[witchwoopiggy]

This is my lotty



it has now been strimmed and mowed and all weed, grass clippings taken off the plot. So now all i have is the roots, my question is if i use a rotovator am i just creating long term problems ? As far as i can tell there is no major weeds ie brambles or blind weed (sp?)and the one small patch of stingers has been dug out by hand including the roots. i seemed to be getting conflicting advice from fil and friends , thank you for any help

[JayG]

Rotovating strimmed weeds will slow them down but won't stop them re-growing, and if couch grass is one of them you will chop the roots up into potentially hundreds more plants! 

There isn't really a fast option; glyphosate takes weeks to fully take effect, and digging out all the roots by hand is obviously not quick either, although you could get a small area prepared to grow crops in this year.

It's been said before; don't frustrate yourself by trying to do everything all at once, especially as the growing season is quite well advanced now. 

[ferreter51]

I'd be tempted to dig out a small patch - or as much as you feel like digging out to start things off - and putting glyphosate on the rest ready for next year.  I did that with mine, then covered the patch with thick black polythene over the first winter.  You will get weeds, certainly, but not as many as were there to start with.

If using horse manure you may also import weed seeds or roots in it, so be on the look out for them.

[potatogrower]

Hi,

I mentioned else where on a thread that you could use a spade or those half moon spade to dig small but long rectangle pieces out of the grass and the from one end with a fork, lift it and roll it up like a carpet. it might be heavy hence small pieces but you can easily transport it to the tips without a mess.  any weeds left behind can be dug up. just a thought but like some growers have said divide in sections and work on each at a time.

[witchwoopiggy]

thank you for all help and advice