Weed Control

Perhaps the greatest bane of the allotment-holders life is dealing with weeds. Only the Garden of Eden was free from them and it is estimated that more man-hours of time are spent, on a global basis, carrying out weeding tasks than any other human activity!

As well as being unsightly, weeds take valuable nutrients, water, light and space from cultivated species and in the worst cases will straggle or overwhelm them.

Strategies
Here are three suggestions for managing weeds on the allotment;
  • Hand weed / hoe – effective when the soil is fairly crumbly. Why not look at John and Mick’s ‘hark-back’ designer hoe. Having given it a trial I was very impressed and have placed an order!
  • If you do not intend to use the ground for some time – say 3- 6 months or more – you could consider using thick black plastic sheeting or strips of old carpet to cover the target ground. By excluding light, any weeds currently growing will die and no new ones will develop whilst the cover is in place. However, be warned that after removal, and especially after the ground has been disturbed, weed seeds present in the ground are likely to germinate again.

  • Use of chemical weed-killers – at this point you need to decide clearly whether you belong to the organic gardening brigand and intend to stick to it or not. If you do want to grow organically then you can still use some weed-killers but the choice is limited as is there effectiveness across the range of weeds you are likely to encounter. Have a look at the Organic Weedkiller section of the Down Garden Services website;

            http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/weedkill.htm#organic

  • If you are not committed to gardening organically, then the range of chemicals available is much greater. For the allotment holder, products using the active ingredient glyphosate, or derivatives (e.g. Roundup), are the most useful and safest to use. This is because they are very effective on a broad range of weeds, but the active chemical breaks down on contact with the soil to form products that are safe to plants and animal life.
  Here are some tips for using this product safely and effectively;
    • Do not use if rain is forecast in the following 24 hours
    • If you intend to spray a fairly large area, purchase the concentrated version rather than the RTU (ready to use) packs – you will be paying a lot of money for water!
    • Again, if applying over a large area or intending to make multiple applications, consider purchasing a hand held chemical sprayer (pressurised by hand) rather than using a watering can. The sprayer will be more effective (due to the smaller droplet size) and you can cover the target area quicker and more consistently.
    • As glyphosate is a contact weed-filler (which then works down to the roots) any plant which is sprayed is likely to be damaged or die, so be careful if spraying close to plants you want to maintain, or in the vicinity of someone else’s plot!
    • Do not spray in windy conditions for the reason above
    • It will take about 5 days before you start to see the effect on the weeds and about 14 days for the full impact (damage down to the roots). Do not try to remove the weeds or turn over the ground until this period has passed if you want to see the best impact on weed control.
  • If you want some more information on a wider range of weed-killers have a look at the Down Garden Services or Bayer Garden websites below;

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/weedkill.htm

http://www.bayergarden.co.uk/

 

By‘Weed-basher’ (Roger)
Copyright Sutton Allotments 2008.