[Madame Cholet]

 under 2 layers of membrane will a year kill it or will it take longer?

[BabbyAnn]

I'd say longer - roots tend to go dormant when conditions are not right.  I had a few beds under cover for nearly 3 years and when I finally got round to digging them over, the roots were still very much alive.  As nearly all grasses are very susceptible to glyphosate, I now find it quicker and more effective than trying to dig them out.

[Madame Cholet]

I'm organic Ill have to dig them if not dead at least it looks tidier.

[gavinjconway]

The only way is to spray or dig every piece of root out.. (difficult) cover will not kill it..   organic or not you will need to spray to get rid of it properly..

[DD.]

Whilst not wishing to disagree, we have a professor of horticulture on our site who says that if you cover a plant for the whole if it's cycle and deprive it of light, that will see it off. A year's a long time to keep a piece of land out of commission, though.

[gavinjconway]

Wish that would work for mares tail DD  not even a tar road or pavement kills it!!   

[Baldy]

I've found that a year under cardboard or similar definitely knocks it back and I've found it a lot easier to dig out - suppose under cardboard the soil tends to stay dampish... Really struggled at my old plot when I didn't cover first. On current plot its been fairly easy to pull out. (Not saying that I've beaten it though)

Cheers,
Balders

[Lardman]

Im with Gavin on this one.   

I've tried leaving it covered - it will be back, no matter how much it's set back.  If you want it gone dig it out. I've done a 6'x6' patch again today (3rd time) each time it gets less and in this weather the bits grow fast and well dug soil should be dry enough to pull them out.

[Madame Cholet]

Whilst not wishing to disagree, we have a professor of horticulture on our site who says that if you cover a plant for the whole if it's cycle and deprive it of light, that will see it off. A year's a long time to keep a piece of land out of commission, though.

Its ok its my 2nd plot the orchard just wanting to plant under the trees as a forest/wildlife garden rather than grass. I don't have the time or energy to dig it out this summer. My veg plot has been hand weeded and I'm getting rid of it slowly.

[Twitch]

I don't like the dark   

Sorry off topic   

[Madame Cholet]

I don't like the dark   

Sorry off topic   

[DD.]

Wish that would work for mares tail DD  not even a tar road or pavement kills it!!   

That's because it'll grow through it!

[beesrus]

I agree a good 12/18 months will kill of most twitch/couch.... but not all in my experience.
Not that it's any big problem as 90% of it dies and it makes very good compost. It's no big deal to pull out the odd long roots that remain as they pull out easily from pre dug piles. I had a couple of cubic meters of the stuff covered and only pulled out a few roots after 2 years. Lovely stuff it turned out to be.

As for completely ridding beds of weeds/grasses, I don't think that's possible if you manure regularly... the stuff is full of seeds, cow manure as well. You can almost have a green meadow 9 months after an application of manure.

[Madame Cholet]

I agree a good 12/18 months will kill of most twitch/couch.... but not all in my experience.
Not that it's any big problem as 90% of it dies and it makes very good compost. It's no big deal to pull out the odd long roots that remain as they pull out easily from pre dug piles. I had a couple of cubic meters of the stuff covered and only pulled out a few roots after 2 years. Lovely stuff it turned out to be.

As for completely ridding beds of weeds/grasses, I don't think that's possible if you manure regularly... the stuff is full of seeds, cow manure as well. You can almost have a green meadow 9 months after an application of manure.

It will be planted with perennials as a forest floor some edible others for wildlife so no manuring hopefully they will cover the ground with minimal weeding. I have another part of the plots for veg beds.

[beesrus]

Sounds like a lovely idea you're doing there. In that case, I would be tempted to bite the bullet and really dig it over thoroughly. We only get our best chance once where perennials are concerned. If not digging initially, I would cover for 2 years, but it's an awful long time to wait for something so interesting.