Just got an allotment - all the weeds are seeding! What do I do with them?

[juslh]

Hello - new to this forum and new to allotments. I have just taken on an over grown allotment and given the time of year many of the weeds are seeding. I have started cutting back to try to get a feel for any underlying structure (have found some raised beds in there!) I don't want to compost the waste due to the seeds, so do I need to take it all off site and dispose/burn etc or is there another way to dispose? Thanks for any tips!

[Aberdeenplotter]

If you have access to a paraffin flame gun, once that is good and hot and roaring like a jet engine, it will quickly burn the seed heads. If you don't have one, cutting back, drying if possible and then burning is a good alternative. But having said that, cutting back and then putting on the compost heap should be ok if you can get enough heat going in the heap.

[veggiechicken]

Hello and welcome to the Grapevine.
Do you know which weeds you have? Some are more of a problem than others.
I bin the weed seeds and the roots of perennial weeds, and compost the green bits, leaves, stems, that are left.
Could you add your location to your profile please - it helps us give more specific advice

[Martin H]

Hi and welcome

I put them on the compost heap anyway, seeds and all. When the compost is done I spread it on the beds as a mulch. When the weed seeds germinate and grow in the mulch, I pull them up and throw them on the compost heap before they set seed themselves.

Not everyone agrees with this approach

[alldigging]

Compost it. You're going to get a huge pile anyway.
Get some grass cuttings and layer that in. It helps heat up the heat and then kills them.

Docks go in separate bags to be rotted separately until they're very dead. Dandelions too.

If you have mares tail then I might allow you to throw that away but you may as well kill it first as stick it in the garden waste bin so it ends up going into future compost.

[juslh]

Thanks everyone. I'm in Bristol (can't work out how to change my profile!!) and have lots of bindweed, horsetail, dock, some brambles, couch grass and some tall slightly thistle like weeds (but with yellow flowers) that I don't know. The site is so overgrown I'm just wanting to avoid adding to the problem by not dealing with all the seeds the right way! I know from my garden that bindweed is evil so will be getting rid of that!

[alldigging]

You will scatter seeds as you remove weeds so may as well accept that there are zillions already in the soil.
Get a good size compost pile going quickly and it'll cook most of them.
Couch grass can go in the normal compost heap.

You could cover with cardboard and a thick layer of muck and plant in that.

[arpoet]

Pull the weeds from the raised beds then cover with cardboard for the winter. If you can get some manure then weight it down with that and let the worms get cracking.

[Martin H]

some tall slightly thistle like weeds (but with yellow flowers) that I don't know.

These will be sow thistles. Sonchus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[cashandcarrots]

Brambles

Transplant, train and contain some of the brambles, we inherited a plot with brambles at the back of the plot and some at the side. We get at least two dozen pots of jam from the
blackberries each year.

At the end of the season we chop right back and also watch out for the "tentacles" as they go off exploring!

[Two_Sheds]

I put them on the compost heap anyway, seeds and all. ...When the weed seeds germinate ... I pull them up and throw them on the compost heap before they set seed themselves.

Same here, except that I don't use compost heaps that much nowadays: most of my pulled-up weeds are left on the beds as a mulch. Not many weeds make it through the mulch to be a nuisance, those that do are treated as free nutrition ~ pulled up & added to the mulch.

[bobbin]

Thanks everyone. I'm in Bristol (can't work out how to change my profile!!) and have lots of bindweed, horsetail, dock, some brambles, couch grass and some tall slightly thistle like weeds (but with yellow flowers) that I don't know. The site is so overgrown I'm just wanting to avoid adding to the problem by not dealing with all the seeds the right way! I know from my garden that bindweed is evil so will be getting rid of that!

Whatever you do DO NOT put horsetail or bind weed in your compost or mulch it. It's virtually indestructible !!Horsetail can regenerate from the tiniest portion. (See recent comments on it in main GYO menu) you've got some wicked weeds there. Maybe ditch veg and grow award winning weeds!
Sorry..that was unhelpful and uncalled for....he he. Forgive me.

[Two_Sheds]

Whatever you do DO NOT put horsetail or bind weed in your compost.

You can, and I do, compost them, but make sure they're dead first. The surest way is to bake them on a hot path, or leave them on top of some netting for a few days/weeks

[simmo512]

I got my new plot last year and there was only a hand ful of strawberries and a hazelnut tree so dug them up and treated the whole lot with resolva tree stump killer and the lot disappeared,,couch grass mares tail and docks .now there is very little weed on the plot.i used three litres to a sachet ,not full strength and it took a couple of weeks I think

[Two_Sheds]

I got ...a hazelnut tree so dug them up and treated the whole lot with resolva tree stump killer

That's a shame, hazel is really useful on the allotment for making stakes with