Topic: Oh burning weeds?

[Le-y]

Ok so i've heard that you can burn weeds i checked my tennancy agreement and yes i can have a bonfire on site which is good (i hope)

there is also definitely signs of people having burnt things/plants before.

so i've found a place that hires tools, with the intention of strimming down the waist high weeds then can i use this nifty contraption to do the rest?

http://www.hss.com/g/62610/Flame-Gun-3-Head-Lpg.html

and then do i still need to dig the roots out? or do/could i simply use a Rotavator type thing afterwards?

this is only going to be used for half the plot as the front half has barely any weeds on it at all just some bracken i intend to clear manually.

[Tee Gee]

then do i still need to dig the roots out?

Yes!! particularly if you have Couch,Dandelion,Fat Hen,Sow Thistle to name but a few as their roots go quite deep.

I'm afraid its the old story; There is no quick fix to getting rid of pernicious weeds other than hard work!

[BarriedaleNick]

If you rotavate you will just chop up the perennial weeds roots and make lots of little weeds - but if you are lucky and have just annual weeds then slash/burn/rotavate will clear it quickly!

[Bjerreby]

Any plant that grows somewhere you don't want it is a weed. But why burn them?

I try to return as much nutrient to the soil as I took from it, and I see no reason to spread artificial chemical compounds about..........it costs money and just seems wrong to me. So, any weeds that you don'twant to put in your compost, make liquid fertilizer from them.

Stuff the weeds in a bucket and fill it with water. Let it stand, covered, for at least 2 weeks, by which time it will be smelly. Then drain off the liquid, dilute it 1 to 10 with fresh water, and spray it on your plants. You can also water with it.

The soggy remnants from the bucket go into a black plastic bag, store it for a year so it gets really hot in summer, then put it on the compost heap.

I have a 250 litre water butt I use for this purpose. I don't have enough weeds to fill it, but I have tons of seaweed, which is great for making liquid fertilizer.

[Robert_Brenchley]

It makes no sense to burn them when you can rot them down, either to make liquid manure or for compost, and use them to improve your soil.

[Le-y]

then do i still need to dig the roots out?

Yes!! particularly if you have Couch,Dandelion,Fat Hen,Sow Thistle to name but a few as their roots go quite deep.

I'm afraid its the old story; There is no quick fix to getting rid of pernicious weeds other than hard work!

from what i can tell i don't have any of those  maybe the dandelion BUT i didnt know about making a weed tea to go back on the land again - glad i asked now!!

Is there any weeds i can't use for the weed tea? 

[saddad]

No, with the possible exception of Japanese Knotweed....  :-X
They all drown if held under water and then break down and release the nutrients into the water...  :)

[Le-y]

Excellent going to need a pretty big barrel but sounds GREAT :)

[muddylou]

Any plant that grows somewhere you don't want it is a weed. But why burn them?

I try to return as much nutrient to the soil as I took from it, and I see no reason to spread artificial chemical compounds about..........it costs money and just seems wrong to me. So, any weeds that you don'twant to put in your compost, make liquid fertilizer from them.

Stuff the weeds in a bucket and fill it with water. Let it stand, covered, for at least 2 weeks, by which time it will be smelly. Then drain off the liquid, dilute it 1 to 10 with fresh water, and spray it on your plants. You can also water with it.

The soggy remnants from the bucket go into a black plastic bag, store it for a year so it gets really hot in summer, then put it on the compost heap.

I have a 250 litre water butt I use for this purpose. I don't have enough weeds to fill it, but I have tons of seaweed, which is great for making liquid fertilizer.

Great info there, I run a laundry so have access to 230 litre empty containers or 25 litre. Would you recommend using a few of the smaller ones to make the liquid or one large one ? I'm just concerned how strong the smell becomes, not for me but the other plot holders. The 25 litre containers have lids that clip on (thus holding in the smell I would imagine) whereas, with the 230 litre container I'd have to jig saw off the top to get access.
           Also how long can you leave the liquid in the container before using it, in other words does it go off?
Does it go off   

[Eristic]

There is nothing wrong with burning weeds and in doing so the gardener is still returning everything back to the soil bar the water and a bit of smoke. If done sensibly, strategic use of the bonfire is extremely beneficial to gardeners working clay soils.

The soil does require humus but I fail to see the point of going to the extreme lengths that some of you go to to compost bindweed and couch grass when you could just pick up a bag of leaves from the street corner.

now stand up and repeat after me:

"Bonfires good. Stinky buckets of weeds bad".

 8)

[Bjerreby]

Muddylou.....

The size of bucket depends simply on how many weeds you want to dispose of.

I don't have many weeds, but I am such a fan of liquid fertilizer that I deliberately collect seaweed to make it.

The smell is only an issue if you take a sniff in the bucket, it doesn't seem to blow about like the smell of pigs for example.

I make 250 litres every spring. It lasts right through the summer without going off. By July it gets a bit ripe, and sometimes forms a film on top, a bit like gravy skin, but the plants seems to love it. They perk up every time I apply a dose.  :)

Oh, and by the way "bonfires bad".........if I start a fire the woman next door comes round asking me ro re- do her washing that now smells of smoke.  ;D

[tonybloke]

BONFIRES BAD, (they pee off the neighbours)
liquid feed is good, it returns all of the nutrients and carbon back to the land.
Eristic, there's more than one way of gardening, and guess what? a lot of folk don't garden on london clay!! (some of my mates garden on the fens, and fires are a complete NO-NO) ;)

[cornykev]

You should be composting 95% of your weeds, I leave all my big roots in a pile in the corner if they are not breaking down over time then I put them on a fire on guy fawkes night only, thus not disdurbing the neighbours and I would be very surprised if you didn't have couch.  ;D ;D ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Bonfires have their place, but you're putting a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere when the carbon could be making humus and improving the soil. I don't see the point of that.

[Digeroo]

My question is whether the CO2 from the bonfire is worse as a greenhouse gas than the CH4 created by the compost heap, or vice versa.

[Bjerreby]

My question is whether the CO2 from the bonfire is worse as a greenhouse gas than the CH4 created by the compost heap, or vice versa.

That settles it then. Let's stop all dairy farming.........cow farts exacerbate climate change. :-[

[muddylou]

Muddylou.....

The size of bucket depends simply on how many weeds you want to dispose of.

I don't have many weeds, but I am such a fan of liquid fertilizer that I deliberately collect seaweed to make it.

The smell is only an issue if you take a sniff in the bucket, it doesn't seem to blow about like the smell of pigs for example.

I make 250 litres every spring. It lasts right through the summer without going off. By July it gets a bit ripe, and sometimes forms a film on top, a bit like gravy skin, but the plants seems to love it. They perk up every time I apply a dose.  :)

Oh, and by the way "bonfires bad".........if I start a fire the woman next door comes round asking me ro re- do her washing that now smells of smoke.  ;D

Thanks for the info, I'll bring a couple of 25 ltr containers home from work tomorrow and get started.. ;)

[Borlotti]

Can't wait to have a good bonfire, have so much to burn.  Compost as much as I can, but love the smell of a bonfire and will probably wait until bonfire night, but it usually rains then.  A bonfire once or twice a year in winter is OK, I think.  Need to cut back redcurrants, blackcurrants, fir tree etc. etc. and don't think they compost well all the woody stuff.