• There are different types of weed and grass pump sprays available for different kinds of weeds.dandelion image by guiney from Fotolia.com
  
  A weed can be any plant that decides to grow where you don't want it. Weeds usually grow well and are difficult to get rid of without some sort of herbicide or tedious work. Weeds can be detrimental to gardens of all types, as many have the ability to completely take over an area. There are several categories of chemical pump sprays used for different types of weeds, such as broadleaf, grasses, or all around killers.
  
  

Broadleaf Sprays

• Broadleaf weeds can negatively affect the look of your green healthy lawn. They are not grassy, and stand out in a lawn. They can be targeted specifically with a post-emergent broadleaf herbicidal spray. There are several different types of chemicals in this category that will work on broadleaf weeds. You may need a mixture of different chemicals to fully control the weeds in your lawn. The active ingredients used for this type of weed control include MCPP, 2,4-D, 2,4-DP, dicamba, triclopr, or MCPA. All are available in spray form in a pump sprayer, and different ones will be more effective on different plants. You will need to properly identify the weeds affecting your lawn to know which chemicals to use.
  
  

Grass Sprays

• Grass herbicides will kill grasses, and should not be used in lawns. They are primarily for grassy weeds in broadleaf gardens, such as vegetable gardens and flower gardens. There are pre-emergence and post-emergence grass weed killers, meaning they can kill the weeds before the they come out of the ground or after they have started to grow. One post-emergent chemical used on grassy weeds is sethoxydim. Other pre-emergent chemicals include dithiopyr, prodiamine, and pendimethalin. Other post-emergent herbicides include fenoxaprop-ethyl and quinclorac.
  
  

Non-selective Sprays

• There are more general weed killers that will kill a great deal of the plants in the area, regardless of the type. Glyphosate is the primary active ingredient in general herbicides on the market. It can be used on almost any kind of plant, but it will kill everything that it is sprayed on; it works best in areas where you want to clear an area to replant later. Different brands of non-selective weed sprays use different amounts of surfactants to go along with the glyphosate. The surfactants help the plant cells absorb the chemicals better, and do a more effective job of killing the weeds.