Allotments 4 All

A newbie on our allotment rather unfortunately decided to spray weedkiller all over, to clear the plot, it is now a pale yellow square with no green to be seen.

Now while I am an organic grower I'm not going to get all indignant about their use of weedkiller, well except they were working on the wrong plot and have sparyed mine instead of theirs.

I know nowt about weedkiller, but due to their error I now have a totally bare piece of ground (which I had been clearing by covering).

How soon can I use the ground?

What do I do with all the couch rhizomes that have absorbed the glyphos, do they need taking out?

If taken out what do I do with them?

They also destroyed my beautiful cultivar blackberries, and painted their plot number on my compost bin  :'(

I think the time span before you can use the soil again will depend on the type of weedkiller used. It might only be a matter of a few minutes with some up to 6 months with Sodium Chloride! :(

People using the wrong plot seems to be increasing in frequency judging by previous posts on this subject.

Have they been shown the error of their ways and have they recompensed you for your lost blackberry?

hmmm... yes I am asumming it is glyphos, simply because that is what everyone seems to use, but it could be anything.

As she had dug her beds over, I assume she was planning on sowing soon.

I might have to ask the council to ask her what she used.

If it's glyposate based then it becomes inactivated on contact with the soil.The roots of couch grass should all be dead if it was sprayed and then left for 3 weeks and it sounds as if it was because you say it went yellow,but you will need to dig because it probably is still a nice thick mat even if it's dead.
It's sounds like a case for making sure all plots are numbered and perhaps a sign system,say a red marker,to show it is taken to prevent these annoying things happening.

Commiserations Amphibian, what a terrible thing to happen.  I think  you are taking it very well considering the ramifications for your plot.  I  hope it turns out to be not too deadly and you can start turning over your soil in the near future. busy_lizzie

A lot of things will actually survive a dose of weedkiller. It's usually the noxious weeds that come back, but don't give up hope for your blackberries; they may recover yet.

It may be too late by tomorrow, by try flushing the blackberries with clean water and you may be able to save some. :'(

Sorry to hear what happened.

If it was glyphosate, things take 2 weeks+ to die and the weedkiller is generally "rain safe" after 30 minutes, so flushing with water after the event will not help (esp if things have already started to die)

if you think things have died more quickly, I would definately ask what she has used, because it may be something stronger and less "friendly" than glypho... and take longer for the ground to be reusable...

one dose of glypho (if that is what it was) may not be sufficient to kill a blackberry completely down to its roots, so it may recover... but again, it depends on what they used and the strength they used...

Good luck
mat

Realistically she could have only sprayed two weeks ago, at most, in that time the plot has become devoid of living plants. It is virtually white.

I will call the council on monday and get them to find out exactly what was used.