Topic: Perennial weed roots

[gerbera]

Hi,

I'm about to start cultivating a home garden plot that has been uncultivated for over 10 years. There are a lot of perennial weed there.....mostly bramble and ground elder   :'(

The question is....what do I do with the roots I pull out? How do I dispose of them? Obviously the ompost heap is a no-go area...but is it safe to send them in my "green-bin"...or is there a better, more "gardener-friendly" option?

I'm not keen on burning them. Where should they go?

Thanks.

[Merry Tiller]

Put them in a thick rubble sack and seal it up for a couple of years. Exclude light & moisture & you'll have some lovely compost

[louise stella]

Put them in a thick rubble sack and seal it up for a couple of years. Exclude light & moisture & you'll have some lovely compost

Thats what I intend to do with my couch mountain!

Louise

[Marymary]

I put mine in the green bin on the principle that the council compost heaps must be enormous & reach a sufficient temperature to kill the darn things.

[artichoke]

Completely agree with the rubble sack solution. When they are dead and crumbly, you feel as if you are getting your own back, putting them to good use. I did it with my first allotment and I'm now doing it with my second.

The field containing my second plot has been almost deserted for 8 months, but some new people arrived and were asking what to do with their perennial weeds (having rotavated their plot, broken the rotavator, and scattered bits of chopped up roots all over) and my nearest neighbour told them to bury them as they dig.

I did mention the sack method as being more reliable, but they are going to do the digging solution, which I know from earlier experience doesn't work at all except with annual weeds. What can you do???

[okra]

No other solution but hard work, as removing all bits of roots is the only solution. Unless you are willing to carpet the area and forget it for at least 18 months while the weeds die off.

[LauraB]

I know this is controversial, but I will/am burning mine. My plot was well above head height with brambles in places, and covered to at least knee level over the entire 140ft. The sheer volume of brambles to dispose of just from clearing above ground was huge. I'm now digging and removing the roots of the brambles, plus we have nettles, couch grass, and what I suspect to be marestail  >:(. I'm getting about one sack full of roots every 3ft.

I'm therefore burning it, because the sheer volume of waste to dispose of makes it difficult to store for compost/take to tip.

[okra]

With such a volune LauraB you have no other option than burning

[dandelion]

I did the same with my brambles LauraB. I cut them all down a year ago and ended up with a big pile of spiny branches (bramble, pyracantha and hawthorn). I was undecided for a year: take it all to the dump or build a bonfire? Then last week, on a sunny windless day, I decided to burn it all. The whole pile was gone within 20 minutes ;D! It would have been a nightmare to transport to the dump and at least the ashes will add some goodness back to the soil. The brambles have all gone now and I've decided to prune the Pyracantha and hawthorn often and little so I don't end up with another big pile of prunings!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've always burnt woody material, but everything else either went in the compost bins, or if they were full, got piled up and covered with black plastic. I'm still getting rid of the piles, but it does end up back on the garden eventually.

[bupster]

I left my brambles for a few weeks for the leaves to die off and built a compost bin with them, sort of like basket making. Got some funny looks, and it's probably no better than a normal compost bin, but it was fun!  :D

[flytrapman]

I put all my perennial weeds in a drum & cover with water, then use the liquid as a feed & add the residue to the compost heaps after they have decayed