Pre-emergent pestisides that won't kill cats?

Hello everyone... I've been lurking here for quite some time and just want to let everyone know how fabulous this forum (and the others) have been for me. As a first time homeowner in southern California faced with completely re-landscaping our back yard, the data on this site along with the incredibly helpful suggestions of all of the members have really helped us.

Last year, when we moved into our new house, we didn't put down any pre or post emergent weed killers. Our front and back lawn are both lush with flora (roses, society garlic, trees, and several plants we have yet to fully identify). We recently re-planted the entire back yard with three fruit trees (mandarin, keylime and golden delicious apple) - all were in 2ft box containers and have taken fairly well to the back yard. The mandarin is orange with fruit and the apple is just starting to sprout some leaves. Our keylime may be a little in trouble - but we're in a "wait and see" mode with that. We also planted Japonica, Dessert Broom, Bird of Paradise, Bottlebrush bushes, upright rosemary, and various vines - potato, honeysuckle, lavender. We have no (intentional) grasses in either the front or back yard...

So, here's the question: Our cats love to play in both yards and frequently groom themselves on random weeds and grasses in the unintentional lawn. We spent a great deal of time last year pulling up crabgrass and other nasty weeds. This year, we'd like to get a pre-emergent down to avoid some of this but not kill our new plants or damage our new fruit trees. At the same time, our cats aren't pests or weeds, and we'd like to make sure they are happy and healthy.

After having read tons of labels on pesticides & herbicides - it's really unclear to us whether we can find one that:

1) Will only kill the weeds or keep them from growing (and not our "intentionally planted" plants),
2) Will not kill the cats or make them sick, and
3) Will not stunt the growth or fruiting power of our new fruit trees (or make the fruit inedible).

We were told that Cedar chips worked well at keeping weeds at bay. We tried this in May, and weeds have already started poking through the chips. So, clearly we did that wrong or Cedar isn't that great at controlling weeds.

Does anyone have any thoughts in this area?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!
Terry

This message was edited Dec 27, 2007 11:26 AM

Corn gluten is a common organic preemergent herbicide. I can't 100% guarantee that it's safe for cats but it's certainly safer than anything else that I can think of. Unfortunately if the weeds have already sprouted, you're too late for preemergent. It wouldn't hurt to apply some anyway because there are probably still some weeds that haven't sprouted yet, but here in CA you really need to start with the preemergent just before we get into rainy season because that's when the weeds start to germinate. Mulch will also help keep the weeds down, it won't 100% prevent them but believe me if you didn't have the mulch, you'd probably have 100 times more weeds than you do now! It is possible though that you didn't put enough mulch down--if you just have a thin layer over the ground then that won't do much, you really need to have several inches for best results.

For the weeds that are already sprouted, the two safest approaches for the kitties are boiling water or vinegar. Both of those will kill desirable plants too if you pour/spray in the wrong place, so you need to make sure you're just getting them on the weeds. The vinegar will work better on a warm sunny day. Or I've seen some people report good experience with a flaming torch thing called the weed dragon...again you need to be careful to avoid the plants you don't want to kill and I would not at all recommend using something like this during our dry season, but this time of year your chances of setting the neighborhood on fire are a lot lower. The other thing I like to do is if I can catch the weeds when they're still small, I can clear them out with a hula hoe--it basically cuts them off at the roots. Some weeds will resprout after this treatment, but it does get rid of a decent number and takes way less time than hand pulling. I've found it works better a day or two after it's rained when the ground is soft (but not soggy). Here's a picture in case you don't know what it is: http://www.taunton.com/CMS/uploadedImages/Images/Gardening/Issues_71-80/041080050-02_sm.jpg

Another thing you might consider is drip irrigation--this won't help in the winter when it rains, but you can really cut down a lot on summertime weeds if you have drip irrigation. Drip will put water only by your plants, so the rest of the garden stays drier and the weeds can't get established, versus if you're watering with the hose or sprinklers you're watering everything and then the weeds have more opportunity to grow.

Great message - thank you for the idea. http://www.hort.iastate.edu/gluten/? contains a great deal of info on using corn gluten as an herbicide. Sheesh! Corn is magical!

THANKS again - We'll give this a shot
Terry

Hi Terry, I would follow Ecranes advice and see how it goes, remember, annual weeds are much easier to get rid off than any perennial ones as they come back each year, even if you break the roots as you remove them, they grow back again, there are lots of herbicides that are available IF you are very careful as you use them, most wont harm animals once they have dried onto the foliage of the plant, unless the cat eats the foliage,
these are normally sprayed onto the foliage and left for the plant to take the herbicides down to the roots where it starts to kill the plants from the root up, but you have to work with these type of killers on a dry and calm day so NO spray gets onto other plants in the area, I personally don't like them as they are man made chemicals and I always worry that the residue from them gets into water drains etc which in turn is either recycled back into water systems, or, into the streams and rivers, but then maybe I am just OTT about chemicals, the other things that work depending the size of area you are trying to clear is, black plastic will block out the light, water etc so even small weeds cant survive, then after a few months, especially in warm weather, you can remove the plastic and most of the weeds will have died. it is always hard to balance what is the best way to go when you are starting out gardening, but I would always encourage anyone to try without chemical use, and only resort to them when all else fails or the weeds are really so nasty nothing else will work. I wish you all the best in your new garden, you are enjoying it now, you will even more when all your hard work comes to fruition. very best wishes. WeeNel.

Thanks for that info on the Corn Gluten. I had seen it mentioned elsewhere here, but had forgotten about it. That would work better than the Preen I've been using, wouldn't it? Does the nitrogen in the Corn Gluten affect how you fertilize?

It has the same purpose as the Preen, I doubt if the corn gluten works any better in terms of preventing weeds, but it's less toxic so for me that would tip the balance in its favor. As far as fertilizing, it does have some nitrogen so if you're adding additional fertilizer you'd want to look for ones that provide more phosphorous and potassium rather than nitrogen. Or if you can't find anything that's low nitrogen, then just wait a little longer before the next time you fertilize.

Have any of you hear of XL 2G? I used it once and was very pleased with the results!!!

Jeri

I've never used it so I don't know how it compares in efficacy to corn gluten, but when it comes to safety corn gluten is definitely better, so for nerp's original question of something that's safe to use around the kitties I'd stick with the corn gluten.

Thanks, ecrane. When I said better, I meant safer, so you answered my questions. ;) My dogs don't generally get in my flower beds, but I'd still rather be safe.