[penance]

As the Wurzels sang - Thee casn't kill cooch

[Cavolo Nero]

I've accepted that it's going to be a constant war with the stuff. Even if I get every bit of it out of my plot, the boundary fence and in fact the entire site is ringed with it. However when it rears it's ugly head, me and my mattock will be waiting!

I like the idea of cultivating it though - that and dandelions would be the easiest crops ever!

[BostonInbred]

I've accepted that it's going to be a constant war with the stuff. Even if I get every bit of it out of my plot, the boundary fence and in fact the entire site is ringed with it. However when it rears it's ugly head, me and my mattock will be waiting!

I like the idea of cultivating it though - that and dandelions would be the easiest crops ever!

Dig a trench a spades depth all the way round, that will stop it infiltrating from outside the plot.

[Cavolo Nero]

I've accepted that it's going to be a constant war with the stuff. Even if I get every bit of it out of my plot, the boundary fence and in fact the entire site is ringed with it. However when it rears it's ugly head, me and my mattock will be waiting!

I like the idea of cultivating it though - that and dandelions would be the easiest crops ever!

Dig a trench a spades depth all the way round, that will stop it infiltrating from outside the plot.

Thanks - but it's also all amongst the raspberry canes I inhertited from the last plot holder. How do I fight that?

[andy135]

I would lift the canes, and clean the soil from the roots. Clear our the raspberry patch and replant the canes.

[cooperman]

two schools of thought - well I was advised to painfully dig over my plot and remove (by hand) every last bit as "it'll take over ya plot mate"  well I thought for all of two seconds and said to myself sod that for a lark.   Of the plot I took over - one of the three strips was pretty bad with the "twitch" so I covered this over with heavy duty ground cover plastic - a year later it was totally clear cept for a few odd bits round the edges, sorted.  As for the other two strips these had some serious patches of couch but on the whole not too bad.  Unlike accepted wisdom I have rotavated these patches A LOT and the first year a fair bit came back and thereafter it was less and less. The plot is virtually clear now.  My take on the matter and a little research to boot shows that a) I rotavated the weed to death and b) more importantly couch grass does not like cultivated ground at all (how much couch grass do you see growing in a farmers field? zilch)

oh yes - I never used Glyphosate either.....

[andy135]

Farmers fields are never neglected...............allotment plots are, and that is where the couchgrass starts to spread.
A ploughed field effectively turns the soil over by two feet, the equivalent of you double digging. If you did that you would have very few problems with weeds as you would be burying them.

[Ropster]

for someone like me who works full time and doesn't have time to painstakingly dig out every root. it has to be roundup. i use the stump and brushwood killer variety and water it on rather than spray. I also have bind weed and creeping buttercup. i have only had the plot 2 years and they are diminishing but not totaly gone yet

[bobabout]

Hi All Last year I was clearing a large area of my plot and just took off the top 4" piled it up in one corner and covered it in heavy black plastic 600micron dpm.... This year that pile is clear so now over the last week I have taken of the top 4" off the rest of my plot and storred it in a timber (ply) bin with the same plastic over (but set 6" inside the bin and up the sides) this is held down with stones and then filled with water the plastic then conformes to the shape of the bin and the soil. With no light, oxygen or water next year this will be clear

[DD.]

Hi bobabout, welcome to the forums.  You may have noticed that this thread has been dormant for nearly a year.

It's no use digging down 4" with my couch grass. 4 feet more like. I can dig a full spit down and still see roots where I've dug the soil out.

[LittleSlugInTheNorth]

I use a (half hearted) double dig to clear my plot of this stuff-it's stangely satisfying to pull out roots that are 3 ft long. Doesn't leave much time for planting but the plot looks really neat and tidy