I am depressed.

[journey11]

I came home from the farm this afternoon to find that DH had done up the front yard with Scott's Turf-builder weed & feed. Unfortunately he got a little carried away with the handheld spreader and got it into my perennials, my roses AND Ava's flowerbed. It's not real thick, just into the bed by a foot or so in most places. Do they stand any chance of surviving? I tried to scoop it out, but the grains are too tiny.

I grow things. He kills things. That's how it works. I suppose the chickens and I have killed our fair share of grass over the years.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Ug. Do you think it might help to majorly water it? Try to rinse it away with an all day irrigation??

 

[curly_kate]

I'm not sure how to fix it, but man does that suck!

 

[ninnymary]

Oh No! Can you perhaps use a hoe or something flat to scrape as much away as you can and then do what NwMtGardener says? It does says "feed" so I'm hoping that you only see that and not dying plants.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I would do that.

Get as much out as possible then try to wash it away!

Surprisingly, people often do not realize that vegetables are not grass so weed & feed is toxic to them. Grass and broadleaf plants must be very different genetically.

I think that using the vegetables would depend on the acceptability of the herbicide in the weed & feed. Is it approved for sweet corn and the cereal grains?

Steve

 

[journey11]

From what I got from the Scott's website, it contains 2,4-D as the herbicide, effective on dicots, not monocots...something to do with the directions of the veins in the leaves, I think?

Apparently I have one of those HE's that don't like to read directions either. DH didn't think flowers counted as weeds...laugh or cry, I don't know which one to go with. He didn't pre-wet the lawn like the instructions said, so I'm hoping that will reduce its efficacy.

I scraped up as much as I could. It was in one of my raised beds too. Fortunately, he is only vain about the small section of front yard. It wasn't used around the big garden...whew. But the website said not to grow food where it's used for a whole year! I had to dump scoopfuls of my nice raised bed soil out into the lawn. I could have put it in a bucket I guess, but I was feeling a little spiteful at the moment!!


Ava's flowers took the worst of it. They've been so pretty too and the dahlias are a couple days away from blooming. I'm afraid she will be very discouraged by this. I am anyway. I just hope I got enough of it out. I didn't water since it was late in the day. It's supposed to rain a lot tomorrow though.

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh, that is so awful Journey! I'm so sorry for Ava.
I wonder if you grew something in that bed as a throw away if it would help clean it up?

 

[Hal]

From what I got from the Scott's website, it contains 2,4-D as the herbicide, effective on dicots, not monocots...something to do with the directions of the veins in the leaves, I think?

Apparently I have one of those HE's that don't like to read directions either. DH didn't think flowers counted as weeds...laugh or cry, I don't know which one to go with. He didn't pre-wet the lawn like the instructions said, so I'm hoping that will reduce its efficacy.

I scraped up as much as I could. It was in one of my raised beds too. Fortunately, he is only vain about the small section of front yard. It wasn't used around the big garden...whew. But the website said not to grow food where it's used for a whole year! I had to dump scoopfuls of my nice raised bed soil out into the lawn. I could have put it in a bucket I guess, but I was feeling a little spiteful at the moment!!


Ava's flowers took the worst of it. They've been so pretty too and the dahlias are a couple days away from blooming. I'm afraid she will be very discouraged by this. I am anyway. I just hope I got enough of it out. I didn't water since it was late in the day. It's supposed to rain a lot tomorrow though.

Rain usually causes these products to either not work or work at reduced effectiveness, all you can really do is water as much as possible to get rid of it.
I used to sell these sorts of things for a living, your story is not uncommon.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That hurts Journey, that hurts a lot.

 

[so lucky]

If I remember correctly, the 2,4-D has to cling to the leaves in order to work. Definitely wash the plants off. I think scraping it out of the surface as much as you can first is a great idea too. You have been given great supportive and helpful ideas.