
Weed Control
Best Weed Killer for Centipede: The Sensitive One
NC State says it plainly: centipedegrass is sensitive to 2,4-D. It also wants no lime and almost no nitrogen — so the standard Southern routine is wrong three ways.

Iron-Based Selective Herbicide
★★★★☆ 3.5/5
our editor rating how we score4/5 from 261 shoppers at Amazon — their number, not ours.
$28–$35
Typical price · Roughly 640–1,280 sq ft per 32 oz bottle (6.4 gal of spray at 5–10 gal per 1,000 sq ft)
Affiliate links — see our disclosure. Commissions never influence verdicts.
A genuine spot-treatment tool for people who do not want to broadcast 2,4-D — and the only product here that also handles moss, algae and lichens.
Legitimate for what it actually is, and widely mis-shopped. FeHEDTA burns down broadleaf weeds and moss fast, works in cool weather down to 50°F, and lets you avoid spraying a synthetic hormone herbicide across a whole lawn. Two things to know before buying. UC IPM records that iron-HEDTA causes burndown and does NOT kill roots, so perennial weeds regrow and the label itself schedules a repeat in 3–4 weeks. And at roughly 640–1,280 sq ft per bottle it costs around five times more per thousand square feet than a granular weed-and-feed — which is fine for spot-treating, and expensive if you were planning to cover a lawn.
Product type
Iron-Based Selective Herbicide
Active ingredient
Iron HEDTA (FeHEDTA) 26.52%
Price range
$28–$35
Coverage
Roughly 640–1,280 sq ft per 32 oz bottle (6.4 gal of spray at 5–10 gal per 1,000 sq ft)
Best for
Spot-treating broadleaf weeds and moss without broadcasting a synthetic herbicide
our editor rating
3.5 out of 5
Label read on the registrant's own PDF
EPA Reg. No. 67702-26-4
We read the printed label published by the company that holds the registration. EPA hosts no PDF for this one, so this is the best available text.
Label read 2026-08-02 (Bonide's own label PDF; registrant 67702 is W. Neudorff GmbH, Bonide distributes). Iron HEDTA 26.52% confirmed. Every caution in this record checks out: do not apply above 85F, do not apply to bentgrass, rainfast/irrigation interval 3 hours, maximum 4 applications per area per year, may stain thatch, re-seed permitted 1 day after applying. THE FINDING: the moss/algae/lichen use carries an asterisk reading 'Not for use in California'. Our California page recommended this product for moss; corrected 2026-08-02 in both this record and organic-weed-killer-for-lawns.mdx. The label names no approved turf species at all — only the bentgrass exclusion and a test-a-small-area instruction — so grass_types here is our own relevance judgement, not a label claim.
Where this page and the container disagree, the container wins — the label is the legal authority on rates and restrictions. How to read one yourself.
Matched against each state's actual disease, weed and pest pressure.
Application window: April–May and September, and check every label against centipede before it leaves the shelf
Application window: June through July, inside the same short window everything else happens in. There is no autumn second chance
Application window: March–May and during monsoon flushes; Celsius-type products handle 100°F+ windows
Application window: Bounded by the label's temperature ceiling rather than the calendar — spring treatments finish before the June heat arrives, and nothing selective goes down again until September cools off
Application window: March–May while weeds are young; avoid spraying drought-stressed turf in summer
⚖️ Label exclusion first: the moss, algae and lichen use is marked not for use in California, so here this is a broadleaf spot-treatment only. What still applies is the cool-weather range, which suits a Mediterranean winter weed flush when 2,4-D products work slowly, and it sidesteps the atrazine setbacks near water.
Application window: May–June and September; high-altitude sun makes stressed turf easy to injure, so spot-treat rather than blanket-spray
Application window: Broadleaf sprays in May–June and again in September, when the weeds are moving sugars to the roots; skip July and August, when a stressed cool-season lawn takes the injury and the weed does not
Application window: April to late May, then September into October. Skip July and August entirely: this is the transition zone, and a stressed tall fescue lawn takes the injury the weed shrugs off
Application window: March–May and October–November; avoid applications above 85°F
Application window: April to early June and September–October; avoid mid-summer sprays on stressed turf
Application window: Year-round where the turf is actively growing, which is most of the time; the constraint is heat and drought stress on the leeward side rather than a dormant season
Application window: Late April into June, then September into October; skip the July and early August heat, which is also when UI's own fertilizer schedule goes quiet
Application window: May–June and September; fall beats creeping charlie best
Application window: October is the most effective month for broadleaf weeds; never apply above 80°F or to drought-stressed turf
Application window: October, and October is most of it — but check the wind and the date against what is happening in the fields, because early-summer growth-regulator drift is a real seasonal risk here and your own spray carries the same way
Application window: April into May and again in September–October; avoid July and August, when a tall fescue lawn here is already at its limit
Application window: April–May and September–October; autumn is the knockout window for the wild garlic that defines a Kentucky winter lawn
Application window: March–May and October–November; avoid applications above 85°F and never on drought-stressed St. Augustine
Application window: June, then a narrow late-August to mid-September window. Maine's usable autumn is the shortest in New England
Application window: April–May and September–October; autumn is the knockout window for the ground ivy and violet the Piedmont is full of
Application window: A narrow autumn is the real window here: late September into October, after the summer heat and before New England's early frost closes the season
Application window: May–June and September; autumn is the stronger window for perennial broadleaf weeds
Application window: Late May–June and September; autumn is the stronger window for perennial broadleaf weeds
Application window: April–May and September, avoiding the midsummer heat restrictions on most labels
Application window: April–May and September–October; skip summer sprays on drought-stressed fescue
Application window: June, then late August into September. In a sub-100-day valley there is no third chance
Application window: Late spring and again from late August through September, when perennial broadleaf weeds are moving reserves to the root
Application window: March–April and October in the south; May and September in the north
Application window: Late May into June, then late August through September. The autumn window closes earlier here than anywhere else in southern New England
Application window: May and September–October; autumn is the knockout window for perennial broadleaf weeds
Application window: Spring and early autumn; in the south skip the June heat entirely, and in the north the usable autumn window closes by early October
Application window: May and September–October; autumn is the knockout window for perennial broadleaf weeds
Application window: April–May and September–October; avoid spraying heat-stressed fescue in July–August
Application window: Early to mid-June, then late August into early September. There is no third opportunity
Application window: May–June and September; fall applications hit dandelion taproots hardest
Application window: Judged by wind before season: sustained wind is Oklahoma's normal condition, so the usable spray days are calm mornings in April, May and September rather than whole months
Application window: March–May and September–October; the long mild shoulder seasons give more usable spray days than most states get
Application window: May and September — fall is the knockout window for perennial broadleaf weeds
⚖️ Useful in the shoulder seasons here: it stays active down to 50°F, and moss control matters on shaded, acidic northern lawns.
Application window: Broadleaf work in May–June and again in September; the September pass is the one that holds, because the weed is moving reserves down
Application window: April–May and September–October, and never above 90°F — centipedegrass is sensitive to 2,4-D both at spring green-up and in summer heat
Application window: Early to mid-June, then late August into September, which is the pass that actually holds on perennial broadleaf weeds
Application window: April–May and September–October; skip sprays on drought-stressed summer fescue
Application window: April–early June and September–October; avoid herbicides above 90°F
Application window: May and September, avoiding the intense midsummer heat on the label
Application window: Late May through June, then a short late-August to mid-September window. Vermont's autumn window is the narrowest in New England
Application window: April–May and September–October; skip sprays on heat-stressed fescue in July and August
Application window: April–May and September–October; WSU caps applications at 80°F, stricter than the 85–90°F ceilings used elsewhere
Application window: April into May and again in September–October. Skip July and August: this is transition-zone country and a heat-stressed tall fescue lawn absorbs the injury the weed does not
Application window: Early to mid-fall is the favourable window for dandelion and other perennial broadleaf weeds
Application window: June, then late August into September. UW's own framing is useful: a slow-release application covers a 90 to 100 day growing season, which is roughly the entire Wyoming season
Common questions
Bonide Captain Jack's Lawnweed Brew Concentrate typically runs $28–$35, covering Roughly 640–1,280 sq ft per 32 oz bottle (6.4 gal of spray at 5–10 gal per 1,000 sq ft).
Bonide Captain Jack's Lawnweed Brew Concentrate targets Dandelion, White clover, Broadleaf plantain, Henbit, Oxalis (creeping woodsorrel), Ground ivy (creeping charlie), among others.
Iron HEDTA (FeHEDTA) 26.52%, registered under EPA Reg. No. 67702-26-4.
Burndown only — UC IPM states iron-HEDTA does not kill roots, so perennial weeds return
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Weed Control
NC State says it plainly: centipedegrass is sensitive to 2,4-D. It also wants no lime and almost no nitrogen — so the standard Southern routine is wrong three ways.

Weed Control
Common cannot take 2,4-D. Floratam cannot take atrazine. Bitterblue is weak on both. There is no St. Augustine answer until you know which one you have.

Weed Control
Moss is a symptom, not a cause. And the lime everyone reaches for is wrong more often than right — Illinois Extension says don't, without a soil test.

Weed Control
Nebraska: best performance at 60–75°F, and avoid glyphosate below 40°F. Purdue: hot dry weather thickens the leaf cuticle, so the plant physically resists uptake.

Weed Control
Purdue: differences in rainfastness among glyphosate products are generally small. What changes the rain-free period is the weed's size and species.

Weed Control
Clover spreads where nitrogen is short — it makes its own. Feed the turf and it recedes. If you still want it out, four actives work and one popular one is absent.

Weed Control
"Pet safe" is not a regulated claim, and most products sold under it kill grass as fast as weeds. The promise that is real: keep pets off until it dries.

Weed Control
Creeping Charlie and wild violet shrug off standard three-way weed killer for two different reasons. Both answer to triclopyr — and to October, not spring.

Product Reviews
There is no best weed killer for lawns, only the right one for your weed: the seven chemistries that matter, what each kills, and the one that kills grass too.

Product Reviews
The organic weed killer that works on lawns is iron — it burns broadleaf weeds and moss in hours without harming grass. What it won't do: kill the roots.

Fertilizer
Weed and feed does two jobs on two different calendars, so one bag rarely times both right. The month it works, and the lawns the label forbids.

Fertilizer
Your lawn is yellow and nitrogen is only one of nine causes — feeding the wrong one wastes a season. Diagnose by pattern, blade and timing first.

Weed Control
Killing dandelions without killing grass comes down to the taproot: the selective herbicides that reach it, and the month they actually work.
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