Don't you just love weeds?

Discussion in 'Garden Pest Management and Identification' started by TracyN, Apr 5, 2008.

  1. TracyN

    TracyN Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
    Am a relative newcomer to this gardening lark (around a year). Just enough time to figure out that my main focus needs to be weeds. I have found several sites that will give me info on plants that I want, including pictures and care tips, but nothing pictorial or helpful on weeds. Would prefer natural methods to kill my weeds off, because we have loads of bird and butterfly life around here, but I cannot even identify the weeds I have, so I have no way of finding out how best to get rid.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Cheers

    Tracy
     
  2. Love4Bugs

    Love4Bugs Active Member

    Messages:
    44
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA, USA
    I once read a bumper sticker: "What to do about dandelions? Learn to love them!" I suppose it depends on the weed. Myself, I just pull them when I can, cut them to stop any seeding, or learn to love them. Sorry if this isn't a ton of help but it's a great organic way to control weeds.
     
  3. TracyN

    TracyN Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
    Yes, pretty much tried that one this summer. Now there are one or two that are taking over the place. in spite of by belated efforts to get rid! Hence my looking for a bit more info... Thanks though, 'cos its nice to know I'm not the only one who believes in loving (nearly) all the plants!
     
  4. Robert Flogaus-Faust

    Robert Flogaus-Faust Active Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    5
    Location:
    Dreieich, Germany
    Hi Tracy,

    I know essentially three methods of getting rid of weeds: pulling them out (especially good for annuals with weak roots), digging them up (e. g. perennials with runners or long rhizomes), plucking off all the leaves repeatedly until the weeds die (if the first and the second method are unsuccessful). Well, I suppose this is not too different from what you already know. Nevertheless these methods should work in most of the cases on a trial-and-error basis even without a positive identification of the biological species of your weeds. If you'd still like to know the species of your weeds then you might take photographs of your weeds and post them in the plant identification forum or in the hortboard. Somebody will probably be able to identify them and possibly even tell you how to get rid of them. Of course there are also some books about weeds from your area. I do not know much about these, however. I found references to some publications on this page:
    http://www.hear.org/gcw/html/autogend/datasources.htm
    and I found a series of rather old books by Kathleen A. Landsdell (Weeds of South Africa) which is probably not available any more (except as used books). Of course there might be some other books in Afrikaans (which I do not speak). May be you can also get some help picking the appropriate books in your local bookstore or your public library.
     
  5. TracyN

    TracyN Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
    Robert, thanks. I think I may go the photo route, as I have one particular weed that is driving me to drink (as if I needed an excuse!) I have pulled out bucketfuls, including roots, but it seems to put more down every 2 or 3 cm., so I know its always coming back, usually quicker than I can get rid. My main problem is that it is among 'proper' plants and the lower growth looks more or less the same when I am in the thick of it, so I am not sure whether I am pulling the good or bad stuff. Hoping for a 'quick fix', but not really expecting one. Will add the book title to my list - cheers
     
  6. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

    Messages:
    4,776
    Likes Received:
    6
    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Newt's got a good saying about that - if it comes out of the ground easily, it was a valuable plant.
     
  7. TracyN

    TracyN Member

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
    Indeed...
     
  8. Olafhenny

    Olafhenny Active Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    178
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Penticton
    Hi Tracy:
    What you do with your weed problem depends very much on two things:
    - Which type of garden you want to protect from weeds
    - Which type of weeds you are dealing with
    As far as vegetable gardens are concerned, you have heard pretty well all there is to be said in above posts. I can only add, that I have been successful by keeping right on top of it for some time. You should pull out even the smallest weed regularly, covering your entire veggi patch at least once every two weeks. That catches the weeds long before they can flower and develop seeds, with enough redundancy, that you can still get any weed you might have missed during the next run through. Keep in mind, that only one weed missed can produce a hundred off springs.
    If you do that rigorously for a few repetitions, you will see a marked decrease in unwanted greenery.

    If you are talking about ornamental garden, you can go with various forms of mulching:
    - Crushed rocks on top of landscaping cloth interspersed with various shrubs are quite popular here in the relatively dry interior of British Columbia. That is a condition, which may also exist where you live, just a bit warmer. I don’t like it, because sooner or later weeds will establish themselves and you can get bloody fingers, trying to pull them out with some of the roots attached from between the rocks.
    - You can do the same thing with bark mulch instead of rocks, but the bark mulch will dislocate over time and with the landscaping cloth showing through, it may soon look like a mess.
    - I am in the second year of trying a different approach. I am establishing full area coverage with various ground covers. Most of the following will not let any weeds through once established and will spread quite rapidly:
    Various thymes, of which woolly thyme is the fastest spreading:
    Snow in summer Cerastium tomentosum Zone 3 to 8 (!) (Your zone?)
    Creeping phlox
    Periwinkel Vinca minor for shade and under conifers

    Not very fast spreading, but proliferate by seeding out nearby is Dianthus deltoides (flashing light)
    Other plants, through which weeds will not grow, but which spread at a more moderate pace are the various aubrietas and a whole bundle of sedums, though not all.

    The idea is to establish a complete cover without gaps, which either closely hugs existing shrubs or through which you can plant shrubs. You can make it a patchwork quilt in a variety of leaf and flower colours, like I did, or you can make it all the same ground cover like the elegant combination of a field of snow in summer Cerastium tomentosum accented with pink ground cover roses. Whatever you do, if you do it right, once your cover is established, weeds will no longer be able to regenerate, but until then, I am afraid, you will still have to go down on your knees and pick’em.
    Good luck,
    Olaf
     

Share This Page