My weeds whupped up on my Weed Hound
Written: Jul 16 '00 (Updated Jul 16 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great dandelion puller
Cons: Has a tough time with the tough weeds
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| Mark_A.'s Full Review: Hound Dog Weed Hound |
The Florida Pusley was popping up all over my yard. Charlie was in the wire. The Pusley was making a direct attack, and I was being flanked by Dollar weed on both sides. As I surveyed the activity from a safe distance, I decided it might be time to try a manual method for eradication. I had been raging chemical warfare, using Weed-B-gone and its generic counterparts (a selective herbicide), but we were deep into the summer growing season and my enemy was strong. It is also important not to apply certain herbicides and weed control concoctions when the temperature is above 85 degrees (doh! I read the bottle, I hate it when I do that!). The convential options weren't working, some special operations were called for.
As I was walking around the store, I found one of these Weed Hounds. I forked over the 20 or so duckies and took it home. I was willing to try anything. The Weed Hound is a green length of pipe about 1/2" thick, with a shaft connected to a nail grasping device on the business end, and a plunger release at the top. There is a curved handle for aiming and a foot plunger for grasping your intended prey. The manual of arms: simply position the weed extractor center mass over the weed, make contact, plunge into weed with foot peg, pull up weed. After the extrication process is complete, you should have a weed trapped in your Weed Hound's talons. Pop off weed using plunger top, simple. It works this way on Dandelions. It will pull up dandelions and dog fennel and others, but my weeds weren't going out without a fight. The weeds I have in my yard are like Hessian mercenaries.
Florida Pusley is one tough weed that even systemic herbicides like Round Up can't kill. The Weed Hound has a tough time with this weed for a couple of reasons. The weed low-crawls through the grass and intertwines with grass stolons, making yanking it out very difficult. Also, this plant was designed with survival in mind, if you pull up the weed in its entirety, you will see a big ole' potato of a root ball. The tough part is getting it up completely, because there is a break away section in the top of the root, pull it up without the tuber attached and you have a new weed within in a few days. Dollarweed is almost impossible to control manually, but fortunately it responds to herbicidal controls very favorably.
I've hung my Weed Hound up in the rack, and I haven't used it for a couple of seasons. I don't have much of a problem with dandelions and dandelion type broadleafs. Pre-emergent weed control products do a good job of controlling these. It seems that the weeds that I have the toughest time controlling are also the ones that respond poorly to extrication as well as to chemical controls. Maybe that's why I have them in my yard.
P.S., Cultural practices such as proper irrigation, fertilization and mowing enhance your turf's ability to fend for itself. A thick, healthy nap of grass keeps weed seeds from entering and germinating.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Mark_A.
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Member: Mark A
Location: Schauerberg, Germany
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 74 members
About Me:
The time will come when we are no more, so let's just eat some BBQ...
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