Nettles!!!

[minskey]

I know its early in the year for nettles................but I need some advice

My septic tank is in my paddock, its in an area which I like to leave the grass to its own devices as I love grass! The trouble is nettles, not the pretty ones with pink or white but the real stingy ones with the little green bunches of flowers [?] on them. They are not trying to take over the area around the septic tank, they grew to over 6ft last summer!

What do I do? I don't want to cut the grass after its first cut, there are also fruit & other trees planted around the area.

Help?

[Guest]

1. Regularly cut them back and use them for nettle feed.
2. Dig them out
3. Kill them with weed killer
4. Do nothing and accept them for what they are

The choice is yours

[Coopers]

Ah nettles, i had regular fights with them last yeah. In the end i covered them with heavy plastic then weighed them down with pallets. Once they died i have attempted to dig out as much as possible and that is now going to be my potato area this year. Im hoping this will help reduce the nettles.

[BertieFox]

Why don't you want to cut the grass after the first cut? Unless it is because you want to let everything grow for environmental reasons, I would follow the last suggestion by covering them with thick cardboard and then a layer of thick mulch. I am using shredded leylandii as this makes a nice thick mulch. Even if the odd nettle comes through, it is easier to tug them out with lots of root.

[Kristen]

Mow a path through them?

[Knight of Albion]

If nettles are growing where you want to work the land then, obviously, dig them out.
If they're growing where you're likely to get stung going by, then chop them down.
But generally I take a liberal view with nettles, recognising that they are an essential part of the ecosystem, specifically as a food source for butterflies.

Butterflies in your garden on a glorious summer's day ... One of life's delights!

[minskey]

I don't cut the grass as its a lovely place for the birds, bees and other wildlife, I do want to leave some nettles but I don't want them to smother the grasses. I think I'll try and dig some roots out, don't fancy weed killer, the smothering technique sounds good if I can fine something heavy enough to weight it down in windy Lincolnshire...................... Ta for all your help )

[Gillykat]

I just noticed a few sprouting close to the compost heap so I'm going to leave them for now as I'm aiming to attract as much wildlife to the plot as I can (but hopefully NOT too many slugs and aphids ) and just keep a beady eye on them.

[Nicos]

If you have the time, pinch out the growing tips as soon as they appear and make soups for the freezer , salads etc with them.
Harvesting out the growing tips will at least keep the plants in check...and free food too!

[Madasafish]

I boil nettle tops for 10 minutes, add sugar and feed to bees in summer. Scientific studies show it helps them grow better..

see http://tinyurl.com/qj28yak - read pages 4-5 for summary.

[Nicos]

^^^^ interesting link!

[BertieFox]

I boil nettle tops for 10 minutes, add sugar and feed to bees in summer. Scientific studies show it helps them grow better..

see http://tinyurl.com/qj28yak - read pages 4-5 for summary.

As a beekeeper since 1980, I must admit I am highly sceptical of this, as a nectar, water and nettle or other herbal infusion is such an unnatural food for bees. I note this is a Romanian study (though implying nothing about that!) and part of a PhD thesis rather than being peer reviewed anywhere. I am always open minded but as the results were based on what happened to already weakened colonies, and we don't know how many colonies were involved in the sample, the higher brood rates could be down to coincidence. Most of what is fed to the bees anyway would find its way into the honey storage combs rather than into the brood food which is generated by glands on the worker bees' heads.

I don't mean to be totally dismissive and I hope this study is repeated and proven to be effective. But I don't think I will be using a nettle infusion with my bees yet.

Thanks for posting though, as it is a fascinating study.

[Knight of Albion]

In olden times when the rural peasantry were literally dirt poor, nettles were cooked and eaten as a staple food. (Makes sense when you think about it, such a prolific, abundant plant.)
And given its deep root system, nettles have a high nutrient content.

As for the bees. I'm sceptical it would help the bees themselves, though it might well beneficially effect the nutritional value of the honey they produce.

[bearded bloke]

I'm normally one for getting rid of weeds, but in the case of nettles I have to agree with KoA, please leave a few for the butterflies if you possibly can

[Martin H]

I remember reading that unless you have a decent sized patch of nettles (several square metres), the female butterflies won't lay on them.

In Jennifer Owen's 1991 book, "Ecology of a garden", she observed that three nettle patches in her suburban garden remained unused for 15 years, even though adult butterflies were abundant. Other studies (e.g. this one) seem to corroborate this.

There are lots of nettles around the fields near my house and lots around (and on!) the allotment site as well, so I personally don't grow any. I do grow as many nectar sources as I can fit in though.