Weeding - (warning - dumb question)

[cheddarpaul]

Can someone please answer a constant arguement between my wife and I?

When weeding - either by hand or machine - once you have cut down the weeds do you remove all of the plant from the soil? I ask because I hoe the weeds alot and my wife says that leaving the newly decapitated weeds on top of the soil is no good as they will simply grow back again. Yet, when she weeds she carefully removes any speck of greenery away from the soil......

Answers, as always, greatly appreciated.

[cheddarpaul]

[Sprout]

I could be wrong but I don't think that a weed separated from it's roots would grow back again. I would have thought that it would have perished through lack of nutrients before being able to re-grow roots even if that were possible. Obviously some perennials weeds will re-grow in time from their roots if that is not completely removed. As for me, I sometimes remove hoed weeds from the top of the soil and sometimes I don't.

[aquilegia]

When it's hot and dry hoed off weeds will wither and die before rerooting. If they are big, it's best to remove them.

[lancelotment]

Call me a coward if you like, but in cases like this I have always found it better to say your wife is right.  What ever it was she said!  Lance

[growmore]

sorry,But your wife is right if ground is damp or if it rains, Some of the weeds will reroot .
Same way we take cuttings ,Ain't they smart women ..Cheers ..Jim

[Mrs Ava]

I always remove all the weeds, cos it looks nice and tidy!  i feel like I have done the hoovering on the plot.  ;D  Yes, I am a sad allotmenteering housewife!

[Hot_Potato]

I too remove everything after weeding - which I usually do by hand - soooo satisfying....for the same reasons as E.J.

[Merry Tiller]

Hoeing them off on a dry day is fine, 95% of them won't grow back.
If you remove every scrap of the weed and it's root 100% won't grow back

[cheddarpaul]

Awww does this mean I have to tell her she's right now? Humbug

Thanks for the responses anyway....

[ptennisnet]

I hoe and leave.  If they do reroot then I hoe them again.  Eventually it;ll be a hot day and I'll win  ;D ;D 

Mainly this is due to time limitations.  I do make sure that my hoe is really sharp though so they've been cut rather than uprooted.

The only weeds I don't leave lying around are the bindweed shoots that I pull up.  They are the bane of my allotment life  >:(

[busy_lizzie]

My OH always leaves his weeds lying around after hoeing to rot into the soil, but I somehow can't bear to and also like the tidy housewife I have to pick them up for the compost heap.  I am sure some do root and grow again anway so I don't take that chance.   ;D busy_lizzie

[Robert_Brenchley]

Many weeds can flower and produce seed while lying on the gound cut off from their roots. I just bundle them up and sling them in a compost bin.

[ina]

When I hoe, I usually leave the bits.
When I pull weeds, I remove them.

With hoeing you seperate the plant from the roots and the green dies.
When you pull the weeds, the roots are still attached and can find a new toe hold, especially when conditions are right.
Things like ground elder and bind weed I always dig out as much root as possible and remove them from the allotment.

[redimp]

It depends how long it is since I last did it - if they are big I hoik them out, if they are small, I leave them.  Bindweed and thistles I remove and put in a bin waiting for burning day - which I shall enjoy immensely.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I sling them in a compost bin. Bindweed has a tendency to survive into the following year, along with docks, but they're easily picked out. Nothing else lives but seeds, and I get round that by putting it on my potatoes and covering it with a thick layer of dead leaves or grass cuttings.

[redimp]

OK will try that.

[Merry Tiller]

I never burn anything, it's very bad for the environment for one thing but it's also a waste of good compost. Everything rots down eventually, even if it takes 2 years in a plastic bag

[Robert_Brenchley]

I have one bonfire a year, to burn hedge clippings and rubbish. Then I start piling it up for the next year.

[redimp]

Burning things you have grown only releases the same amount of greenhouse and other gases as the plant absorbed in the first place.  Consequently, burnign the odd bit of stuff is not bad for the environment.  In fact the only direct burnign that does damage is that of fossil fuels because thsi releases greenhouse and other gases that were absorbed by plants millions of years ago and which have been locked up since.  The other damage is caused by deforestation which is not replaced - if it is replaced, it may not be aesthetically so pleasing or so good for local wildlife, but the new trees do netralise the macro environmental damage - rainforest though is very diffficult to replace because the rain quickly washes away the soil so new plants and trees find it difficult to get established.

That is why diesel made from rape is a good idea in theory - becaue it has a netral gas effect on the environment - it only releases co² that was originally absorbed.

[portway farm]

We remove all trace of the weed and dig for roots as well. We take one of the horse buckets around to put them in and then tip the whole thing on our man made nettle hedge. Wild life really loves this hedge.