KILLING WEEDS ON LAWNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20625, 25 July 1930, Page 18

KILLING WEEDS ON LAWNS.

SULrHATE OF AMMONIA. While considering methods of eradicating plantain and dandelion weeds from a blue-grass lawn, E. P. Deatrick, of tho University of West Virginia, conceived tho idea of using a fertiliser instead of a toxic salt, to plasmoliso the. weeds. Each year he has practised this "spotting" procedure with excellent results.

As much sulphate of ammonia as can he held between the fingers and thumb is placed on the crown of the weeds. The weeds so treated die quickly and completely, not to sprout again from the roots. A small portion of the grass around the weed also dies. But shortly, in a week or so, the grass around the place where the weed was located is tremendously accelerated, so that the little bare spot is covered with a thrifty growth of new grass. It is claimed for this new method of weed elimination that it accomplishes 100 per cent, killings and does not leave a bare spot permanently, as do the older methods of cutting out the weeds or treating them with mixtures of sulphated iron and sodium-chloride. The now method is one that may bo practised by amateur gardeners, as it can bo applied in such a simple manner. The lasting result is a complete eradication of the weeds, with a better growth of tho grass, due to tho addition of a fertiliser to tho spots where the weeds were originally located, according to the tests made at the university.