General Weeding advice
Hoeing
Long handled hoes are used in vegetable patches where there
is more space around the plants. Short handled hoe can be used in borders or
around vegetables.
The traditional advice is to hoe when there are no weeds at
all; by disturbing the soil you interrupt the weed seed's germination. In
practice this impossible to do, but try and get the weeds as young as possible.
Hoeing is most effective in dry weather.
Flame gun
Burn the weeds to a crisp with a butane flame gun. It can
take a long while to do a large patch, but it is more fun than spraying. Gas
refills cost approx. £2-£3
Weed extractor
These are pushed into the soil and twisted to remove the
weed along with a plug of soil. Useful for the spot weeding of deep rooted
weeds.
Watch out for gimmicky
weeding devices, they are nearly always useless. The more complicated it looks,
and the more it claims to able to do, the more useless it is likely to
be.
Types of weed killer
This is only a rough guide to the types of weed killer
available. Always read the instructions on the back of the packet before use.
Glyphosate
Glyphosate based weed killers are the most common for
general-purpose use, they are most effective on grasses and perennial weeds
with non-woody stems. Weeds should be sprayed when they are actively growing so
that the Glyphosate will go down to the root and kill the weed completely.
Glyphosate will be neutralize upon contact with the ground,
which makes it safe to plant in the area soon after treatment. It is available
ready mixed or as a concentrate. With the ready mix you will paying a lot for
the water that it is diluted with, but if you only have a small plot or if you
don't have a safe chemical storage cupboard, then ready mix is the best option.
Glyphosate based weed killers include: Roundup,
Tumbleweed and B&Q complete.
Diquat
Diquat based weed killers are used for killing small weeds
in amongst shrubs, they weed killers are safe to use around plants with woody
stems. They are much faster acting than the Glyphosate based weed killers,
starting to act within 12 hours. However they do not go down to the root of the
plant, so they are not much good on tough perennial weeds.
Diquat based weed killers:Weedol
Patio and path weed killers
These weed killers are not licensed for use around food
crops and as such they can contain a cocktail of potentially very dangerous
chemicals. Never use them anywhere but on paths as they make the soil itself
toxic, to prevent weeds for regrowing.
Lawn weed killers
A range of selective weed killers that only kill
broad-leaved plants and not grasses. They are available in liquid or granular
form. A few lawn weeds are very resistance to lawn weed killer.
If you have any more information on weed killers or any
weeding advice I can add to the section please email me.
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