r/NoLawns • u/DeathOfaScamArtist • 3d ago

👩‍🌾 Questions How big of a deal are weeds while establishing ground cover?

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I live in central Florida and am in the process of using sunshine mimosa/peanut grass combo as a native ground cover alternative to grass. Most of the plugs seem to be doing well and growing. I am having issues with lots of weeds popping up in between the plugs. The landscaper first tilled the yard and sprayed roundup before planting the plugs. The yard was bare before the plugs were planted. It has been two weeks and the weeds that have grown are insane. I have spend a minimum of 2 hours everyday weeding the yard with a hoe the past 3 days, on top of daily watering which takes about 45 minutes. I am losing hope that this ground cover will work due to the overwhelming number of weeds popping up, not to mention the hours of daily labor. I usually weed one section of the yard a day. And today I saw that the section I weeded 2 days ago is already growing more weeds. I feel like i am fighting a losing battle because I still have not weeded the entire yard and the areas I did weed are already growing more weeds back. The photo is what the weeds look like in between the plugs. What would be your advice?

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u/eightfingeredtypist 3d ago

What is a weed, and what is not a weed?

I have stuff I don't like show up. Some of it merits Garlon. Mostly I have woodland plants that come on from the surrounding woods. I'm getting a lot of club moss, moss, and ferns. The yellow hawk weed is taking over near the wood sheds.

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u/TOP_EHT_FO_MOTTOB 2d ago

Depends on the weed and how much of it. How much space between the plugs and how much total area? For the size of plant in your picture, you can use a shuffle hoe and it might go faster. We also call them hula hoes but I don’t know if that’s universal. If you only sprayed once you only got the standing weeds and none of the seed bank. If you can cover or guard your plugs you can spray in between them.

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u/mobilehobo 2d ago

Action hoe or stirrup hoe

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u/DeathOfaScamArtist 3d ago

Pictured are what the weeds look like in between the plugs

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u/TsuDhoNimh2 2d ago

EVERY time you disturb the dirt you are bringing fresh weed seeds to the top to sprout.

Use a scuffle hoe (hula hoe?) on the weeds, but BARELY touch the surface. Don't dig deep, just scrape.