Weeds, weeds & more weeds

[Ruthie_Q]

Hi guys.
Hope you've all had a productive weekend.
I've only had my plot for 12 months and any non growing area is covered in weed suppressant but i just feel I'm battling with weeds at the moment. I have marestail & couch grass. The mares tail does get sprayed with weed killer - I have a bit of kurtail gold left (I know I can use it til the end of the year or so). The rest are pulled out or if I have a mood on sprayed with glyco'thingy. I just wanted some advice. Does it get better? Is it just because it was a weed ridden plot last year & roots & seeds are still in the ground? Im just feeling a bit down hearted with it all today.

[Greenleaves]

Hard work is the only way I am afraid, with marestail and couch grass covering is simply not enough. You could look at no dig, but you will have to remove all the perennial weeds first. As weed seeds can lie dormant for years, the no dig method starves them of light and therefore no germination.

In all my years I have never heard of anyone who has eradicated marestail but plenty who have learnt to manage it and still get good results. Couch is normally quite easy to beat with good old fashion digging

[Ruthie_Q]

Thanks. I know Ill never get rid of the marestail. I just want to be able to manage it better than i seem to be doing at the mo. I'll take on board your comments re: no dig. I have been interested in Charles' methods & the results he has. I didn't realise that seeds can be dormant for years. I thought it would have been a 12 month thing & that's why they've all popped up but the plot hasn't been used properly for 10 years I believe. That's a lot of weed seeds!!!! Looks like I'm in for a marathon rather than the race. Thank you. You've really helped me.

[Thelma Sanders]

Regular hoeing seems to be the way to go with marestail , here they say "never let it see a Sunday" (ie hoeing the tops off at least once a week) eventually weakens it so it only pops up now and again, in my experience.
Couch is also quite easy IMO, once you've lifted the worst bits complete with the spreading roots, and repeat each time you see another clump.

[Ruthie_Q]

I like that quote. It made me smile. Thanks x

[Logunner]

I know your pain...

IMO it needs a 2 stage approach. 1st use ammonium sulphamate either in a pressure sprayer or mixed with wallpaper paste ( spread it over each plant using gloved hand ). Leave it to die back, but attack any new shoots wait 12 weeks.

2nd dig the roots and either set them on a path to dry for at least a month, drown for 6 months, burn, take to an offsite skip. Drying or drowning lets you compost the remains.

I’ve also mixed ammonium sulphamate with glyphosate to good effect when my supplies of AS got low.

[Baldy]

Ithink couch is fairly do-able... first time you hit a patch it can feel a bit overwhelming but once you've attacked it the next time you come back to it the roots do seem easier to lift and remove - almost therapeutic I find (though I don't want to be in the position to have to face it again on my plot)
Haven't personally experienced marestail but the hoe-ing advice is what I've always understood to work best - you may not get rid of it completely as it will hang around post-nuclear like cockroaches but you can get to the point where its really no worse that any other weed (unless you are laid up in bed for 6 months )
good luck!

[Baldy]

and dried couch roots are a very satisfying burn on the plot incinerator...

[SarrissUK]

I have two plots that I manage with Charles Dowding's methods and I am so impressed with how I could go from basically a field full of grass and various weeds, to a huge bed, 75 odd foot long, 10 foot wide, that takes no more than 10 minutes to hoe. I first started covering that area with cardboard and horse manure only since February time and I have loads growing in it already.

The only downside with no dig is that initially you do need a huge amount of stuff to cover the cardboard with. In my case I use horse manure that I get free from a lady with horses nearby, but I'm building a stash up for next year already.

The weedkiller is clearly not working for you anyway, and digging that ground with all them seeds are going to break your mind as well as your back. And personally I wouldn't eat anything that has been grown anywhere near any weedkiller.

[veggiechicken]

Sarriss - Have you seen CD's recant post about weedkiller in some manure that he used on his plot? It was on FB a couple of days ago. He was warning not to use any horse manure on vulnerable plants like beans and toms.

[Baldy]

^^ lots of manure or compost on top of cardboard is obviously the ideal way to go no dig but I've found that even with limited organic matter (mostly a mix of soil, last years pot contents, wood chippings and grass cuttings) I'm doing ok with my raised beds in a no-diggity-dig style. Did 3 beds this way last year and have added another 3 this. Compost bins have multiplied and I'm getting good at composting - so hopefully I'll be able to add more that an inch or two to the beds next season.
As my mother might have said - its not how big it is, its what you do with it that counts. So - I added chicken pellets and various 'teas' to the meagre inch or two of organic matter and it did pretty well.
I may start my own 'Charles Downding without money, employees or organic matter for that matter' channel to promote no-dig. (maybe not)

I'd really recommend trying to weed suppress (whether you go no dig or not) - cover what you aren't working - it should at least slow the weeds down. Good luck

[SarrissUK]

Sarriss - Have you seen CD's recant post about weedkiller in some manure that he used on his plot? It was on FB a couple of days ago. He was warning not to use any horse manure on vulnerable plants like beans and toms.

I did see it - the beans looked bloody awful! Even though there was only a tiny amount of aminopyralid in the horse manure he'd used, the plants looked as if they're been through a hurricane and curled up and look absolutely miserable.

The lady I get my manure from uses the same stuff all year around, and so far so good - nothing is curling up and dying. I asked her to let me know if she changes supplier of hay, straw and feed etc.

[Ruthie_Q]

Hi Sarrissuk
Thanks for this. I havent put any weedkiller on any beds that I'm growing in. I didnt want to do that. I have a raised path down the middle of the allotment, by my entrance fence & I have flower beds which is where I am struggling. Unfortunately my hubby wont put manure in his car & my car is teeny tiny x

[SarrissUK]

We all garden differently, but I can definitely say that bindweed is easy to deal with on a weekly basis with a hoe. It's popping up all over the place, in fact often several plants popping up in the same square three inches, but I hoe all of them down every week. It doesn't take long. It might be useful to know that the place where they're showing the strongest growth is around raised beds, so I get stuck in real good when hoeing that down, knowing I'm at least a little closer to weakening them