Best way to clear acre of weeds?
Omar Siddique
a new house, so we started the year with barren dirt, but for one reason
or another, I hadn't gotten around to seeding much of the yard. Anyway,
much of the area is now thick with weeds of several sorts. What's the best
way to kill them, without using farm-grade aerial herbicidal spraying?
I'd prefer something that would kill the weeds but be inert in the soil, and
not wash off and damage any of the number of trees that are on my
property. For this reason, I considered Roundup, but in my past experience
with Roundup, it seems I would need to use an awful lot of it, and perhaps
make 2-3 applications. Plus, it would be a pain to do this acre with the
1 gallon container with little sprayer attached, which is the largest
size I've seen roundup in.
So what should I use? Is roundup the best idea anyway? Handpulling is
out of the question -- I've tried it for smaller areas that have been
grassed, and it takes an inordinate amount of time and energy and isn't
entirely effective.
Maybe some kind of weed and feed type spreadable product?
I'd appreciate any advice.
-- These are my opinions only --
Omar Siddique | CS major - University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus
| email: osi...@gl.umbc.edu WWW: http://umbc8.umbc.edu/~osiddi1
"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain. -- Lily Tomlin"
duerr@horta
>I have aproximately one acre of yard that needs to become lawn. This was
>a new house, so we started the year with barren dirt, but for one reason
>or another, I hadn't gotten around to seeding much of the yard. Anyway,
>much of the area is now thick with weeds of several sorts. What's the best
>way to kill them, without using farm-grade aerial herbicidal spraying?
>
>I'd prefer something that would kill the weeds but be inert in the soil, and
>not wash off and damage any of the number of trees that are on my
>property. For this reason, I considered Roundup, but in my past experience
>with Roundup, it seems I would need to use an awful lot of it, and perhaps
>make 2-3 applications. Plus, it would be a pain to do this acre with the
>1 gallon container with little sprayer attached, which is the largest
>size I've seen roundup in.
>
>So what should I use? Is roundup the best idea anyway? Handpulling is
>out of the question -- I've tried it for smaller areas that have been
>grassed, and it takes an inordinate amount of time and energy and isn't
>entirely effective.
>
>Maybe some kind of weed and feed type spreadable product?
>
>I'd appreciate any advice.
>
rototiller) than I would recommend planting Buckwheat to choke out
the seeds. I have used this method to reclaim my garden from a
farm field.
Buckwheat can be bought for about $17 for 50 pounds which should be
about enought for one planting on one acre. You will probably want
3 plantings. Simply till the soil in the spring so the weeds are tilled
in and then spread the buckwheat seed so there is about 1 seed every
inch. Then run over the seeds with the tiller set at about 1" deep.
This will bury the seeds. The buckwheat will sprout real fast (like 4
days if it rains at all) and it will grow really fast. It will form
a canopy in three weeks or so, thus smothering the weeds. When the
buckwheat gets about 18-24" tall it will flower nicely (7-10 weeks
depending on germination time). Once it flowers you can till it in
as a "green Mulch. It will till into the soil REAL easy because it
has hollow stems. This time you will be able to till down deeper than
you did the first time because the roots really break up the soil.
Plant another crop of buckwheat if you want and keep repeating the
plantings until the frost kill the last plants. You will have soil
that is loose as can be, and ready to plant grass or a garden on the
following year. There will be virtually no weeds in this area at
all. This method will wipe out virtually everything, especially
quackgrass which is really hard to kill. It does take time, but the
soil will be ready for planting and very loose.
Brook
bfd...@mmm.com
Stephen C Daukas
: In article <30sdnc...@umbc9.umbc.edu>, osi...@umbc.edu (Omar Siddique) writes:
: >
: If you have some time (one summer) and some energy (to run a
: rototiller) than I would recommend planting Buckwheat to choke out
: the seeds. I have used this method to reclaim my garden from a
: farm field.
I agree with Brook's advice. I would offer a potentially easier way to go
as far as number of plantings et. al..
You might try hairy vetch instead of the wheat. First, till the soil (if
you have an acre, you might find a local farm and ask if they would till
your yard - you can always rent one, but you sorta need to know how to use
one.) Then plant the vetch. It grows _real_ fast. Next, when its about 2
or 3 feet high (about a few weeks) you "harvest" it with a sicle mower or
equiv. Then, you let the stuff sit there for a few days (like a week or
so). Next, you till the yard again and plant your grass.
The vetch will choke out anything and when cut, will not only keep choking
out anything beneath it, but will also be a wonderful additive to the soil
and will help your grass grow as much as starter fertilizer.
There have been a few recent articles on the use of hairy vetch for farming
and I know the US Dept. of Agr. has done several studies in a farm setting.
You could always look into this further with respect to starting a new lawn.
I'd bet it would work just fine.
Regards,
Steve
Mary Moore
this has been discussed before.
I have a medium-sized garden (6x22 feet, I think). This year I didn't
plant it because I knew I'd be working long hours at the day job.
Instead of buckwheat or hairy vetch, I planted some marigolds and red
clover to choke out the weeds. Well, some came up, but the weeds won
out. I now have a lovely crop of burr, pigweed, amaranth, carpetweed,
purslane, and regular grass that is my height (I'm 5'5"!).
I tried an electric weed whacker on part of it, but it just grew back.
All of these weeds are developing seed pods now. I don't want to use
chemicals, but I'm worried about next year's garden. What if I applied
for a burning permit and burned them out before they can drop their
seeds? Would that help, or would I be unecessarily polluting the air?
Has anyone done this? Any hints (other than wetting the area and
keeping a hose and extinguisher on hand)? Or should I just rototill it
under and plant the vetch now? Where I live, I get first frost within
a few days either way of the Autumn Equinox. (The garden is at the
bottom of a tiny slope that is just big enough that I get a killing
frost before my neighbors.)
Thanks!
Mary
====================================================================
All opinions I express here are strictly my own and do not reflect
the opinions or policies of my employer.
====================================================================
Mike Carter
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>From: mmo...@banyan.com (Mary Moore)
>Newsgroups: rec.gardens
>Subject: Re: Best way to clear acre of weeds?
>Date: 8 Aug 1994 15:34:26 GMT
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>Unfortunately I missed the beginning of the thread, so I apologize if
>this has been discussed before.
>I have a medium-sized garden (6x22 feet, I think). This year I didn't
>plant it because I knew I'd be working long hours at the day job.
>Instead of buckwheat or hairy vetch, I planted some marigolds and red
>clover to choke out the weeds. Well, some came up, but the weeds won
>out.
What about covering the area with black plastic and "baking" the soil. I have
never tried this technique, but I hear it works. Can anyone shed some light on
this? Black plastic is cheap!
Stephen C Daukas
: What about covering the area with black plastic and "baking" the soil. I have
: never tried this technique, but I hear it works. Can anyone shed some light on
: this? Black plastic is cheap!
I have done this with clear plastic and it works fine.
Steve
Snoopy II
: > never tried this technique, but I hear it works. Can anyone shed some light on
: > this? Black plastic is cheap!
: that will cut out the light getting to the soil will do.
Carpet won't work as well as black plastic. The idea is to sterilize/bake
the soil, thus killing all seeds. Black plastic will heat up the soil
much more that simply covering it with a rug.
One side effect of this is that is will kill almost everything in
the soil, like earthworms, beneficial nematodes, bacteria, etc.
Fortunately, these organisms will recover quite rapidly on their
own.
Rick
Steven Kemp
> What about covering the area with black plastic and "baking" the soil. I have
> never tried this technique, but I hear it works. Can anyone shed some light on
> this? Black plastic is cheap!
>
You can also use offcuts of carpet or rugs to cover an area. In fact anything
that will cut out the light getting to the soil will do.
This is an often used technique in the UK by organic gardeners but of course
it's not an overnight process. You will have to wait for several weeks to see
the results.
--Steve K
Marc Riou
I've used both black and clear plastic. Both work but, for me
the black worked faster.
--
Marc <al...@freenet.carleton.ca>