Topic: Long established couch

[Hector]

We have an area where couch has been in place for years, to the extent you can hardly dig it.

If I strim close to ground and cover with membrane/cardboard...would the roots die and it become easier to dig or do I need to take a different approach? I am never sure when I read about covers if you apply after digging or if I can put over strimmed stuff.

I can't see a rotovator coping with this stuff, it really is an impenetrable mass or are there any that can cope with this stuff??.

[antipodes]

I have covered smaller areas of couch grass like that, with thick layers of cardboard etc and after a few weeks, the grass will die back and go yellow and brown, and it is then a little easier to get out, but you will probably take off the whole top layer! I always bag up grass in black bin bags and let them rot right down, after a couple of months out in the sun, it becomes compost!! I have used it on my plantations and don't see that it manages to re-grow anywhere. After really digging out pesky grass the last 2 years, I have found that you can get on top of it.

[Digeroo]

Couch is a very strong grower and even the slightest bit of light getting onto the plants round the edges of the plastic and up it will come and push up the plastic, so I think that you will need to weigh it down very securely.

I had a strip of it down one side of my lotties and just about managed to dig it very roughly having burned it off, I then planted broad beans in it, and was very ruthless in pulling up or chopping off the grass.  Now two years on and three digs later I have won though I still get the odd reoccurance and it is definitely trying to reestablish from the path at the side.   

[1066]

when I took my plot on it was about 80% couch. Basically I fgured out the best way was to spead some manure on it, then cover with a mambrane/sheeting, and either plant through it or leave it. The manure and darkenss will 'burn' the couch, and you are left with some stubbly bits. It then gets roughly dug over (autumn or spring) and then planted normally. Seems to have worked well for me

[goodlife]

Umm..you lot have been 'lucky'..over here it is one of those 'super weeds'...still having a good 'crop' out of mine for muching.. ::)..not the roots but the green bits.

[lincsyokel2]

I have had to clear one or two established patches by riddling the top 9 inches of soil of the patch through a 8mm riddle ( i have invented  a riddling machine for this purpose to take the hard work out of it)  After i riddled an area of about 6 square yards (by 9 inches deep)  i had two barrows full of couch root  :o

No point in riddling deeper than 9 inches, it lives at the top near the surface.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've almost got rid of mine - it still comes from seed - by persistent digging out.

[aj]

If it's that bad, I'd cover as you say and where it grows up around the sides, pull that out as often as you can. In the autumn it will be weaker; so then dig it out and put another few layers of cardboard down and plant through it next season.

We have tackled some bad patches this year, we couldn't face tackling it all in the first couple of years. We dug a builder's bag out of a 10ft by 2ft length over the winter, and it grew straight back so we've dug a trench along that side, and where it is growing out of the trench side, it's easier to get it out than without the trench so it seems to be working.

Dig, cover and keep at it - seems to be the winning formula overall.

[bikegirllisa]

I spent three hours last night clearing the roots from a 4m x 0.5m section of a raised bed.

Would consider napalm at this point. ;D

[Hector]

Thanks for the replies. We will strim down to ground level and try and clear the surface of the really awful bit. Lets hope the roots rot a bit :(
We cleared a big area last year but stupidly didn't cover the turned soil we cleared at end of the season...so we are focusing oon that....anyone tried green manure to cut down weeds getting a hold of ground?

[Unwashed]

Hi Hector.  I'm pretty individual roots only live a year, or two max.  I'm now on light soil and couch is easy to control, but on heavy clay it's much more difficult.

What has worked well for me is to keep it strimmed right down to the soil until you're ready to dig, and then just dig the ground through with a fork leaving all the roots in.  Let it settle for a month or so and then dig through again and this time take out the worst of the roots, but don't worry about leaving some.  The old roots die so they're not a problem, and the new roots grow into lose soil so you then go over the ground and spot-weed out the worst of the couch with a fork once it's shown itself.  It takes over a year to get it couch-free, but it does clear the ground.

I also compost all my couch and never have a problem with it growing - but the secret is to knock off all the soil.  And if the soil won't knock off then leave the couch in and keep cultivating the ground until it does knock off.

[Hector]

thanks for that...light at end of tunnel :)

[Kleftiwallah]

My mother took over a council flat and the plot was thick with couch (twitch) grass.  About eight to ten of us stood in line abreast with a garden fork each and dug under the matt of roots, shaking the soil from between the roots, luckily the weather had been dry for some considerable time and slowly worked our way up the garden rolling the roots up like a carpet as we went. 

Cleared the lot and put down a physical barrier to stop it invading again.  Most rewarding hard work I've done in a long time.  ;D Cheers,   Tony.

[Mr Smith]

When I first took on my allotment I had one area that was seriously affected by Couch, we tried to dig what we could, but now we are finally on top of it with just a couple of very weak bits of Couch grass trying to break through, what did it for us which is not everyones cup of tea is spraying when it shows its head,