weed project

[praha]

I bought a black dirt last year for my organic garden and all I had this year was a w e e d

garden. THICK. its about 100x 100 ft.

What implement should I use to get rid of it. I'll buy it, cultivator?, tiller? I have Kubota 3400, and only potatoe plow for a land "management".
Any idea?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[polo1665]

Boy, you had better be careful. Growing weed in the Chicago suburbs can get you in a lot of trouble. Whatever you do don't burn it.

 

[zionview]

Tillage would be your simplest answer. Till when you see weeds that are just seedlings, only a half inch or so tall. They are easy to kill at that stage, and tillage is still easy. The bigger they are, the harder it is to work them, and the more nutrients they are tying up. A disc is my choice for shallow tillage. Spring tooth harrows would work, but occasionally they drag weeds around and redistribute them. If you decide to rototill, you can rototill lightly, or till deep and plant a cover crop to provide competition.

 

[Maxfli]

I till about a 40' by 50' garden as well also Chicagoland. Have a 42" Rototiller behind the tractor. Last year I had a ton of weeds as well. This year we had a better handle on it, but it still wasn't perfect. At the end of the season this year (3rd Week in September) I tilled everything in for the winter and broadcast Preen over the area. I think there was plenty of time for germinantion of weeds after the September tilling and so far there is not a weed in the garden. Hopefully next year will be better yet!

 

[kthompson]

I bought a black dirt last year for my organic garden and all I had this year was a w e e d

garden. THICK. its about 100x 100 ft.

What implement should I use to get rid of it. I'll buy it, cultivator?, tiller? I have Kubota 3400, and only potatoe plow for a land "management".
Any idea?

Thanks,
Joe

For the size garden you have, black plastic with holes punched in it with pitch fork before being unfolded for water to seep through and make a nice "X" at each plant. Or several sheets of news paper (best use of new print today) to cover the ground around the plant. No idea of what plant they grow there like this but strawberry and tomatoes here. Watch out for mice under the plastic which then may mean snakes under the plastic. You will also have cleaner crops. If you are planting a row so close to each other you don't want to cut an "X" for each plant just pull the plastic up close to the plants. You can also use flower bed mulch material if you desire, it will let water through but I like the heat build up under the plastic as it warms the soil. Believe it or not, Red plastic us suppose to make tomatoes grow better. You can place a little bit of dirt in piles along to hold this down.

 

[kthompson]

Boy, you had better be careful. Growing weed in the Chicago suburbs can get you in a lot of trouble. Whatever you do don't burn it.

Don't you mean elected?

 

[praha]

Boy, you had better be careful. Growing weed in the Chicago suburbs can get you in a lot of trouble. Whatever you do don't burn it.[/QUOT

HAHA, thanks for your great advise. Arbeit, Arbeit, Immer viele arbeit" maybe arbeit macht frei would be more propriet for your signature.....

Joe

 

[praha]

Thank you guys,

I have a field of weed 15 inches long and it is VERY THICK. IT has to be killed somehow/without chem./

If I use a rototiller 10 times over , I will have even more weeds, am I correct. THE only way is to remove it piece by piece....with my hand....????? Isn't it.
I bought a nice dirt... black and rich looking...no weeds of course, and it looks like it came from a river bank. Thick heavy grass started to grow, right in the spring....

Thanks for your help/opinion.

I've never had a garden before. But I Am going to change my garden. I will bring fresh crop to my garden. With your help I am going to bring a new era to my garden . Yes I can. Yes, we can.Thank you for your support.


Joe

 

[firefighter9208]

The weeds are coming up from the seeds. Till and let the weeds come up. When they are 1" to 2" tall till again. Let the weeds come up. Till again. Over and over.... Get the idea?? Once you have basically gotten all the weed seeds in the soil to germinate you shouldn't have any more weeds. Then the weeds that do come up in your garden need to be pulled by hand BEFORE they go to seed. One pigweed can have over 1 million (yes 1,000,000) seeds.

That's why farmers used to use a turning plow. When you bury the seeds 10" to 12" deep in the ground they can't germinate.

Now many crops are "Round--UP Ready". They no-till or drill the crop in and spray the weeds with roundup. A couple applications of roundup during the growing of the crop and no weeds or erosion.

Of course now some pigweed have developed a resistance to Round-up and is devestating the peanut, cotton, soybean, and corn crops in Georgia. This Round-up resistant strain of Pigweed is now spreading to Alabama and Georgia.

Chris

 

[praha]

Thanks Chris,

NOW I understand. Long way to go ..organic , anyway.

Joe

 

[AchingBack]

Thank you guys,

I have a field of weed 15 inches long and it is VERY THICK. IT has to be killed somehow/without chem./

If I use a rototiller 10 times over , I will have even more weeds, am I correct. THE only way is to remove it piece by piece....with my hand....????? Isn't it.
I bought a nice dirt... black and rich looking...no weeds of course, and it looks like it came from a river bank. Thick heavy grass started to grow, right in the spring....

Thanks for your help/opinion.

I've never had a garden before. But I Am going to change my garden. I will bring fresh crop to my garden. With your help I am going to bring a new era to my garden . Yes I can. Yes, we can.Thank you for your support.


Joe

Here is the best book ever written on the value of weeds. You can read it for free on line. It is out of print, and now a rare book. This is truly a wealth of information.
Weeds
Guardians of the Soil

by

Joseph A. Cocannouer
Weeds, Guardians of the Soil

 

[ampsucker]

chris is right. you have to break the cycle which means killing the weeds before they produce seed.

you have a lot of weeds because they came with the topsoil. we had a load of topsoil brought in to my mom's property. never had a problem with johnson grass. this load of soil was loaded with seeds. i have done my best to keep after it. anybody who has battled johnson grass knows it is difficult to kill with selective herbicide and has a very deep and rhizome based root system much like bermuda. yes, roundup will do it in, but only at the expense of whatever it is mixed in with. it is imperative that you watch closely when new topsoil is brought in and nip any newcomers in the bud.

yes, native weeds do some beneficial things for the soil. that doesn't mean you want them in the garden. they are first and foremost competitors and very efficient ones if they are native to your climate. sometimes we harness weeds and plant them on purpose to improve the soils. clover/vetch/cowpeas/soybeans etc. all fix nitrogen to the soil. they are beneficial if grown at the right time, but if allowed to go to seed each season, you will continue to grow that same crop and it will be very difficult to grow anything else. you have to break the cycle before they germinate by harvesting/cutting or destroying the root system.

if you don't continue each year to introduce new topsoil that isn't high heat composted and if you have decent barriers (fences, natural isolation, etc.) so new seeds don't blow in or get carried in by birds and others, you can expect the weed problem to diminish each season if you keep tilling or plowing or hoeing before they go to seed.

keep in mind that different weeds flower and seed at different times. the key is to watch for flowering or "bolting". once the flowers come out or the seed stem shoots up, it's time to do them in. seeds are eminent!

yes, organic is more work, but is worth it in my opinion. stick with it. it will pay off once you get a handle on it.

also, watch your mulch. using a hay mulch is akin to sowing hay seed (wheat, oat, rye, etc...) and there is no quicker way to get an unwanted crop growing...

amp

 

[praha]

..............................That's why farmers used to use a turning plow. When you bury the seeds 10" to 12" deep in the ground they can't germinate. ..................................

I think I can buy a turning plow...or a lets say 48 inch tiller ? Am I gonna be able to bury all that weed/ grass that deep?/12"/ Stupid questions I suppose.

Maxfli...I am in Downers Grove , land in Aurora....we are TOYGER breeders. /new cat breed in development /.

Joe

 

[ampsucker]

most single bottom moldboard plows and tillers will be dig down to 5-7" depth in decent soil. that should be plenty to destroy the root area of the sod bed and turn under weed seeds.

if you need to go deeper to break up compaction, a sub soiler is the tool you need, but it won't do much for your cause in the top soil area.

of course, whenever you disturb the soil, you can bring older, buried seeds to the surface. seeds can remain dormant but viable for years.

the key to reducing the weeds is to repeatedly destroy the weed crop before seeds can form reducing over time (years) the amount of seed available for germination so you can introduce your own species and have it thrive without competition.

amp

 

[dillo99]

I had a bad time with weeds in my garden this year too - first year of garden and great black soil. My problem is that there are weeds all around outside the garden so getting rid of the seeds through tillage seems impossible. I am going to try the black plastic this year and see how that works out!

 

[john_bud]

Just cut the weeds, then cover the ground with black roofing rubber. Let that sit on the soil thru spring, summer, fall, winter, spring. Take it off every time it rains then put it back. Hold it down tight at the edges. It will make the seed germinate, then die from no light. The high temps in the summer will also kill more and help sterilize the soil. After the second spring, nearly all the weed seeds will be dead. No Chemicals needed - just time. If you don't want to spend the time, re-think your organic aspirations. There is no "Fast" organic. Fast is chemicals.