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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 12:50:59 GMT -5
Post by armjr on Feb 20, 2015 12:50:59 GMT -5
As long as you don't have nutgrass, count your blessings.
Alan
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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 13:57:11 GMT -5
Post by brownrexx on Feb 20, 2015 13:57:11 GMT -5
Actually we do. I just discovered it last year but it's not too bad. Maybe the cold weather keeps it in check here.
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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 14:00:26 GMT -5
Post by desertwoman on Feb 20, 2015 14:00:26 GMT -5
What is nutgrass? Never heard of it.
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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 14:44:28 GMT -5
Post by gakaren on Feb 20, 2015 14:44:28 GMT -5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyperus_rotundus
Oh yes, we have that too! And we have Fl. sandspurs and another burr type thing that sprouts in the spring, forms it's little spurs and then dies...and it's hard to control...killing it after it has formed those spurs doesn't help, it just makes more! I've forgotten what it's called, but our extension office knows what it is...we had a horrible infestation of it all over the county last year.
ETA...DW, the nut grass has little underground runners. Every so often on that runner a little "nut" (tuber) forms and up pops a shoot. If you are pulling it out...unless it is very wet, you seldom get the "nut" with the grass and it just sends up another shoot. If you dig it...you will be digging for months if not years and still if you miss even one "nut", it's back! I tried digging it out of where I planted potatoes one year. Didn't work, and I dug that area for over 2 months before I planted them. Those little underground runners will go right through a potato and make it rot! And if it is allowed to bloom and set seeds...well, it just gets worse and will crowd out other plants including yard grasses.
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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 20:29:10 GMT -5
Post by James on Feb 20, 2015 20:29:10 GMT -5
I took taxonomy in college. We had to make a collection of 25 plants, pressed and dried and displayed and properly identified. The flower parts are the main things to look at first, but other characteristics often lend a hand in getting the ID correct.
Any way........... likely forgot most of that stuff at this point?
A weed is a plant out of place. IOW growing where you don't want it. In my garden a weed is any plant I did not plant. Seed comes on the wind, in my irrigation water and some grows on site. Yes, there will be weeds. I just plant, then when the crops are up run the wheel hoe between rows, which gets most of the weeds. Then there is a bit of hand hoeing and hand pulling of weeds. All that said and done, there will be weeds that mature in the garden and make seed. Any way, weeds end up compost. They are a fact of life.
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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 21:39:01 GMT -5
Post by armjr on Feb 20, 2015 21:39:01 GMT -5
There's two things I've found to get rid of Nut Grass. 1). heavy impenetrable mulch for several years. 2). Hogs.
I put the hogs in the garden one year to clean up anything I had left behind and they rototilled the spot where the nut grass was. they got every last nut and the stuff didn't come back. I had some in the garden here at the house and I mulched it with oak leaves about 7-8 inches deep and kept it mulched like that every time I'd till. It finally died out.
Alan
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Weeds!
Feb 20, 2015 23:22:31 GMT -5
Post by gakaren on Feb 20, 2015 23:22:31 GMT -5
There's two things I've found to get rid of Nut Grass. 1). heavy impenetrable mulch for several years. 2). Hogs. I put the hogs in the garden one year to clean up anything I had left behind and they rototilled the spot where the nut grass was. they got every last nut and the stuff didn't come back. I had some in the garden here at the house and I mulched it with oak leaves about 7-8 inches deep and kept it mulched like that every time I'd till. It finally died out. Alan Yes, I had an extension agent tell me to turn hogs in on it that they would root it all out. Except we didn't have hogs....only the wild ones running around that area. Here, I pull it and pull it and pull it, especially after a good rain. It has cut it back to about 1/2 what it used to be but I doubt I'll every get rid of it totally.
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Post by farmerkevin on Feb 21, 2015 0:40:10 GMT -5
While it may be interesting to some....getting technical is not why I garden or grow things. I'm just happy to know if something is "good" or "bad" so I know how to treat it....keep it our pull it out.
Besides the Bermuda grass down here, we also have chickweed, at least 5 different varieties of dandelions, henbit, wild catnip, invasive golden rod, and a whole bunch of other "problem" plants. We have several "weeds" that grow along with the chickweed & henbit that I don't know the names of...but they are just as bad! I kinda do the same. But I figure "if I didn't plant it, it's gotta come out". I never thought to leave a weed that may be beneficial (?) And I have a grass that grows among the blackberries. It has roots that just never end. Even wet, it just does NOT pull out easily. I think it chose to grow among the blackberries just to see me squirm when I get a handful of blackberry among the grass haha
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Weeds!
Feb 21, 2015 7:28:13 GMT -5
Post by kimmsr🕊 on Feb 21, 2015 7:28:13 GMT -5
Keep in mind that many plants we classify as "weeds" are wild flowers and serve an important function in our world. For example Milkweed, for many a very undesirable plant but the only plant the Monarch butterfly larva can live on. Eliminating the Milkweed is one part of why there are fewer Monarchs around today. Dandelions, one of the earliest plants to blossom in the spring which helps feed the pollinators coming out of a winter of dormancy, and some research today indicates the Dandelion may have in its pollen "stuff" that helps those pollinators get healthier. People that want to eliminate the "weeds" remind me of my parents generation that wanted to fill in wet lands because they did not understand what role those wetlands played in the environment,. I have explained the role Milkweed plays to many "conventional" gardeners only to be met with a blank look telling me they simply do not get it.
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Weeds!
Feb 25, 2015 19:56:30 GMT -5
Post by James on Feb 25, 2015 19:56:30 GMT -5
Here we get Quack Grass. A rhizome root grass that is hard to eradicate. Three tillings spaced 2 weeks apart is pretty effective. The roots run out of reserves. Digging, sifting and removing the roots works well in small areas. Keeping it cut short also makes it run out of reserves. Then there is the chemical approach. Hate to go there, but it is an option. For sure, do not let it go to seed in your area.
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Weeds!
Mar 31, 2015 15:48:03 GMT -5
Post by wheelgarden1 on Mar 31, 2015 15:48:03 GMT -5
Wisteria! I've got dozens 10 to 20-foot vines sprawling across a lawn area next to the vegetable garden, the legacy of an ill-advised planting years ago that has escaped it's boundary. Very much like phone cord lying on the ground. Going out now with a machete to cut and gather them up, once again. Resurrecting an old thread, timely I suppose as the growing season gets started. Could also be listed as a "Garden and Yard Regrets" item. I've got a few of those.
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Weeds!
Mar 31, 2015 22:14:43 GMT -5
Post by OregonRed on Mar 31, 2015 22:14:43 GMT -5
wow, interesting thread
I have I forget the name - some sort of perpetual wild lettuce that tastes like lemon... anyway, 4 years later, still have it. oh well I just keep pulling and digging to keep it 'back'
wisteria - who knew! "phone cord" love it! (sorry Wheel, no offense intended (hugs) ) feel free to smak me
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Weeds!
Apr 1, 2015 0:05:09 GMT -5
Post by Latitude33 on Apr 1, 2015 0:05:09 GMT -5
At the moment in the CG we are dealing mostly with morning glory, garlic chives, nut grass, fan palm, spurge, mallow, Bermuda grass, oxalis and coyote melon.
What is everyone's weed weapon of choice? For me, knee pads and my trusty hori-hori.
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Weeds!
Apr 1, 2015 10:28:06 GMT -5
Post by desertwoman on Apr 1, 2015 10:28:06 GMT -5
I have both a short and long handled Dutch Hand Hoe I use. They have razor sharp edges. I've had them so long I can't remember the where I got them, but they work great.
I also have a "dandelion weeder" that I can stick in alongside deep rooted weeds so that I can get the entire root out.
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Weeds!
Apr 1, 2015 12:29:26 GMT -5
Post by gakaren on Apr 1, 2015 12:29:26 GMT -5
Of all the dandelion varieties we have, there is only one that is impossible to pull by hand after a good rain....thank goodness! Some won't pull well if we get dry, but a good soaking will loosen them enough to pull, roots & all!
And my "tools", well for starters those gloves like hospitals & dr. office have, my hands and ibuprofen for the back aches! Some times I will use that pointed thing or my 3 prong thing to help get the weeds started.
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