Weeds

[OldMcDonald]

Walkin Horse, I have never known any stock eat it - horses, cattle, sheep (very hungry sheep at times in Australia) goats and various poultry. It stinks and I guess they "know" it is poisonous. I think it was because it is poisonous that somebody in Oz had originally called it Castor Oil Plant.

 

[Walkin Horse]

Well Sunday I mixed 32 oz. of Trimec 24d and 32 oz. of generic roundup in 25 gals of water. I sprayed the jimson weed and polkberries. Mon into Tues everything started to wilt. Yesterday it was still about the same. But as I walked and looked a whole new crop had sprouted up in 2 days. Some of it was 2" to 3" tall. I understand that the plant has to be up and takes the spray in through its leaves but man this stuff is hard to kill. I don't want to sterilize the ground so I guess weekly spraying is the next thing to try.
Am I thinking right that the green balls are where the seeds are spreading from. Would burning the young plant with a torch do any good. And will the heat make the mature ones pop open and spread faster.

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[8N Ren]

Might sound off to you but have you tried spraying for weeds on a decreasing moon cycle? My FIL swears by it and you get better results, same for cutting trees, less moisture within.

 

[Walkin Horse]

No I never heard that but it's worth a shot. How far after full moon works best? Where are we at now?

 

[OldMcDonald]

Walkin Horse, I very much suspect that the young plants were already there when you sprayed and the cover of the bigger plants meant that they were not hit with the spray.

I do not want to sound patronising, but yes, the "green balls" are the seed pods. That is where the seeds are. It is extremely easy to kill. Hit it when it is small, do not wait until it has already set and distributed seeds - you will see the the "green balls" split after a while and throw out thousands of little black seeds that grow next year's problem. No need to mix 2-4-D with glyphosate either. Just give it glyphosate.

You will have a seed bank of several years already in the soil. They will keep coming back even if you kill everything that germinates. Eventually you will win if you do not let any more plants set seed. There is an old saying "One year's seeding means seven years' weeding" so look forward to a decreasing problem over the nmext 7 years. After 11 here, I have almost won. Good luck to you.

 

[Walkin Horse]

Thanks for the reply. Should I spend the time chopping the dying stalks off and remove them to a burn pile. I'm thinking if I get the seed pod out before it breaks open it mite slow the spread. I have also noticed when they shoot up in places like the garden, they are easy to pull up by the root.

 

[OldMcDonald]

If the seed pods are unopened (and it you have the time to complete the job) then I think it would be worthwhile - otherwise just be prepared to spray earlier next year. You will have to tackle them again anyhow due to the seedbank in the soil. I agree they are easy to pull out, even when well grown, but they stink your hands too. Wearing gloves is probably a sound idea.

 

[wngsprd]

There is an old saying "One year's seeding means seven years' weeding" so look forward to a decreasing problem over the next 7 years. .

That's a good saying, OldMcDonald. For example, last year at this time we went to Utah for 10 days and in the rush to get ready to go I didn't get all the weeds out of the garden...they seeded, and since I don't use gly in the garden, I've had to retill it 4 times so far, and am heading out to till it again this morning.