How long does Weed & Feed stay in the grass?

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Miss M

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My uncle put Weed & Feed on the lawn right before we moved here, so 6-7 weeks ago.

He has lovely grass I could rake for hay, I think I see plantain, there are some dandelions, and even vines that look an awful lot like kudzu (also dollarweed and wild strawberry, but I don't know if those are okay for buns).

But how long does it take for the weed killer to work out of the lawn? I don't want to make my bunnies sick...

Anybody know?
 
has it rained more than once?

once it has rained it goes into the soil.
Once you have weeds growing again, well....so much for the 'weed' part of weed and feed. After 6 weeks i certainly wouldn't worry about it. (jmho though)
 
I've never used lawn products, so can't say for sure, but what Ladysown says sounds reasonable to me. You could wash them well before feeding to remove any residue, if you are still worried.

Wild strawberry plants are fine for rabbits as food and excellent as a remedy for poopy butt. You may want to dry some for winter use. Ditto for plantain. Dandelions and kudzu are good food, very high in nutrients. I don't know dollarweed, at least not by that name, but if you can find a botanical name for it we can check it out. :)
 
Marvelous! My buns are about to get some variety in their diets!

The dollarweed is Hydrocotyle umbellata, apparently a.k.a. water pennywort or marsh pennywort. I just learned it is edible and desirable as a salad green. Who knew?

I also just learned that wild strawberries are edible. I was always told by my grandmother not to eat them when I was growing up, because they were poisonous! Maybe she was worried because of the weed & feed, or was passing along misinformation she had been told. *sigh* All those years of not eating those yummy-looking little red berries scattered all over the back yard.... :sad:

Maybe I'll pot one of the kudzu plants. I wonder if I could keep it tame that way. As long as I remove the pods. I should also elevate the pot so the roots cannot go into the ground.

:bouncy: I'm so happy!

Can rabbits eat fig leaves? I've got a Celeste fig. The only fig I see on the toxic lists is the "fiddle leaf fig" or Ficus lyrata, which is nothing like my fig.
 
try hanging it upside down and see if it will grow down for you. That would make it easier to harvest it. :) (like in one of those upside down tomato bags/pails)
 
As long as you contain the roots and remove the pods early, the kudzu should not get out of control. Maybe grow it in a barrel sunk in the ground, the way one might do with mint.

The dollarweed sounds like a good find. I can't think, offhand, of any plant whose leaves are recommended as a salad green for humans that cannot be eaten by rabbits as well. There may be exceptions, but it is a useful rule of thumb.

(Of course, I had no sooner typed this than I thought of one. Miner's lettuce - Montia perfoliata - is not recommended for rabbits. So either the rule is not foolproof or miner's lettuce has wound up repeatedly on the wrong list. :roll: )
 
ladysown":2yuy10xb said:
try hanging it upside down and see if it will grow down for you. That would make it easier to harvest it. :) (like in one of those upside down tomato bags/pails)

Oooo, yeah... My mom decided to try one of those this year. It's doing quite well! You can find instructions online for making your own version of the planter, as well. :)

MaggieJ":2yuy10xb said:
As long as you contain the roots and remove the pods early, the kudzu should not get out of control. Maybe grow it in a barrel sunk in the ground, the way one might do with mint.

The dollarweed sounds like a good find. I can't think, offhand, of any plant whose leaves are recommended as a salad green for humans that cannot be eaten by rabbits as well. There may be exceptions, but it is a useful rule of thumb.

(Of course, I had no sooner typed this than I thought of one. Miner's lettuce - Montia perfoliata - is not recommended for rabbits. So either the rule is not foolproof or miner's lettuce has wound up repeatedly on the wrong list. :roll: )

My uncle was slightly horrified when I suggested keeping a kudzu plant. He actually does not believe that there are any back there, but I already knew I needed to look more closely. If I find one, I definitely need to isolate it well!

I took a look at miner's lettuce to see what I could find about it. This is what they say:

"Early prospectors and miners ate the young leaves of the plant as wild salad greens. Don’t eat too much of it however, as there are minor levels of mildly toxic phytochemicals in the leaves, chemicals like oxalic acid. But there is a good supply of vitamins A and C." http://www.billcasselman.com/canadian_f ... ettuce.htm

"MINER'S LETTUCE (Montia perfoliata); plant may contain toxic levels of nitrates." http://www.anapsid.org/resources/plants-hn.html

Just thought I'd look, since you've observed that some plants don't deserve to be on that list.
 
so if the plants (miner's lettuce) contain nitrates and oxalic acid...treat it like spinach and swiss chard. young leaves, fed sparingly.
 
Anntann":9tq0x881 said:
Just remember to go slowly with any new green for the rabbits. Get them used to them. A coupe of leaves at first until they adjust to it.

Sounds like you'll have some mighty happy bunnies :)

Will do! :)
 
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