Reddit reviews Tenacity Turf Herbicide - 8 ounces

I'm just up a bit north in MA 6B, so I can help.

I just read through this entire thread. You're doing it all wrong.

1. You can seed till the cows come home, but you're just committing turf genocide with your routine.
   
2. You put 60lbs of Scott's stuff for 1000 sq ft. Either you're measuring your yard incorrectly, or you just dumped waaaay too much synthetic fertilizer on your lawn. And you did it only once all season. Shame. I have about 10000 sq ft of yard, and 60lbs of synthetic is plenty enough for the spring. Nevermind, I read incorrectly. You still need to fertilize more than once a season.
   
3. You need water. Cool season grass (which is what you likely have) needs water in the spring, lots of water in the summer, and water in the fall. Water it no more than 3 days a week. The amount you're watering each day depends on how hot it is. So, it might be 10-20 minutes in Apr May, but it'll be closer to 45-60 minutes in June-Sept.
   
4. TTTF = mowing height of 4". KBG = mowing height of 3".
   
   What you need to do is fix your thinking. Want lush, green, thick grass? You need to spend money on water and fertilizer. Want to save money on watering? You need to accept that your yard will be full of weeds and patchy brown grass. You also need to accept that the lawn will go dormant in July and August. That's fine. Let it go yellow, but keep it alive with water 1-2 times a week.
   
   Here's the plan:
   
   
5. Get a smart irrigation timer. Rain Machine or Rachio. Pick one. It'll save you on your water bill way better than a manual timer. If you're just using a hose, then ignore the fancy timer. Water 2-3 times per week, and eliminate 1 day for every 1" of natural rain you get that week. When you water, make sure you do it enough so that the soil is soft. Not sopping wet, just moist and soft enough that you can drive a screwdriver down 4-6" easily.
   
6. Prep soil and seed. Seed and drop starter fertilizer (dosed for your lawn). 1 month after germination drop another round of fertilizer. So, what kind of seed? North facing - that's typically not a sunny spot, so pick a northeastern mix or one that has fine fescue mixed in with it. You can also get shade friendly KBG mix. Really, a TTTF and FF mix will probably better suit you. It's what I put on my east facing side that has a tree shading it. All other parts of my lawn are a TTTF KBG mix, since they're sunny and South facing.
   
7. Follow proper mowing and watering guidelines. If you want your grass to go dormant, then water just enough to keep it alive during summer heat. That's probably about 1x per week DEEEP.
   
8. Fertilize your lawn according to how it's supposed to grow/sleep. If you want it green, it's growing. So fertilize it Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day if using synthetic. If using Milorganite, fertilize it monthly. If you are going to allow it to go dormant, then only fertilize it with Milorganite Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. The reason is if you feed a sleeping lawn it's going to try to get out of dormancy. Same thing with water. Too much water, and you get your lawn out of dormancy. What you don't want to do is get your lawn to go back and forth too much. It stresses it and wastes nutrients that it's trying to store for survival. So pick one and stick with it. Dormant vs green.
   
9. Since the lawn is young, you want the roots to go deep and establish for the winter. You also want to bring in reinforcements to replenish casualties of summer. In late August or EARLY September, overseed with a slit seeder. Water daily enough to keep the soil moist for the seed. Drop starter fertilizer and again at 1 month after germination. Water and fertilize rated for growing grass (e.g. 2-3x per week deep enough to stick a screwdriver down 4-6" easily.
   
10. In the fall, mow it lower and more frequently. It forces the grass to spread and establish root depth.
    
11. Just before the first frost of the season (usually around Thanksgiving) winterize your lawn. Put down a combination of Milorganite AND fall fertilizer. It'll feed the lawn w/o growing it and get it boosted for the winter.
    
12. DO NOT WATER AT NIGHT. Water super early at 4-5am or by 9-10am at the latest. Watering early will minimize water loss from hot air since it'll have soaked into the soil before the hot sun bakes it off. Watering overnight will allow it to keep the leaves wet and promote fungus, since no sun dries off the leaves.
    
13. Minimize your use of weed killer on young grass. Not until its 2nd month after germinating should you use weed killer.
    
14. Use a pre-emergent before crabgrass breaks through. Plenty of topics on that subject, but I use Tenacity. It's pricey, but you can put it down, then drop seed over it w/o negative effects on your new seed. Other pre-emergents will prevent germination.
    
    So, what do I do?
    
    

• I seed in the spring (or do dormant seeding in the winter).
  
• 1 dose of starter fertilizer in the spring.
  
• Milorganite or Bay State Fertilizer every 2-4 weeks.
  
• Water 3x per week deep during the spring and fall, 1x per week deep during the summer. I use a Rain Machine to figure out the rain adjustments to my watering.
  
• I overseed in the fall if I have casualties.
  
• I hand mostly hand pick my weeds, and use 2,4D only if I have to.
  
• I use tenacity to control my crabgrass and poa annua.
  
  Choose your adventure, and good luck.
  
  Edit: fixed details that I misread about your routine.

Since you are overseeding, you can use tenacity to prevent weeds for 6 weeks without harming good cool season grass.

No clue if you can get it in NZ
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005DUTNF0/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_OSbRDbW8CPZEW

After the 6 week window, use prodiamine. It will prevent anything new from sprouting for a few months.

Okay so. Here's what I'm thinking. I only saw the picture you posted, so it looks like you have 1,000 square feet or less, yes? That makes it kinda easy.

First we'll need to know which zone you're in. That will help pick your grass type. It looks like you have cool season grasses, which means you'll be choosing among various fescues, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, etc. That's kind of up to you. Do a little googling and see what you come up with.

Second, you have a lot of weeds in there. It looks like you have either poa annua (annual bluegrass) or poa trivialis (Hell on Earth), or possibly both mixed in there. Those are seriously not good. Not only do you have a lot of weeds, it looks like you might have a significant mix of grass types, and I'm not positive that it's worth saving. Here's what I would do. Keep in mind that this might be overkill for you.

From now until July:

• Get a soil test. Your local agricultural or state university will probably have a soil test program. This will help you figure out how best to treat your soil with fertilizer when it comes time to grow real grass. (~$30)
  
• Kill off basic broadleaf weeds with a 2,4-D product before they can drop seeds and make next year worse. This one is probably one of the easiest. Your choice. (~$10)
  
• If you're feeling like you want to care for your soil, throw down some Milorganite. Not exactly necessary at this time cause we don't know what your soil test will come back with. (~$14)
  
  Sometime in July:
  
  
• Spray a glyphosate product to kill everything. I use this one, but you can also use RoundUp from any hardware or big box store. The active ingredient is the same. (~$30)
  
• It will take ~2 weeks to see results from the glyphosate. At roughly the 14 day mark, hit everything else that's green with another application.
  
• Optional but recommended: level out your soil and make sure it's flat, to help with a uniform look.
  
• Not recommended: tilling. It helps stir up weed seeds and encourages weed growth at the same time that you're trying to plant grass seed.
  
  Mid/late August:
  
  
• Seed with your given grass type. Do this at least 7 days after your last glyphosate application, 14 days afterwards is preferable. I suggest seed as opposed to sod because it's cheaper. Seeding is kinda its own post because you may need to cover with topsoil, flatten ground, irrigate, yadda yadda yadda. We can talk more about that when the time comes. ($10-$100)
  
• Add a starter fertilizer with your seed. Whichever fert you choose will be based off of the results of your soil test. ($10-$30)
  
  After a couple months, you should have a pretty healthy crop of baby grass, and then it will go dormant for the winter. Not a problem. Once spring hits, start following this lawn care schedule from the Lawn Care Nut. Most of that guy's videos are gold, and I strongly recommend that you watch them.
  
  It will take a little time and more than a fair amount of patience, but I'm pretty sure all of that will (at least for the first year) come in under budget, and it will end up with the results that you want. Especially in the long run.
  
  EDIT(s): Forgot to mention a couple things. I had a little more whiskey than I thought.
  
  Geographical zone will be in the sidebar.
  
  Also go with a pre-emergent in the spring if you aren't adding seed. The most popular 3 brand names are Barricade, Dimension, and Tenacity. Their generic names are prodiamine, dithiopyr, and...tenacity? Honestly I'm not sure if there's a generic for Tenacity cause it's not legally usable in my state. But seriously a pre-emergent will cut your weed problems down by SO MUCH.
  
  Estimated cost for the first year is $214 (minus water, topsoil/peat moss, and possibly tools such as a hand pump sprayer and a broadcast spreader) at the most, and $114 at the low end.

Sorry for hijacking your thread but is there a shortage of Tenacity recently? Amazon sells 8oz for $110. A year ago you could buy them for less than $50!

Just use a pre-emergent weed and feed in the next few weeks, and end of spring, use post-emergent weed and feed and it'll be gone. Alternatively, you can use a spot treatment with Tenacity. I live in Charlotte as well. I only use Tenacity if the other stuff doesn't work. It MUST be used according to directions or you will kill everything it touches.

I've had good results with https://www.amazon.com/Tenacity-Turf-Herbicide-8-ounces/dp/B005DUTNF0

It's called Tenacity.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Syngenta-Tenacity-Turf-Herbicide-ounces/dp/B005DUTNF0

Here's how I would attack it:

Weed Control

1. Mow high, mow regularly for the rest of the summer.
   
2. Once the weather starts cooling down, hit it with fertilizer. Like a 30-0-8 and water it in well. This should kick the grass and weeds into a growth spurt.
   
3. 3-4 days after laying down the fertilizer, apply a selective herbicide such as Trimec, 2,4D etc... Wait a few days, then do it again.
   
4. Use multiple applications of Tenacity in a pump sprayer to take care of your crabgrass and any remaining weeds.
   
5. Any weeds that survive the above are going to need more specific help.
   
   In the spring, lay down a pre-emergent product to prevent the crabgrass and any other weed seeds from coming up.
   
   
   Overseeding
   
   
   Now that we've eased the weed pressure on your lawn, you are going to want to start thickening it up as you will suddenly have a large amount of exposed dirt.
   
   This fall, I would make sure to overseed with an appropriate seed mix for your climate. Makes sure to rake out any thatch to expose bare soil. In areas where the remaining grass is still fairly thick, you don't need to cover the new seed; if it's fairly exposed, rake it lightly into the dirt. Ideally, exposed grass seed should have ~1/8" of soil covering it.
   
   Keep the seed moist until it has full germinated (several weeks).
   
   Fertilizing
   
   Surpisingly, I am keeping the fertilization step for last, because it's arguably the biggest topic depending on how you want to go, and what your available time involvement and interest is.
   
   In short, your turf will need a certain amount of nitrogen and other nutrients. However, to go into more detail will require more time than I have right now - hopefully someone else will pick up the ball on fertilizers here.
   
   As a touchpoint, my personal fertilizer schedule is to hit it with 20lb of alfalfa pellets / 1000ft^2 four times per year, plus a 1lb / 1000ft^2 application of urea late fall as a winterizer, but your mileage may vary.
   
   Soil Test / Amendments
   
   If you are really serious about a good lawn, I would recommend taking a soil test and submitting it to Logan Labs for analysis. You can find better instructions here. That will let us give you much better help about how to amend your soil towards optimal conditions for turf growth.

Aeration has it uses like on a golf courses or you drive heavy equipment across your yard. Normal use yards don't get compacted enough to warrant the use. I use a soil conditioner and it really helps.

Pre emergent in the spring can't use it now cause it would block your grass seed from growing. You can use https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/B005DUTNF0/ref=mw_dp_cr
Pre and post seed but read the directions 3 times to make sure you apply it correctly. It will cause your grass to whiten but it will come back. It's a little pricey but it will knock out a lot of weeds.

In the spring use something like this
https://www.amazon.com/Dimension-2EW-Dithiopyr-Pre-Emergent-Herbicide/dp/B0056650Z8
Or anything with dimension in it.

If you want to go nuclear, there is a relatively new product called Tenacity that will selectively kill bentgrass. I haven't tried it but reviews are good.

Tenacity Turf Herbicide - 8 ounces https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005DUTNF0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_X-FkybHRD62MC

Is it tenacity herbicide?

Is this the Tenacity I should be purchasing? Its hard to find out about their products from their website.

https://www.amazon.com/Tenacity-Turf-Herbicide-8-ounces/dp/B005DUTNF0