[PennyS]

Mine was covered in couch,  and I hand dug it all, section by section. It was really hard work but absolutely worth it.

I covered as much as I could in black weed membrane (the woven sort) and did a section a week.  The covered stuff was definitely weakened by being covered so that did help reduce its vigour and made it a bit easier to dig out.

It's trying to come back in clumps but I reckon I can keep on top of it this year. 

My problem was what to do with the couch I dug out - we can't burn on site.  I've now lined a pallet bay with black membrane and have stored all the dug weedy soil in there = it's completely covered up so, all being well, in a couple of years it'll have finally died and broken down and I can put some nice loam back onto the plot.  Well that's the theory...

So I guess mine isn't a very helpful suggestion - hand digging is the way?   Good luck.

[Gandan57]

The beauty of couch is once it starts growing it gives away it`s position and as the roots are close to the surface it is quite easy to remove- as long as there isn`t too much of it!

Any roots I remove are just left on the surface in small piles for the sun to dry out and kill. When they`ve dried out I just screw up some newspaper, put the roots on top and have a very small bonfire. Alternatively once they are completely dried out and dead they could be put on the compost.

I`m just waiting for May to see how much bindweed I get this year. Now that is a different kettle of fish....,.

[DD.]

as the roots are close to the surface it is quite easy to remove

You evidently cultivate a different variety of couch grass to me. I can take a full spade's depth out and still have roots below!

[ex-cavator]

Is the horse manure where it's coming from? The three piles of manure left on my two plots are covered in the stuff, and within the soil the most heavy concentrations of couch grass seem to be the bits that have been heavily manured during the past couple of seasons. Not much elsewhere  :blink:

[Gandan57]

If the roots went down that far here they would drown!

[SpudtheBinx]

I dug a trench for my rasberries a could of years ago and put some horse manure in and that came up with a lot of couch. There may be undigested seeds in it perhaps?

[HLS]

I've just dug a wheelie bin-sized-pile of couch grass roots and dandelions out of a bed about 2mx5m - I'd neglected it a bit at the end of the year but it was usefully growing stuff before that.  Honestly, sometimes I think it would be less trouble to learn to eat the couch grass. 

What's the best way of dealing with it when it's growing through my veg, though?  Even when it's young it seems to be very good at resisting hoeing, pulling it without loosening the soil just snaps the leaves, and I can't really dig it out properly when it's right next to a beetroot seedling.

[Allotmentgirl]

In November 14 of us were given plots on a new site. The council had a contractor set it up. He sprayed Roundup and then ploughed up each plot with a rotavator - chopping up couch grass, dock and buttercup. We now have tiny bits of root all over the plots sprouting like mad. I have been digging and weeding all this time, hoeing it all out and making a huge heap (hidden behind my shed). Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it.

I'm afraid there is no substitute for digging and I have a feeling its going to take years to erradicate the problem. Still, I'm so grateful for my allotment I can cope with the work.

[Growster...]

Ypu're right Allotmentgirl...

"I'm afraid there is no substitute for digging and I have a feeling its going to take years to erradicate the problem."

Look on it as a long term project, and as the old boy in his eighties one side of me confirmed, "Just keep it moving around"!

Luckily, there is a communal tip on our plots, so the whole shebang went down there in a flurry of good riddance.

Next year, I'll be able to see it coming - I hope, but Gandan's right, it does get up to the top and start to dry out, and you just pounce on it from there!

Good luck anyway, the spuds will do some couch-shifting for you this year...

[shaz_mum_of_2]

how does couch grass respond to being smothered with cardboard?

We have been digging it out and are nearly ready for planting winter brassicas, we did wonder obout a thick layer of card followed by some compost as per no dig or lasagne gardening to stop it finding its way up but worried after reading the downfall of using carpet

[Aidy]

how does couch grass respond to being smothered with cardboard?

We have been digging it out and are nearly ready for planting winter brassicas, we did wonder obout a thick layer of card followed by some compost as per no dig or lasagne gardening to stop it finding its way up but worried after reading the downfall of using carpet

It will laugh in your face, the roots will go through almost anything it wants too, I have had through the whole of a spud before, sorry but the only way to is to dig it all out, once  you have the bulk out it will get easier, as soon as it appears dig it out, the ground will be softer so easier to lift.

[blackisgreen]

what you want is a week or so of scorching weather then dig it up then let it dry out ive dug a deep hole and buried it deep too that seems to work but digging on dry days does kill it but digging it is am afraid

[Growster...]

We're looking at (potentially), another plot 80' x 30', and hope we can swing a tenancy there.

It is smothered in couch and brambles, and I'm aiming at six months of digging each piece of weed out, to eradicate it.

Time (and the Parish Council), will tell...

[sunshineband]

In November 14 of us were given plots on a new site. The council had a contractor set it up. He sprayed Roundup and then ploughed up each plot with a rotavator - chopping up couch grass, dock and buttercup. We now have tiny bits of root all over the plots sprouting like mad. I have been digging and weeding all this time, hoeing it all out and making a huge heap (hidden behind my shed). Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it.

I'm afraid there is no substitute for digging and I have a feeling its going to take years to erradicate the problem. Still, I'm so grateful for my allotment I can cope with the work.

This sounds familiar -- the council had rotavated my plot several time before I was able to have it,and kindly replanted all sorts of perennial weeds.

Dug and dug and dug (and still am) but winning, so stick with it.

(and we have a communal tip for waste like this, luckily  )

[stompy]

You say you are willing to use weedkiller, so here's how i completely cleared my old plot in one season.

What i did with my old plot was weed kill (glyphosate from wilkinsons) then rotavate then after a month or so, weed kill again then rotavate and that was it, you have to have dry weather for a couple of days to use the weed killer though 

I found that the weedkilling killed most things and the rotavating chopped the remaining pirenials roots into tiny pieces which sprouted again.

The second weed killing killed 99% of the remaining weeds including pirenials couch/dock/thistle (etc) as the roots were so small there was not enough reserves in them to come back.

You can do this upto 4 times in a season if needs be, then you need to keep the hoe going to get rid of the 7 years worth of seeds that are already in the ground