The Grass Doctor

Yes or no to weed and feed lawn products to be applied during fall? Good or bad idea?

I have been told to not fertilize anything when winter is approaching. Then I see lawn care products advertising to be applied in the fall. So, should I apply weed and feed to my lawn ( in central ILL) or not?

Public Comments

1. All the commercials around here say this is the best time to seed and fertilize. I say go for it...certainly couldn't hurt any.
2. I agree that the ads don't impress me. Weeds grow any time of year. Killing them now is not going to mean a weed-free yard next year. The grass is going dormant so I see no need to feed it. I feel it can all be accomplished early next year.
3. The rule of thumb my landscape professional has told me to remember regarding lawn treatments is : 3 holidays for application times: Memorial day for weed control, July 4th for insect control and Labor day for fertilization for the upcoming year. This has never let me down and my lawn looks excellent, except during extreme droughts, then do not cut.
4. your lawn might look nicer, but chemical fertilizer is bad for the enviroment. Try an alternate method Mother Earth thanks you www.pioneerthinking.com/lawn.html
5. We have a huge Yard, it's always on the yard of the community projects, the people come around to see what we're doing to it. Right now we're "putting it to sleep" for the winter. We've trimmed, collected thousands of seeds for neighbors and kids, and, next year, split Hostas, thousands of them, Daisies, many different types. We're moving Mums now, for the kids, hundreds of them. To answer your question: Yes, the roots need to be fertilized to give them a good chance to get going for the winter months, so in the spring they'll have a chance to grow good. It's the same with the grass. I notice the neighbors let their grass dry off brown, in the spring it's brown until June, it slowly starts to turn green, usually by July. We're cutting our grass through December, I already Fertilized right through December. Some years I've cut in January in lower Michigan. Then we're cutting grass in March. I was planting my garden in February, when my son was putting his garden in we were just about picking tomatoes.
6. Putting a type of "weed and feed" on your turf now is a good idea. It prepares the grass roots for the winter as well as gives them an early boost in the spring. Kill weeds anytime. This is also a great time for spreading grass seed. Nightime temps in the 50's is great for starting seed.
7. Buy the correct weed and feed product for the fall...they are a specially formulated fertilizer and are time release. Also the "weed" part is not to kill the current weeds, its to keep the seeds that drop from germinating in the spring. So \, what you do now will dictate how your lawn will be in the spring...in other words VERY important to weed and feed in the fall!