Weed Control

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spudkins

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Weed Control
« on: June 27, 2011, 09:49 »
Good Morning Fellow Gardeners!!!

The weeds on my allotment are getting out of control.  I am thinking of putting a weed control material down on the paths but what do I use to peg it down with?  Any other weed control advice will be much appreciated, especially as I can't tell what is carrot seedlings growing or weeds.




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bigben

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2011, 10:08 »
You can buy plastic pegs to do the job. I have found these to not be very good, they do not hold all that well and when you want to remove them they are "barbed" so are hard to pull out of the woven weed fabric. A neighbour just uses 1 inch wide bits of wood which he has pre drilled and then banged in some long nails or screws every foot or so. It seems to hold, he has is running the whole length of his path. The other alternative is if your path has wooden edges you could staple it to the wooden edges. I found you can pop the staples easily if you need to remove it but will need to buy a decent staple gun.

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Kleftiwallah

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2011, 10:14 »

Use off cuts of heavy duty carpet.   Easy peasy.    Cheers,   Tony.
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DD.

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2011, 10:17 »
Do NOT use carpets.

They leech toxic chemicals into the soil from the dyes. Many councils ban their use.
Did it really tell you to do THAT on the packet?

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Aunt Sally

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2011, 10:36 »
Quite a lot of allotment sites BAN carpet for weed control and rightly so as you would know if you'd ever tried to remove a large piece that the previous owner had left there and it had "grown in"  :mad:

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DD.

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2011, 10:38 »
I'm relieved to see that Aunty agrees with me and it's not me that's going to the norty step.

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John

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2011, 11:46 »
I've used carpet myself in the past but the problem is that if you don't get around to removing it the weeds come through and the carpet breaks up so the job is even harder in the long run.

However, I really don't like looking at plots covered with plastic sheet either.

I'm not a fan of sprays but use glyphosate on paths and then, after a couple of weeks when the weeds are dying off. cover with wood chipping. Another solution for paths is to use a push mower set high or a petrol strimmer.
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sunshineband

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2011, 12:38 »
Quite a lot of allotment sites BAN carpet for weed control and rightly so as you would know if you'd ever tried to remove a large piece that the previous owner had left there and it had "grown in"  :mad:

I don't like the fact that all those toxins from the glue and colour are going into the soil right where I am going to grow veg to eat  :( :(

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Potty Plotty Lotty

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2011, 12:43 »
  Any other weed control advice will be much appreciated, especially as I can't tell what is carrot seedlings growing or weeds.


Sow seeds thinly in straight rows marked with a stick/label/string etc. When seedlings appear look carefully and you should be able to identify what is your sown seed (in a  straight-ish row) and what is a weed (growing both in your row and outside of it). Sometimes you need to wait several weeks and inspect carefully but the row should eventually become visible and you can safely weed away.  :nowink:

Also invest in a good hoe and keep it sharp-use them between rows and hand weed within the rows.

Try to catch weeds before they set seed. It will make subsequent years less weedy eventually.  :)



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bigben

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2011, 13:07 »
At the risk of contradicting a load of mods and the site owner - I also dont like the idea of chemicals on my soil but find life sometimes forces me to compromise. I agree that the issue of removing overgrown carpets is a problem. I have tended to lay down fairly heavy weed fabric on my paths and when possible use hedgecuttings and wood chips but have found that heavy carpet laid on weed fabric is much less likely to end up with weeds growing through it. I use it on the paths where I am less worried about stuff going into the soil. I also find lifting the carpets periodically helps to avoid stuff growing thru them. If they start to fall apart then get rid.

When I took over my allotment I found previous owners had had fires where everything including plastic was burnt, a shed treated with creosote and other iffy chemicals, lots of bits of wood lin various stages of decomposition with paint that I am sure was not toxin free. I suspect there would have been a wide range of weedkillers and pesticides used over the years, home made concoctions like fag ash solution to remove greenfly, peas soaked in parafin to deter mice, soil sterilised with Jeyes fluid etc. The possible risk of adding a little more to the problem has to be balanced by the time and energy you have available. In an ideal world we would not use carpet, even on sites which still allow it - but we would also not use weedkillers and pesticides even when they do claim to be no risk to the environment. If you can do this - well done - if not accept it as something you are working towards, and if a bit of carpet helps your sanity and allows you get on top of things in the short term then so be it. Do heed the advice on not letting stuff grow through it though.

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Trillium

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2011, 15:18 »
Therein lies the problem, bigben. Many folk are so time-restricted on their plots that lifting carpet periodically is just not on the list. Others figure it's merely a once in a lifetime job - put it in place and leave it. And, if they give up their plot, which is usually because it's overgrown, I pity the next person who must deal with it, especially after several years. Would you be willing to take on such a plot to later discover such a major problem?

I agree that some sites have had outrageous chemicals burned over them, but that's not the norm. Many sites are free of the chemical problems you've mentioned, and to add carpeting to these newer ones is irresponsible. Plus, as mentioned, many sites BAN them because of the resulting problems.

Gardening is not easy, it never was, never will be. It's up to the gardener to take the time to be resourceful and think of how to deal with excessive weeds - safely.

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DD.

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2011, 15:24 »
Well put, Trillium!

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John

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2011, 19:03 »
At the risk of contradicting a load of mods and the site owner -

We really don't mind alternative or contradictory views on topics when we're posting as members. It's just when we post as moderators that arguing is a not a good idea :)

Usually it's pretty obvious in what capacity we're writing.


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DD.

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #13 on: June 27, 2011, 19:57 »
Thanks John, a lot of people seem to forget that unlike a lot of other sites, mods are primarily members first, mods second.

As you say, it's easy to spot "mod mode"!

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bigben

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Re: Weed Control
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2011, 14:23 »
Therein lies the problem, bigben. Many folk are so time-restricted on their plots that lifting carpet periodically is just not on the list. Others figure it's merely a once in a lifetime job - put it in place and leave it. And, if they give up their plot, which is usually because it's overgrown, I pity the next person who must deal with it, especially after several years. Would you be willing to take on such a plot to later discover such a major problem?

The previous allotment I helped look after before I got my own had this problem - so yes I would be prepared to take on such a plot. I obviously have not made myself clear - my last post finished with a warning to not let stuff grow thru carpet and I pointed out that I used it when it was put down on a path with heavy weed fabric underneath, alongside periodic lifting to avoid just the problem you are warning about. I think we are both agreed on the dangers of laying and forgetting.

Where we perhaps differ is - within the usage I have suggested, I would be prepared to use it. Seeing it as a compromise for a season or two (assuming site policy allowed it) to allow spudkins to get on top of his weeds which are " getting out of control". I have made similar compromises on using weedkillers and pesticides at times knowing that the history of such products is littered with products which once thought safe are now banned.

 Carpet use as described is not "irresponsible" it is a compromise. If spudkins has access to woodchip then plonking this on top of weedfabric is likely to be a better long term solution. I do it myself but can never get enough of the stuff. (And of course you need to be sure it is not wood treated with nasty chemicals).  :)



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