[Riala]

As you can see I have quite a wild untouched plot:



My question is - Which is better/quicker to get rid of this overgrowth. Round up, or Glysophate?

I have a contractor coming round to rotovate with his tractor but I have to remove the overgrowth first. So which one would be quicker, and can I plant directly after rotovation?

[gillie]

They are the same thing.  Roundup is a trade name.

Gillie

[oldbean]

I bet if you went through the plot with a chillington hoe/azada (call it what you like). you would find quite a few plants worth nursing. Roundup does not kill only plants. How many beneficial creatures are living in the plot?

[Riala]

Plants or not, the plot is being rotovated, I just wanted to know which one will kill the overgrowth quicker, and when I can plant after spraying.

The growth is 2ft high, so it needs doing.

We have ladybird, bee and butterfly nest's going up as well.

[oldbean]

Once you apply it, it'll take two weeks to die. The creatures will die quicker. Either directly, or as a secondary effect, or by starvation.

If you rotavate things like bindweed before it is dead, you have millions of bindweed plants.

The growth is 2ft high, so it needs doing.

You might want to do it, I'm sure "it" is quite happy as it is.

A scythe would deal with the top in about an hour, then cover with weed suppressing fabric, then you could do the bits as and when you want.

I know, I know; you want to rotovate it.

[Kristen]

Resolva might be the quickest (mixture of Glyphosate [slow action, kills the roots] and Diquat which kills the tops quickly. It says you need 7 days before cultivating

http://www.resolva-weeds.com/

However, if the Glyphosate hasn't had time to do its slow-action stuff you may be wasting your money ... I couldn't find any cultivation elapsed-time information.

[Riala]

Actually, the rotovating was an option offered to me from the council, and is offered to all new tenants.

I am a vet nurse, I am more sympathetic to animals than most.  At the same time, I would like to feed my children with goods grown by my own hands, and not with food grown and sprayed and cultivated in huge poly tunnels or farms that use all sorts of chemicals and ways to speed grow crops.

This is why I am concerned about using Round Up or Glysophate.  But the council have offered to turn over the plot IF I get rid of the overgrowth.

Not sure why you seem to be angry at me for wanting to grow my own veg the same as everyone else on this forum, or why I must pay rent on a field like plot just so a few mice and spiders can live there.

[oldbean]

Don't mean to sound angry, that's not the case at all. I looked at your blog and thought what  a good  effort you were putting into things.

Years ago I had used roundup. Bordering on failure, I thought it was a waste. Now I look at the alternatives, and doing it mechanically I can go as fast as I would anyway without having to use sprays. The ground then stays covered one way or another till I need it

After the spraying attempt it was several years of undergrowth hacking but not bothering growing anything. Last year I decided to put in spuds so I dug over an area and planted. Luckily it rained, and I didn't need to water all summer. This year I bought one of the fork-on-a-stick thingys, and the digging hoe and one or two other bits. Ripped out brambles cut off weeds, put down anti-weed sheet and planted loads more things. The tools made a huge difference, not much bending, and I kept enough wild areas around so predators had a home.

Sorry I'll get off my box. 

I wish you weren't so far away, I'd bring me tools and have most of it sorted in a day (honest), I couldn't get the plants in though. 

What type of soil is yours?

[Riala]

The soil is fantastically amazing to be honest! Once you get through all the couch and twitch that is.

The 2nd spade down was gorgeously dark soil, really fluffy and soft.



Them two small squares (4ft x 5ft each) took us 3 days to dig.

[oldbean]

THREE DAYS (yeah, I know the feeling, been there) see here. It's a US site but it has useful info. get-digging.co.uk has more info, but they have gone on holiday it seems.

I went to fix a customer's boiler last week and she happened to ask `if I knew where she could get one of the (did a display of digging with hoe) tools that she could by anywhere at home in Italy. I showed her the links. She was really pleased, since, as she said, they were so much easier to use.

Your soil is MILES better than mine.  (so must get some pics of what's growing).

[Aunt Sally]

Well I tried to tackle a new plot (much like yours Riala) with a digging hoe and nearly killed myself into the bargain   

So I've glyphosated the lot.  It's dying down nicely (except for the marestail) and I'll keep any regrowth strimmed intill I can dig it over removing weed roots and add a layer of manure on top.

Rotavating will chop up the couch grass, dock  and marestail roots I'm afraid and may make your weed problem worse 

[Riala]

Alright alright!!

I am converted! I will ask the council to cancel the contractors

Really wanted some veg in this year, but I will take your advise and try to find one of these tools instead.

I will still Roundup the nettles at the edge down the bottom though as I would prefer my 2yr old not to help me dig them up.

[Aunt Sally]

The digging hoes are pants in my opinion Riala, nearly recked my shoulders.

I'm just digging with a fork or spade and removing the roots as I go but I'm keeping it strimmed down so that anything the glyposate has missed doesn't take offffff. 

My soil is very dry so I have to water a patch first, but softly softly catchy monkey.  As I clear a patch I'll plant something.  You can plant loads of things later in the season and through the winter too. 

[Riala]

Arrggh... so many options hehehehe

I just don't know what to do!

[Aunt Sally]

As we say here 6 gardeners will give you 10 opinions 

You pays yer money and takes yer choice