[Goldfinger]

OH and me's just had a couple of hours weeding, and so bagged them up, but over time you really can't help taking a bit of soil too ending up with lower bed levels so, is it possible to let them wilt - die - heat up and rot down in the bags and then return the stuff back to the plot without the risk of regrowth etc?

We don't have a compost heap for the waste etc, that's until we do some rearranging over the winter.

[dugless]

As long as you take out the perennial weeds, the rest will rot down and you can reuse the soil

[Goldfinger]

How do you recognise perennials to other weeds when they're so small??

And, is there not enough heat generated in bags to make sure etc??

[DD.]

If they're very small, I'd be inclined to do as you suggested in your original post. Leave them in the bag until the end of the season and then dump it back in.

[hightide]

They have had the cheek to germinate and grow in my ground using my nutrients and water dragged miles from from the butts: there is no way they are getting discarded!
 
Bindweed is never bagged, tear off any seed heads, all the rest including dandelion roots are bagged. I use old compost bags they are thick and strong, when full spray wet and compress, tie off and stack until next spring. I have only ever had nettle roots survive this process, but they are easily pulled out.
Pure black gold

[solway cropper]

I put perennial weeds in a big tub of water and leave them to fester for a month or so. The resulting smelly liquid makes a good feed and the part-rotted mess can then be bagged up to compost down.

[DD.]

I think we're missing the point that the poster said they are so small the perennials can't even be identified, let alone start ripping bits off them.

I'll stick with my original reply.

[Robster]

I would do the same as the Cropper.  Drown the lot in a big dustbin.  Use the liquid and dig the rest in as you don't have a compost bin

[DD.]

I still think leaving them in the bag is less faffing about - they're in there already - nothing else needs to be done.

[dugless]

Having read the the replies I am pleased my post was in the main correct.

I see people on my site bagging up throwing away the weeds along with all the nutriments

they have used to grow

[jimthejimjim]

Can you do the same with couch grass?
I have a lot of it ( 2 large piles to be precise) and there is quite a bit of soil among it that I don't want to see taken to the tip.

I was hoping to rot it down by covering it but I imagine it might take a while with couch grass....

[bigben]

I would be tempted to drown them in water for a good while until they go mushy and rot then compost whats left. They are evil - though not as bad as bindweed. I bagged up loads of this and came back a couple of months later to find it had not only kept growing but had managed to work its way through a little hole in the top of the bag

[Plottered]

been thinking of using a waterbutt for putting perrenial weeds in (Ive a lot) then have the feed on tap

[lancashiregardeninggal]

I always do the same as hightide and DD but am thinking of starting to drown some as has been suggested to make feed

[Yorkie]

If you plan to put them in a water butt and drain the liquid off through a tap, I'd take care to remove the soil first because otherwise you run the risk of the soil particles clogging the tap up at the bottom of the butt.