck pulling bindii by hand (1/3 of a 25L potting mix bag so far)

hahaha, this time last month 1 pulled out 6 or 7 x 20 litre buckets worth from the side of my boatshed!!! One neighbour 3 doors down had it really bad, it then spread after the crazy wind and rain we had. Then It went absolutely wild. I put off the 'pulling out' for a month and it got to almost knee height in some areas. Was difficult work in midday sun/heat. Was so satisfied when all was done though. Fine for me as a teen, but could be much harder for an over 50's bloke!

[Steve0]

1 hour ago, BaitDropper said:

 Because of the reserve next door, I will have to spray annually for the damn stuff but at least now I have it under control.....

 

Ours comes from a neighbour two doors away, uphill all the way Without spraying all the way, there's no chance we won't have a permanent problem.  I'm retired. I tell myself it stops boredom.

 

 

[Steve0]

1 hour ago, Peter KH said:

hahaha, this time last month 1 pulled out 6 or 7 x 20 litre buckets worth from the side of my boatshed!!! One neighbour 3 doors down had it really bad, it then spread after the crazy wind and rain we had. Then It went absolutely wild. I put off the 'pulling out' for a month and it got to almost knee height in some areas. Was difficult work in midday sun/heat. Was so satisfied when all was done though. Fine for me as a teen, but could be much harder for an over 50's bloke!

Try it at 71 and not sure where the knee pads are.

About 2sqm done. Happily, it is far thinner elsewhere.

The previous house we owned in the area had a lot of bindii when we went in, but a bit of determination cleared in a few years. The Mrs went out one day to find about a dozen kids on the lawn, none ours. "Why are you playing here", she asked? "Because you don't have any bindii".

 

 

[Peter KH]

You know what ticks me off more than bindii.......cobblers peg weed!!!

It sticks to just about any piece of clothing you brush past it with. There are so many of them it takes forever to pick each of them off. And worse, if you transport it on your clothes, the like black sticky weeds can cause an outburst from just 1!!!

Knee pads would definety be a must.

I find if I bend over for over 10 minutes. ie. For removing weeds, or cleaning fish over the seawall, my back freezes up and i can't stand straight, it takes about 15 seconds to 'defrost'.

16 minutes ago, Steve0 said:

The previous house we owned in the area had a lot of bindii when we went in, but a bit of determination cleared in a few years. The Mrs went out one day to find about a dozen kids on the lawn, none ours. "Why are you playing here", she asked? "Because you don't have any bindii".

That must have been a pristine patch of grass! 

[noelm]

My next door neighbour is a Greenkeeper and he hates Buffalo, I was laying some turf over an old garden I dug up and he was horrified I was using “Sir Walter” he has some kind of really fine lawn, only uses a reel mower and never uses a catcher. He does give me lots of advice about garden stuff though.

[BaitDropper]

2 hours ago, Steve0 said:

Ours comes from a neighbour two doors away, uphill all the way Without spraying all the way, there's no chance we won't have a permanent problem.  I'm retired. I tell myself it stops boredom.

 

 

Yeah, its an insidious weed and is also wrecking play grounds and football fields out our way.

And your 100 % right, without any action, it will continue at an alarming rate and completely take over your lawn.

I noticed the stuff when we first arrived, but new nothing of it. I had copious amounts of more important work to do around our place, so It was left for 18months,, It's spread over that time was phenomenal, mainly because of it's prolific seeding.  Wind is a huge problem spreading the seeds, plus, water run off.

As mentioned, that Bow and Arrow is definitely your answer and it's been a huge success for my place. When I first bought the stuff, I spoke with the owner of the company, he actually said they had been using it successfully in there business and asked me to report my progress back to him with photo's and rates of spraying etc etc, they now include Richardia in their description of the product.  Unfortunately, as mentioned, you will have some die off in the area at the above rates, but the buffalo does come back Ok, it's just a sacrifice that's needed unfortunately. I believe I'll only need to spray once a year from now on, now that it's under control, which I'm more than happy once a year to do, then feed the lawn up.

Good luck with it.

[Steve0]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

My next door neighbour is a Greenkeeper and he hates Buffalo, I was laying some turf over an old garden I dug up and he was horrified I was using “Sir Walter” he has some kind of really fine lawn, only uses a reel mower and never uses a catcher. He does give me lots of advice about garden stuff though.

My parents used to play a lot of lawn bowls. In the town where I was raised, housing blocks were big. A greenkeeper must have jumped the fence before my father was born. He wanted our lawn cut short like a bowling green. Double 1/4 acre block (but a metal fence across about 1/3rd back). He wouldn't mow it himself and "no, I'm not getting a ride on mower". So, my job was to cut it far too short for dry inland conditions. There was a small patch of nut grass. Oddly, he wouldn't do anything to get rid of it other than check I was mowing before it formed seed. I still hate the stuff.  Now I have four small patches. I have the nature strip and two other patches reasonably under control. The other part is heavily and next to neighbours who should live in a unit. The yard gets almost diddly squat attention. asparagus fern, crofton weed, cassia, something with vicious spikes like blackberry, lantana, a species of wattle not native to the area that seeds itself all over the place, lots I don't know the name of ...  

2 hours ago, Peter KH said:

You know what ticks me off more than bindii.......cobblers peg weed!!!

 

yes, they have that, too. No onion weed.    

 

 

 

[noelm]

Asparagus Fern is a curse, I recently had some sort of almost big three leaf clover weed (can’t remember what it’s called) it is quite tall once it grows. but it grows from a bulb/onion thing, and the roots have dozens of them, you can’t pull it out because the bulbs spread. My green keeper neighbour said I have to completely dig out the bulb group, or poison everything in an area surrounding the weed to make sure I got it all, took a few sprays with very high strength roundup, then I dug a big square out and bought some turf, that was a year ago and it’s all good. Weeds in lawn are a curse when you like to keep your yard nice, mine is just starting to be OK after an excavator was driven over it, lots of gardens removed, a dozen huge Yuccas, a big tree removed and the stump ground out, (still fighting council about two more) the back is good, got a bit a “winter grass” popped up in the Buffalo but that’s easy to get rid of. I have said this before, gardening and lawns needs to be almost a hobby, it you don’t like it, just have grass, fence to fence and just cut it when you feel like it, because to have it nice takes time and care.

[mrsswordfisherman]

Agree with @BaitDropper

Best is Bow and Arrow

Swordie uses on our lawn (and those beside us)

Here are pics taken a few weeks ago. I will post more info and take more pics a bit later after he mows today or tomorrow. 

[noelm]

Nice yard, love it when everything is “neat” it kind irks me that I am progressing so slow with our place, but we (my wife and I) are doing it all by hand, bit by bit. I guess it would be nice to just get landscapers in (and pay a fortune) but it’s kind of satisfying doing it, changing things as you go. Our “theme” is mostly strappy type plants, got some Dragon Trees (Drecina Draco) to go in, plus some big Bromiliads to move somewhere, don’t know where yet. Doing a carport for the tinny too.

[Steve0]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

Asparagus Fern is a curse, I recently had some sort of almost big three leaf clover weed (can’t remember what it’s called) it is quite tall once it grows. but it grows from a bulb/onion thing, and the roots have dozens of them, you can’t pull it out because the bulbs spread. My green keeper neighbour said I have to completely dig out the bulb group, or poison everything in an area surrounding the weed to make sure I got it all, took a few sprays with very high strength roundup, then I dug a big square out and bought some turf, that was a year ago and it’s all good. Weeds in lawn are a curse when you like to keep your yard nice, mine is just starting to be OK after an excavator was driven over it, lots of gardens removed, a dozen huge Yuccas, a big tree removed and the stump ground out, (still fighting council about two more) the back is good, got a bit a “winter grass” popped up in the Buffalo but that’s easy to get rid of. I have said this before, gardening and lawns needs to be almost a hobby, it you don’t like it, just have grass, fence to fence and just cut it when you feel like it, because to have it nice takes time and care.

Your Clover-look weed is probably Oxalis. We had a neighbour who liked it growing in her lawn and thought I was the crazy one digging it out as soon as it appeared.

Asparagus fern isn't that hard to get rid of.  Find the centre. Make sure you get rid of the entire crown and all the berries. The nodules are only water storage, so you don't need to dig them out, nor the root system. Revisit to dig out any new plants that start growing from missed berries. The main problem is birds keep spreading it. 
http://pnha.org.au/whatsinside/uploads/2009/07/Asparagus-Fern-Removal2.jpg

[Steve0]

16 minutes ago, noelm said:

Nice yard, love it when everything is “neat” it kind irks me that I am progressing so slow with our place, but we (my wife and I) are doing it all by hand, bit by bit. I guess it would be nice to just get landscapers in (and pay a fortune) but it’s kind of satisfying doing it, changing things as you go. Our “theme” is mostly strappy type plants, got some Dragon Trees (Drecina Draco) to go in, plus some big Bromiliads to move somewhere, don’t know where yet. Doing a carport for the tinny too.

I'm doing our yard the hard way too, but don't really like the designed look done by landscapers. We prefer 'dropped from an aeroplane' design.  The main worry was erosion. Lot's of rocks later, it's fairly well under control. Plantings are about leaf shape and colour. Plants that can take Shade mostly dictates choices (and rules out solar power). 

[Steve0]

1 hour ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Agree with @BaitDropper

Best is Bow and Arrow

Swordie uses on our lawn (and those beside us)

Here are pics taken a few weeks ago. I will post more info and take more pics a bit later after he mows today or tomorrow.

Thanks for the confirmation, Donna.

I can't say I'm glad you posted the photos. They turn me green with envy.  We'll take a very long time to get that. Our block has too much shade and slopes at an average about 25-30 degrees. Finely eroded sandstone and clay dirt (not soil). It needs a lot of organic top dressing.  With no access to truck in decent top dressing, etc. Everything has to go down by hand. 

[mrsswordfisherman]

41 minutes ago, noelm said:

Nice yard, love it when everything is “neat” it kind irks me that I am progressing so slow with our place, but we (my wife and I) are doing it all by hand, bit by bit. I guess it would be nice to just get landscapers in (and pay a fortune) but it’s kind of satisfying doing it, changing things as you go. Our “theme” is mostly strappy type plants, got some Dragon Trees (Drecina Draco) to go in, plus some big Bromiliads to move somewhere, don’t know where yet. Doing a carport for the tinny too.

It is very hard work but swordie loves it. The people in the neighbourhood all stop to talk when they are on their walks. They all take an interest in it. Children and dogs roll in it and know there are no bindis. Even the real estate blokes selling property nearby tell us gleefully how many thousands of dollars more the "spectacular street appeal" would bring!!

Keep mowing, watering, fertilising, aerating, spraying for all the uglies and round you go again. It is a far cry from the mess we came home to in Feb after a holiday. The whole grass was eaten away. It has taken a lot of time and money to restore it.  

 

[mrsswordfisherman]

3 minutes ago, Steve0 said:

Thanks for the confirmation, Donna.

I can't say I'm glad you posted the photos. They turn me green with envy.  We'll take a very long time to get that. Our block has too much shade and slopes at an average about 25-30 degrees. Finely eroded sandstone and clay dirt (not soil). It needs a lot of organic top dressing.  With no access to truck in decent top dressing, etc. Everything has to go down by hand. 

Thanks Steve. It is damn hard work keeping it all going. I can imagine your dilemma. I always remember my grandfather complaining as he lived on an escarpment in Newport. There was a virtual jungle and the whole family used to work on it to fix it up. 

[noelm]

14 minutes ago, Steve0 said:

I'm doing our yard the hard way too, but don't really like the designed look done by landscapers. We prefer 'dropped from an aeroplane' design.  The main worry was erosion. Lot's of rocks later, it's fairly well under control. Plantings are about leaf shape and colour. Plants that can take Shade mostly dictates choices (and rules out solar power). 

Our place had so many rocks (river stones) we wheel borrowed probably a ton, out the back, piled up and gave away about 2 ton, and there’s still heaps left. We have a shady back yard, so Sir Walter grows great, there is some Casuinas that drop those “needles” and little nut kind of things, but they are very “summer” looking, so we will keep those. There is two gigantic gum trees in the front yard, a limb fell on the neighbours brand new Landcruiser, plus two big ones snapped off a few months ago in those winds we had. I applied to council to remove them and replace with something more suitable, but they say we can only “prune” them……

[noelm]

6 minutes ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

It is very hard work but swordie loves it. The people in the neighbourhood all stop to talk when they are on their walks. They all take an interest in it. Children and dogs roll in it and know there are no bindis. Even the real estate blokes selling property nearby tell us gleefully how many thousands of dollars more the "spectacular street appeal" would bring!!

Keep mowing, watering, fertilising, aerating, spraying for all the uglies and round you go again. It is a far cry from the mess we came home to in Feb after a holiday. The whole grass was eaten away. It has taken a lot of time and money to restore it.  

 

It is hard work, but if you do it a bit at a time, and you enjoy doing it, then it’s not such a “chore” we just planted a small vegie/herb garden, Tomato’s, Snow Peas (because the grand kids love them) plus Mint, Coriander, Basil and Rosemary. The neighbour has Cucumbers and Lettuce, so we didn’t plant those.

[mrsswordfisherman]

20 minutes ago, noelm said:

It is hard work, but if you do it a bit at a time, and you enjoy doing it, then it’s not such a “chore” we just planted a small vegie/herb garden, Tomato’s, Snow Peas (because the grand kids love them) plus Mint, Coriander, Basil and Rosemary. The neighbour has Cucumbers and Lettuce, so we didn’t plant those.

We have a small patch too. The snowpeas went mad and we fed lots of families! We have the tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers at the moment. 

 

[Steve0]

10 minutes ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Thanks Steve. It is damn hard work keeping it all going. I can imagine your dilemma. I always remember my grandfather complaining as he lived on an escarpment in Newport. There was a virtual jungle and the whole family used to work on it to fix it up. 

What we miss in lawn, we more than make up for in other ways. In particular, we look straight into an Angophora in the yard that gets a passing parade of birds. We had Butcherbirds nesting in a tree fern next to the house, about 1M from a window (but window to high to look directly at it). The nest had four eggs when I climbed onto the roof to look, but was empty a couple of days later, and I am fairly certain a tree snake swallowed the eggs before they hatched. The snake went from lawn to hiding from me along a Blueberry Ash branch,  just above mid-photo. 

Another tree snake that became the victim of someone's wandering cat. WIRES said it recovered.