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Westford, MA

Do any of those lawn fertilizers work in the patch.
I was wondering if the weed n'feed, or fert.with crabgrass preventer would help with weeding during the season.
I know that it says not for the garden, but I won't be eating any AGs.
I tried a search but didn't come up w/anything.
thanks
Kevin

4/9/2008 12:06:52 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I would stay a way from any weed and feed products. The weed part could be very bad for your plants, and they are usually way high on nitrogen to make the grass green. I have used corn gluten meal in the past. It is the byproduct from ethanol production and is a natural pre-emergence herbicide. It also is 10% nitrogen. The main problem is that for real good weed control, you have to apply it at least twice in the growing season and you end up with way too much nitrogen. Early in the season it can at least give the vines a growth boost and hold down weeds for a while. I have better luck using Roundup or generic glyphosate and shielding the plants from the spray. Then use shallow hoeing or pulling close to the plants.

4/9/2008 2:02:44 PM

Fresno, Ca

I have used weed and feed on my lawn in the past, if you are not too careful and get it on your annual (pansys, marigolds, snapdragons etc.) flowers it will kill them. However I have had good luck with treflan/surflan for pre-emergent control. Monterey makes one called weed impede and it is basically treflan it is fairly expensive but a 2-4 oz covers 1000sq ft. It works by stoping seeds from germinating so spray after your pumkins are a couple weeks old. It needs to be watered in so if you have a storm headed your way you could let the rain push it in. You can get it at some nursery's and gemplers.

4/9/2008 10:28:27 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Short answer = NO!

"Weed & Feed" typically contains POST-emergent phenoxy herbicides like 2,4-D. You spread it on a damp lawn & hope that enough particles stick to the weeds to kill them. BIG NO-NO in the patch since some of the herbicide's ingredients persist (think Dicamba especially).

One of the PRE-emergent herbicides that is used on lawns are sometimes also used on crops. Pendimethalin (Halts, Pro-Pendi, Pre-M, etc) is marketed to farmers as Prowl. Dimension has no agriculture uses. Barricade used to be used on crops but eventually builds up in soil & caused some crop failures hence is no longer used.

In both cases we are looking at LAWN fertilizers where the analysis is typically a 4-1-2 type ratio which is not agronomically suitable for pumpkins.

We can use pre-emergent herbicides but since they work by nipping of the roots of seedlings, most folks fear they'll do the same thing to pumpkins. And to a degree, they do just that. A farmer can tolerate the slight loss in yield caused by the herbicide only because weeding is so laborious as to cost more than the resulting loss in yield if the weeds were allowed to grow.

Competitive growers never resort to patch-wide preemergent treatments. However a backyard grower who just wants real big pumpkins would be OK using the Preen product that is labeled for vegetable gardens. Check the local garden centers for that version.

4/9/2008 10:39:40 PM

Westford, MA

Thanks for the feedback.
I was looking at the High N, and thought it'd be good early for leaf and vine growth.
I also thought, "no weeds all season", This is TOO Good to be true.
I guess it was.

I've seen the Preen, at Home Depot,thanks.
Any thoughts on the cock a doodle doo with corn glueten??

thanks again
kevin

4/10/2008 10:26:44 AM