weed Killer

[janmac]

Whats the best weedkiller to clear our plot??   Been told to get industrial strength but not available online?? So how do I get it??   Any advice as usual please, No brambles just regular weeds and lots of bindweed .

Thanks  janmac

[davyw1]

Its called garden fork or spade.............. honest

[cornykev]

Elbow grease. 

[lincsyokel2]

The problem is roots.
Tap roots - long tapering roots, if you pull a weed out by hand and leave the tap root in, then itll come back. Similarly, if you spray with a weedkiller that only kills the leaves, itll be back.

Root fragments - some weeds like nettles and couch grass can regenerate from microscopic fragments of root.

The only two solutions are dig the weeds out, but dig down at least a spade depth to get all the roots, and when the ground is soft.  Or spray with a weedkiller that will kill the roots of the plant, such as Glyphosate, but that can take two weeks. Theres a weedkiller called Resolva  24 which is a combination of glyphosate and a defoliant, its kill the leaves quickly so you can see its worked then the roots after two weeks.  I sometimes resort to glyphosate, and then dig the weeds out a week later before there dead, on the theory they have absorbed  the weedkiller from top to bottom by then, and any bits left in the ground are doomed anyway.

If you are in no hurry, the least effort way is to smother the weeds with thick carpet, thick card or black plastic, but that can take a good 3-6 months to kill everything.

[grannyjanny]

Blood sweat & tears , after OH has double dug, trenched & manured 2 allotments, ours & now daughters the hard work has been well worth it. Just do a bit at a time. Would you really want to eat something grown in soil that has had industrial weedkiller on it? We are plagued on both plots with horsetail, bindweed & couch grass but choose to dig it out as it comes through. The couple next to our daughters plot sprayed & the weeds started to regrow.

[sazhig]

I prefer to grow organically so I'm a bit biased  but I can honestly say I can't see the point in using weed killer. Our new plot was sprayed with Clinic (an industrial form of glyphosate) 4 weeks before we took it on and it hasn't done very much at all. Maybe given us 4 weeks of not having to mow/strim that part of the plot while some of the couch died off...but that's all. The dock, horseradish and bind weed have romped away now they've got the room to grow. ...and even the couch hasn't been finished off properly, some clumps have started growing again.

We're doing it the long hard way - covering what we can't dig with a mulch of plastic and planting through that while we dig the weeds out by hand.

[queenbee]

I use fire!!! Its only a little wand with a gas bottle attached, great satisfaction with a glass of wine in the other hand. OT used it once under a conifer and set the whole tree alight, so caution is required.

[janmac]

Thanks for replies everyone, not looking for a easy way out I have double dug but loosing the battle im afraid ?

Thanks again  janmac

[pigeonseed]

If you've already double-dug, I can't see that weedkiller will do any better than that. Obviously without seeing your plot, I don't want to jump to conclusions, everyone faces different problems. But could it just be that you haven't yet accepted your weed companions?

Once you've cleared them, they always always come back - it's true they get less ridiculously invasive the longer you have your plot, because of getting rid of bits of root and seeds. But they are always with us. Hence the regular weeding/hoeing...

Sorry if that's me trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs.

When you say you're losing the battle - what's actually happening? (I sometimes feel like that with my garden and allotment, but it always looks okay again after a weeding session)

[davyw1]

You are not fighting a loosing battle, getting an allotment up to a good standard does not come easy but gets easier as the seasons pass. remember you are there to break its back its not there to break yours. Gardening is supposed to be leisure and pleasure, who ever termed that phrase did not start from scratch on an allotment.
Take your time turning it over picking out the weeds and roots as you go, pull off the heads of any you see in starting to flower before they drop their seed. If you don,t feel like digging then go over the ground you have already dug with the hoe.
If you feel you need to use weed killer then use it wisely, i would suggest you use a pressure pump spray.
As for the bind weed just keep have a go at dinging it out and if you must then use the weed killer on any young chutes that come back, you will win in the end.

Sometimes i can think of a thousand reasons not to go to the allotment when i know what needs doing and not one reason to go.

[Mrs Ava]

I have had my lottie for 10 years, and have never beaten the horsetail and bindweed, but I think (or at least I convince myself) that every year there is less.  I have learnt to use a hoe and keep it busy, it may not dig out the roots, but it keeps areas clear where I have planted.  During the autumn and winter, I dig and dig and dig in small areas - I like digging, very satisfying.  Some of the older chaps use Roundup on the rougher areas of the site to keep the nettles and brambles down.  It works on the nettles, but really only for one season, and the brambles really couldn't care less and grow regardless.

Good luck with your plot.

[Borlotti]

I pull up 100 horsetail a day at the allotment (minimum), sometimes more, I count a bit like doing a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.  After 7 years I think I have given up and just let it grow and the crops with it.

[lincsyokel2]

I pull up 100 horsetail a day at the allotment (minimum), sometimes more, I count a bit like doing a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.  After 7 years I think I have given up and just let it grow and the crops with it.

Mares tail fueled the Industrial Revolution. They also were an invaluable part in the production of the magnificent English Japanned cabinet furniture of the early eighteenth century. They made the finish on the unequalled architectural limewood carvings of Grinling Gibbons, during the same era.

Theres a reason Mares Tails has been around 300 million years.The roots of Mares Tails can go down seven feet, and the ONLY way to get rid is to bruise the stem and leaves to mush it up and break the wax outer layers and then dose it in glyphosate, two or three times. The only other weedkiller that will touch it is the stuff you use to kill tree stumps, Ammonium Sulphamate.

Legend has it the roots of Mares Tails poke out the roof of Hell.

On the other hand, if it has a use, why kill it.

Horsetail tea

Biodynamic growers use horsetail tea to strengthen plants' resistance to fungal infections. Take ¾ oz dried horsetails and simmer for 30 minutes in 2 pints of rain water. Stand for 24 hours. Make up to 1 gallon, stirring the mixture for about 15 minutes. This mixture will keep for a couple of weeks. Spray the plants thoroughly every 10-14 days, starting early in the season. The later sprayings can be more dilute (making the solution up to as much as 10 gallons) but should always have a pale yellow-green or brown colour and smell of horsetails.

[antipodes]

I do not use chemicals so I get loads of weeds. My neighbour told me that he one year really attacked the bindweed with roundup and it died down and he was chuffed. 3 months later it was back... so he doesn't bother now and just keeps ripping it out like I do.
bindweed is the biggest nuisance I feel, along with grass, because it gets in among the plants and you damage them getting it out. But it;s just a nuisance that you have to put up with.

[lilyjean]

I use fire!!! Its only a little wand with a gas bottle attached, great satisfaction with a glass of wine in the other hand. OT used it once under a conifer and set the whole tree alight, so caution is required.

I couldn't stop laughing.....brilliant!! Off the beaten track it brought back camping memories. I remember the children's dad (many years ago!) setting light to the barbecue but he was over generous with the fire lighters. The barbecue was placed under a beautiful tree and behind it a beautiful rockery garden. Anyhow, he lit it and yes you can imagine what happened next.....boof up went the flames. Totally left all the hanging branches and the flowers singed. Not a good sight. But after reading your bit about how the tree caught alight has made me see the funny side about our incident after all these years!! Thank you! and yes one must be very careful.

[lilyjean]

For myself, I find the best and natural way of combating the weed problem is digging and pulling them out. When I first acquired my plot I double dug and tried to pull all the weeds out. After, I threw loads of horse manure on. Our soil is densely thick with clay. At the end of my plot which I haven't touched yet, is full of brambles and weeds, I'm seriously considering burning it.....not sure whether it is a good idea or not.

[GrannieAnnie]

About fire: it doesn't kill the roots of some weeds. It does create a clean look very fast however which is worth something.

My near disaster with it was, well actually I had a couple, but the potential for the worst was when I used it near the house in an area with bark mulch. When finished I thought I'd stomped out all the fire but an hour or so later I was down in the basement and smelled smoke. It was smoldering down along the wall. Yikes.  I never used it near the house again.

Also, don't use it if you have poison ivy- you can get the rash from the smoke if you're sensitive.

I rarely use it because the potential for a variety of accidents is rather large.

[Columbus]

Hi all, 

I really think weedkillers are a waste of time and money.

The quickest first thing to do after making sure theres nothing sharp and dangerous in amongst the weeds is to strim it down to the ground.
When its strimmed you can see what you have and plan a place for a shed , paths trees etc.
Burning it with a flamer is good fun afterwards, I think it might burn off the weed seeds and slug eggs left on the surface.
Then start digging and sieving about a metre per day, don`t over-do it. Get all the weeds out you can at this stage.

Some people cover it, or just plant it, as it gets cleared.

Best of luck, post pics, Col

[Digeroo]

I am not a fan of weedkillers normally but bindweed is an exception  Having been organic for nearly 25 year in my garden the bindweed was really getting out of hand.  I was removing buckets full of it from every bed.   There is only so much digging it up you can do.    It is particularly dfficult when it gets amonst permanent crops.

I wanted to plant some raspberries so I got brutal with roundup.  Bang goes my organic principles.  Yes it is beginning to edge back but at the moment it is managable.  Everytime it raises its ugly head I pull it out.  Due to the drought it has been relatively easy this year. 

I clear weeds by hacking with a spade just below ground level, especially for nettles which have surface runners.  The I dig everything else out.  Then if anything grows it get pulled out as quickly as possible.  Luckily I do not have maretails except for one spot in the front garden - the builders must have had a pile of sand there.

[katisue]

20% acidity vinegar will kill all weeds with exception of those with woody stems.