Hi guys,
I have an area I am trying to clear, it have a lot of brambles and pretty thick weeds. I have strimmed and cut away a lot of them, but wanted to apply a weedkiller that will get rid of most of it within a few days.
Bought some of this garden ground cover stuff to put on afterwards - https://www.qvsshop.co.uk/5m--wide-100gs ... 1897-p.asp. Not sure it is necessary, heard some mixed views on weed control fabric, but this seems to be fairly solid stuff.
Any recommendations on sprays and any views on putting weed fabric down?
Ken
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rainbowgardener
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https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 11&t=57653
this is a thread I wrote about various poisons and their environmental effects and toxicities. RoundUp is the bottom one in the thread.
If you want something relatively harmless, you could spray with undiluted vinegar. Better would be just to smother everything --wet the area down then lay down a couple layers of cardboard wetting each one thoroughly as you lay it down. Then pile good garden soil on top, say about 4" of it. You can plant in to it right away. If you are planting bigger plants, just dig down and make a hole in the cardboard. The cardboard will smother all the weeds and then it will break down and get out of the way, (wetting is to help it break down, wet cardboard breaks down a lot quicker than dry) leaving you with a nice deep soft planting bed.
There are different opinions, but personally I hate the weedblock fabric. IME it is fine for the first year or two and then more and more weeds start finding their way through it. But the you can't pull them, because they are tangled up in it. I always end up ripping it out again.
this is a thread I wrote about various poisons and their environmental effects and toxicities. RoundUp is the bottom one in the thread.
If you want something relatively harmless, you could spray with undiluted vinegar. Better would be just to smother everything --wet the area down then lay down a couple layers of cardboard wetting each one thoroughly as you lay it down. Then pile good garden soil on top, say about 4" of it. You can plant in to it right away. If you are planting bigger plants, just dig down and make a hole in the cardboard. The cardboard will smother all the weeds and then it will break down and get out of the way, (wetting is to help it break down, wet cardboard breaks down a lot quicker than dry) leaving you with a nice deep soft planting bed.
There are different opinions, but personally I hate the weedblock fabric. IME it is fine for the first year or two and then more and more weeds start finding their way through it. But the you can't pull them, because they are tangled up in it. I always end up ripping it out again.
What rainbow said is true. If you have annual weeds. However, some weeds can persist and their seeds can live a couple of years. Nutsedge will come through even cardboard and most of the weed fabrics.
If what you have are mostly annual weeds then after you cut them down. use a hoe and scraped off as much of the roots as you can before you lay down the cardboard.
If you have tougher weeds. The approach is not so simple. Remove by hand as many of the weeds and roots that you can. Water the area when the weeds pop up repeat the process until you don't see many more weeds popping up.
If you are going to go the weed killer route and you plan to plant something in its place then you should be using a non-persistant weed killer like roundup. If you are trying to kill weeds in driveways and sidewalks, then I would go with the 10 percent vinegar or a persistant weed killer.
If you use round up, follow the directions. You will need to wait for a fairly windless day and cover the plants you don't want to kill. Do not cut the weeds but try to spray before the weeds have gone to seed. After spraying do not water for a couple of days. Some of the weeds will take a few days to start drying. Scrape off the dead stulff and remove whatever else is left. Water again. Weed seeds are not killed by weed killers. So you have to germinate the weed seeds in order to kill them. When the weeds come up spray them again. You will need to keep repeating the cycle of Spray-pull out residues- water until you don't see many weeds popping up. Cover the area with a thick weed barrier or cardboard if you are not going to plant it right away or amend the soil, do one more weed round up. (When you disturb the soil you may bring more weeds to the surface.) Plant and mulch to keep weeds to a minimum.
If what you have are mostly annual weeds then after you cut them down. use a hoe and scraped off as much of the roots as you can before you lay down the cardboard.
If you have tougher weeds. The approach is not so simple. Remove by hand as many of the weeds and roots that you can. Water the area when the weeds pop up repeat the process until you don't see many more weeds popping up.
If you are going to go the weed killer route and you plan to plant something in its place then you should be using a non-persistant weed killer like roundup. If you are trying to kill weeds in driveways and sidewalks, then I would go with the 10 percent vinegar or a persistant weed killer.
If you use round up, follow the directions. You will need to wait for a fairly windless day and cover the plants you don't want to kill. Do not cut the weeds but try to spray before the weeds have gone to seed. After spraying do not water for a couple of days. Some of the weeds will take a few days to start drying. Scrape off the dead stulff and remove whatever else is left. Water again. Weed seeds are not killed by weed killers. So you have to germinate the weed seeds in order to kill them. When the weeds come up spray them again. You will need to keep repeating the cycle of Spray-pull out residues- water until you don't see many weeds popping up. Cover the area with a thick weed barrier or cardboard if you are not going to plant it right away or amend the soil, do one more weed round up. (When you disturb the soil you may bring more weeds to the surface.) Plant and mulch to keep weeds to a minimum.
HI Guys,
Forgot about this post. Just wrote to say that I got it all sorted. After receiving the weed fabric (shortly after I posted actually) I found a flyer in with it advertising some weedkiller spray. I rung the company up and asked whether it was suitable, they said yes. I got some, it took a couple of applications and took a few days so I have to delay any further work but it was successful.
Thanks for the help.
Forgot about this post. Just wrote to say that I got it all sorted. After receiving the weed fabric (shortly after I posted actually) I found a flyer in with it advertising some weedkiller spray. I rung the company up and asked whether it was suitable, they said yes. I got some, it took a couple of applications and took a few days so I have to delay any further work but it was successful.
Thanks for the help.