Redneck weed control

[bwalley]

Vinegar works but the torch is more fun. :laughing:

 

[Oaktree]

Any tips on controlling weeds around slow-to-germinate crops like carrots or beets? Seems like by the time the carrots have sprouted the weeds have already taken over. Hard to pull 'em without damaging the carrots at the same time.

 

[Creamer]

I've seen commercial weed killers used on the sidewalk in organic neighborhoods around here basically a big steam cleaner that squirts hot water/steam at the plants cooks them it works well but is more expensive than chemical weed killers

I have seen irrigation on a wheat field when it was too hot cause the sun to scald the plants and kill the field. The farmer was new to irrigation and did not understand the subtleties.

 

[super55]

Any tips on controlling weeds around slow-to-germinate crops like carrots or beets? Seems like by the time the carrots have sprouted the weeds have already taken over. Hard to pull 'em without damaging the carrots at the same time.

We face a lot of similar problems in our garden. What we have found that worked best especially in controlling weed growth between rows is to let the grow until just before heads turn to seed and mow it down with a push mower at the lowest setting. Doing this will almost always take care of your annual weeds.

Perennials like crabgrass, quack grass and orchard grass take a little more follow up effort. We usually have to follow that about 5 days later with either a torch or the vinegar/salt/dishsoap concoction and then spot spray the remaining weeds.

As for around your vegetable plants just good old hand weeding and light hoeing will be your best bet.

Big thing to remember when cultivating your garden for weeds is you want to disturb the soil as little as possible. Even if you do a shallow till with rototiller all you are doing is creating a brand new seed bed for annuals to take off and deteriorating your % of organic matter in your soil.

Buy a cheap used lawnmower off craigslist, Block the discharge chute and make sure your rows are wide enough to run the push mower down.

We have tried all sorts of things and so far this seems to be the quickest and least labor intensive approach for us in our weed control. Only downfall is that when the plants are just starting to take off they are slow to establish due to competition but once the weeds are handled they usually make up the difference in short order.

 

[mapper]

We raise fairly large vegetable garden (50X100),plenty big for my wife and I and a couple of not so welcome deer. I have found that using soaker hoses really cuts down on the weeding after the weather days out a bit. Tilling between the rows for the first month or so then the soil is dry enough that the weeds will not germinate. I also till a 5' buffer with a tractor mounted motivator around the perimeter to keep the pasture grasses from invading as well.

 

[FarmWrench]

2-4D on the thistles. It will only kill broadleaf (ding up trees and wipe out grapes) weeds. So your grass will be fine.

Flame works great on bugs. Blast off one antenna and that bug is going to die a slow death. Best part of the wounded bugs is they are susceptible to their diseases. Somethings a bug disease will finish the whole population. Before "Admire" insecticide flame was the future for potato growers.

Steam helps kill weeds. Maybe rig a tiny water line into the flame?

Any weed over two inches is costing you yield. Many weeds reproduce via rhizome. The seeds don't matter.

 

[jack707]

I used a weed burner to get rid of weeds last year but there back this year!.