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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2007 20:53:41 GMT
After watching the weather today, I thought I would go down to the allotment to do some weeding this evening before it gets a bit wet and chilly here in Dundee.
In general everything is fine. My cabbages are keeping fine and my 1st earlies are just popping through, but those weeds are starting to bother me.
We took on our v overgrown allotment last December and now I am really finding out what was in it before. Little weeds I can manage to hoe off ok or get down on my knees and pick them off with a little fork, BUT the Thistle things that are there nearly broke my back!
Is there any easy way of getting rid of these? Most are growing in my potato ridges and Im scared of damaging my new tatties when I am trying to get the thistles out.
But despite all this, the lottie is coming on fine and I am most happy even though I lose my weekends (i work full time and my son still goes to bed early being only 8)!
Thanks for any advice.
Julia
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2007 22:31:43 GMT
This is how i get rid of thistles.....i let them grow to a good height....then snip them off which leaves a stem like a straw, then fill up the stems with Round Up, kills them outright within two days....i leave them to work it's way to the root. If they are mixed in your mixed beds then it's easier to deal with them this way without harming anything else. Problem with Thistles is that they creep underground and if you try and dig htem up the roots snap off and just grow another plant. Works everytime for me.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2007 16:03:44 GMT
Ive got lots of weeds growing round my plants on my lottie, ive been to the GC today and ive got a product called Deep root Weedkiller Gel, it can be used to kill weeds next to wanted plants. its got a brush in the lid and you brush it onto the weed.
Im going to give it a go, i have also got some Round Up that i am going to use on the rest of the plot.
Mine is overgrown so i am going to give both a try to kill the weeds.
What Ziggy has said works ive done something similar at home and it killed them.
Karen
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2007 18:26:32 GMT
If you've got Dockens Karen just dig them up root and all, if you put weedkiller on the larger ones the leaves die off but the root eventually puts out more....they're very tenacious this way. I find it easier to dig these out and then treat everything else.
Bain of my live the Docken...ok when they're wee but if they grow digging is the only way to get rid, fought them for about four years before they abaited, just cos they had been allowed to seed willy nilly for years. I found one in my uncultivated area that was as about 5ft tall.....will need to get that dug out too.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2007 19:04:37 GMT
Ive got worse the dreaded Ground Elder loads round the Rgubarb i will get them all eventually will take time though ;D
Im digging out as much as possible but there are loads.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2007 20:42:45 GMT
Thanks for the replies. I will try your method Ziggywigs, but at the moment everytime I see them I just start digging them out! Maybe I will do half the plot by each method. Ooooo that means I can go to B&Q tomorrow!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2007 21:14:16 GMT
Ive just had another thought about tackling these thistles. Ive just found a couple of those ink refill injector needles, would I be able to inject weedkiller into the thistles as they appear? This way the weedkiller would only go near the weeds I want to tackle. Im just not sure if this would work.
Thanks
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2007 20:44:10 GMT
Be worth a try...let me know how you get on.....being in Scotland they're the bain of my life!
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2007 21:07:35 GMT
Just an update on the 'death by injection' trial I am doing. In general it seems to be working BUT there are a number of really dead thistles now and a number of ones which look like they are slowly dying off, so I think the ones that were injected in the stem did die much quicker. It was just so fussy trying to find a decent part of the stem to inject as you have to dig down around the thistle to get to it and these ink refill needle thingies are a bit too big I think. Quite a few times I went straight through the stem, but even this seemed to work, as long as some of the weekiller got into the stem.
But i suppose If you have a few hours to spare you could quite happily do it this way, especially if its a nice day. The other good thing was that I did this when it was slightly windy, so no weedkiller spraying anywhere else.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2007 22:06:23 GMT
Oooh that's interesting....i've got the little blighters popping up again from the field next door.
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