With the weather we are currently having, has lead to a slow but sure, continual growth of weeds.
I was quite surprised how the weeds in my vegetable plot had advanced in the last couple of weeks when I checked the area the other day.
Sufficient rain, along with soils temperatures still reasonable, vegetables are growing nicely, but so are the non-wanted plants called weeds.
By the way what we call a weed, is really a plant that you don’t want growing where it is.
But these plants (weeds) can be very useful as food for the soil when they are cut off just below the soil level and left to be absorbed back into the earth.
Many weeds have great health benefits if you were to harvest them and eat them, far more benefits than vegetables you buy at the supermarket.
See this link. Julia has passed now but the remarkable work she did teaching people what weeds to eat, her Legacy lives on.
In my case I don’t worry too much about the weeds as I have chickens which need their greens so the weeds become an asset for them.
Every few days I will harvest a crop of weeds and toss them to the chooks. Which has lead me to the conclusion it would be a good time to discuss weeds and their removal.
Firstly I do not use any chemical herbicides (weed killers) as they do damage the soil life and worm populations, also as I have free ranging chickens along with my 3 dogs and I do not want these to be affected in any way, from toxic sprays.
Thus most of my weeding is done by hand, which I find very relaxing and a good way of relieving any stress from day-to-day living.
It is interesting to note that a published scientific survey from the UK proved that as little as 20 minutes a day gardening, or being amongst plants made a substantial contribution to ones well being.
Two hours a day reduced the chances of heart problems by a good percentage. It can be summed up as; gardeners have better health overall than non gardeners!
I believe that healthy plants share their health with you by not only eating them but being around them.
Weeding by hand is a little art in its self, you can use a hand trowel or fork type hand trowel, but I find a sharp, long blade, carving knife the best.
You slide the blade into the soil next to the weed and slice through the top section of the tap root or root system while holding the weed in the other hand.
The foliage comes away cleanly leaving the remaining roots to rot down and feed the soil.
Then you simply leave the foliage of the weed on the soil to rot down and disappear quickly into your healthy soil.
I am always amazed at how quickly nature absorbs back organic material; like for instance, if you mow the lawn and don’t use a catcher, the clipping are often completely gone within a few days.
Pulling of weeds by hand often breaks the weeds off near ground level where they will come away again. This happens more so in dry or heavy soils where the roots have a good hold on Terra Firma.
If you wish to dig over. or fork over an area, then the removal of the existing weeds first (as above) makes for a better job. Many dug-in weeds, especially grass weeds, have a tendency of reappearing later on unless removed or buried deep.
For those that do not want to weed by hand there is always hoes such as the Dutch Hoe that can be used to also slice off weeds just below the surface and then dug in or better left to rot into the soil which is Natures natural way..
For gardeners that do not want to use chemical herbicides but spray the weeds still then you can use solutions of vinegar, seed oils, salt and ammonium sulphamate.
For these to work well the soil needs to be on the dry side and the spray applied on a sunny day when the weeds are a bit dehydrated. Then they will further dehydrate the weed?s foliage.
Perennial weeds will reappear and require further treatment.
If you don’t mind using chemical herbicides then you have a good range to choose from with the glyphosate ones such as Roundup been the most widely known and used.
Glyphosate?s action works on the growth of the weeds, it is first absorbed by the foliage and translocates to the roots, where it comes back up through the plant with its growth, killing the roots and foliage.
If there is zero growth, (which can happen in winter and during summer drought conditions) there is no kill. If the chemical cannot enter the foliage because of surface tension on the leaf, shiny leaves or hairy leaves then there is no kill.
Thus knowing this you can enhance the weed killer in two ways. Add Raingard to the mixed spray and it will act as a bridge to assist with the chemical to enter the foliage.
Then add nitrogen to the mix by dissolving the likes of sulphate of ammonia or urea in water and adding to the spray. The nitrogen stimulates growth and speeds up the kill factor.
The likes of Roundup is recommended to be used at 10 ml to one litre of spray water. The 10 ml rate is the highest rate needed to kill the hardest to kill weeds (that glyphosate can control) If you doubled the dose to 20 ml you would not get any better results.
By adding the Raingard to the mix you will find that a solution of 5 ml per litre will do a nice job on most weeds that glyphosate can control.
Then add to this the nitrogen and your time factor till the weeds are dead will be marking reduced.
If you would like the dead weeds to disappear faster then you can add either Mycorrcin or Thatch Busta to the spray and either of these two liquids will speed up the decomposition of the weeds greatly.
Basically that is what we want, the total removal of weeds as quickly as possible to make areas tidy.
Another aspect of placing the Mycorrcin or Thatch Busta into the glyphosate spray, helps counteract the damage done to the soil life by the chemical, so its a win, win situation.
If you have to use a chemical herbicide then do not use on or near where you grow food crops that includes in the root zone of fruiting trees as well.
The most recent study I read from overseas proves that glyphosate is the cause of several cancers which will be more costly for Bayer/Monsanto in new court cases.
There are hard to remove weeds, or plants that have become too vigorous such as ivy and need to be removed. This is where some of the chemical sprays certainly cut down on the work involved.
For instance with Ivy cut the trunks of the plant coming out of the soil and paint the stump immediately with either Woodyweed Killer or Amitrole.
Then spray the foliage with Amitrole. Bamboo, wandering jew, couch, wild onion, cut off the foliage just above ground and remove, then spray the stumps or foliage left with Amitrole, Raingard and Mycorrcin.
The removed foliage can be placed in a heap and sprayed with Mycorrcin or Thatch Busta to decompose it faster.
Woodyweed Killer can be used similarly for the likes of convolvulus, onehunga, fennel, dock and honeysuckle.
Paspalum can be controlled by ?wiping? the glyphosate solution over the tops of the weed. Oxalis also can be controlled in a like manner, but don’t work the soil afterwards.
Instead mulch the area and spray any new growth as it appears. Alternative is to use one table spoon of baking soda to a litre of water with Raingard and sprayed over foliage.
This will work in certain conditions without harming other plants not related to Oxalis, when the soil is on the dry side and on a warm sunny day.
Once again mulch later on and don’t work soil, repeat spray new foliage in similar conditions.
A soil drench over the oxalis foliage with Ammonium sulphamate will compost the bulbs in the soil.
Use Wallys Compost Accelerator which will make 3 litres of solution and water about 250 mils over the oxalis foliage down into soil (per plant)
Any future growth treat same way. Do not disturb the soil.
Image credit: Ries Bosch
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