[sweet nasturtium]

I had an altercation with my OH at the weekend.  We have a new Lottie, with many weeds.  He was digging up and then turning the soil, with couch grass on the bottom, saying that would kill it.  I said no, turn it on its side and let the roots and grass dry out (it was dry weather).  

Please feel free to take sides!

[shaun]

sorry nasturtium your both wrong it will come back to life,in my opinion theres 2 ways to remove it the 1st is weedkiller and the 2nd is regular rotavating ( this one has worked for me)

[WG.]

I will fearlessly steer a middle course by saying you are both wrong!  

But he is more wrong than you ...

Couch roots will dry out in the sun/wind provided they are free from all soil.  You are better raking them off to dry elsewhere (or to submerge in water to drown them).

[Aunt Sally]

It'll grow back again  :evil:

You need to completely remove the root rhyizomes, which is almost impossible.  You'll have to keep working away at it to weaken it.

You can kill it with glyphosate, but it may need more than one application, this is obviously not the organic option  :!:

[Trillium]

If only couch would die so easily, gardeners everywhere would rejoice. But couch is the THE most persistent weed going. Even after I dig out what I can, shake off all the soil and set it aside to dry out, I have to be careful that the roots don't touch any soil or they simple dig back in and start growing again. I now dry them on gravel paths or wood planks. Though I try to be as organic as I can, I've had to also add a special couch herbicide powder to my raspberry bed to help control couch. It's very pricey stuff but it's slowly working and killing the deeper roots (I see it when I dig up areas).  At the lotty, you'd be better off to collect it in buckets and send it to the tip.

[Tom]

No you should not put them on the top of your soil. This is because the weed is clever and will just grow down. I found that the only way to get rid of the little * is turn over the soil and pick them by hand. Do not snap them in half because they will spread as two couch grasses.
 Tom  

[crowndale]

I read some where last night on the net, can't remember where, where the write confidently wrote that couch grass usually only grow 2-4 inches down and rarely more than 6".  have to say this is not my expereince!  The only way to remove it is to dig it out (or rototvate frequently/weedkill it).  It takes hours to dig it out but is effective til you have to do it again!  The father of a friend of mine has had his plot for 30 years and is STILL diggin out couch grass every year!

[Titfertat]

But couch is the THE most persistent weed going.

Trillium, have you tried getting rid of marestail ?!!!

I got my (unworked for 2 years) half plot in late January and manually forked out all couch grass and roots (only went down about 12 inches I'd say) over a few weekends and passed about 30 bags full to the local tip for safe keeping.  Hardly any has re-grown in my beds.

What I didn't realise was that lurking lower down in the ground were dormant marestail roots which are popping up faster than a very fast thing running at top speed!!

I've tried to be organic and chop them off below the surface in the hope it might weaken the plant (or plants - god knows how many are down there!) by reducing photosynthesis but I'm fighting a losing battle.

Others on my plot say they don't do any harm, just live with them, but their plots down seems to have many, so I'm suspicious that they've been at the chemicals in the past!.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[milkman]

I've been putting it into my giant compost bin and when I come to turn the compost (which may not be for many months as there are an awful lot of other higher priority tasks to attend to - like transplanting overgrown plants) if I come across its creeping roots I'll pick them out and drown them in my water butt set aside for this purpose - this is my organic-relaxed-attitude-to-weeds approach  

[milkman]

ps I'm talking about couch grass not mares tail - I think our John has some advice about this in his information pages as I know that this is something he regularly has to battle with on his plots.

[splodger]

i have alot of couch grass and bind weed to deal with.

i have made a compost bin from woven hazel (like hurdles) it's well smart - recycled and free

i have placed my walkboards over the top - and three wire frames over that - creating a huge riddle. any weeds and roots go on the top wire frame to dry out.

after a few days i can easily rub of the excess soil - and throw into my burner (old oil drum). any small roots that fall through are caught on the boards - and picked off and the soil goes into the compost bin.

this is effective - and it helps to save any worms that are still in soil - they just drop down into my compost

i have to clear alot of grass paths on my plot - and the ones i have done so far have all been cleared and burnt. the burner gets really hot - so all weed traces are gone and the ash will go back on the plot as required.

[diggerjoe]

is it called couch grass cause after spending hours digging the stuff out all you can do is lay on the couch - I still have half my lottie to tackle yet wondered whether I should just enjoy it as a long lawn!

[Trillium]

We don't have marestail here as far as I know but do have something called horsetail, which someone processes into the most wonderful organic cleaning soap. As for any form of equinetail, I don't have that in my garden, but I've got yearly bumper crops of rocks (3 barrow loads) which I swear I cleared out the previous year.

I've found couch as deep as 8" but not further. Bindweed roots are another matter. The beggars curl like springs as they grow down so if you try to pull out the root from above, it only snaps off the upper inch or 2 of the coil. Full digging, sometimes almost 18" is needed for that. Same for sowthistle.  :evil:

[Aidy]

Marestail is the water type, Horstail is the landlover, very closley related, its a true nasty, I have never tried John Amicide weed killer down to expense, but if you keep digging it up you will kill it off, couch i find is fairly easy to control (not eradicate) compared to horsetail, as Shaun has said regular rotovating is a good way forward but you have to keep at it or it multiply beyond believe. Just remember that hosetail/mairstail has been around since the prehistoric days so it aint going to go away without a fight.

[Aunt Sally]

We have loads of horsetail on our allotment  :evil: I dig out as much black root as I can and keep pulling and hoeing it to weaken it.  One of the old allotment holders there said "Never let it see a Sunday".  Some truth in that I think