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How do you fight weeds?

Discussion in 'Tilted Life and Sexuality' started by martian, Sep 17, 2015.

  1. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    Well, TFP, as you may know I recently moved into a house. This house comes with such house-like features as a front yard, and a back yard, and a walkway through the front yard. And weeds. Oh, oh so many weeds.

    The flower beds are a mess but I reckon they're not worth worrying about until the spring. The walkway is a bigger problem. There are weeds growing up between the paving stones in a most unsightly fashion (they also occur along the side of the house between the foundation and the driveway). I was looking at them today while mowing the lawn (because I do that now) and I was filled with hatred. I want them gone.

    Pulling them up by hand seems like a rather tedious job, and it occurs to me that were I to do so they would most likely just grow back anyway, rendering my efforts void. I figure there must be a more efficient way to do this.

    I don't really want to turn to commercial herbicides, they seem like they might be a bit excessive for my purpose. The internet suggests that vinegar is a possible solution, and I'll probably give that a shot. But I know we have a botanist and many gardeners in residence so I thought I might turn to TFP for any other folk wisdom in regards to these pesky plants.

    TFP, how do you kill weeds? Do you use an off the shelf product? Do you pull them by hand? Or do you have some other method?
     
  2. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    I use off the shelf stuff.

    Scott's seasonal fertilizer and weed treatment from early spring to late fall, supplemented by spot treatment by spray weed killer as needed. I do some hand pulling as well.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    If you don't want to use any chemicals, you go in and pull them out one by one. rinse and repeat.

    honestly, I've only hired gardeners because I can't garden worth shit. Look at California for an example of what happens if I'm responsible for taking care of the lawns.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    You may want to try white vinegar and/or boiling water to kill the weeds between the stones. But after that, you'll want to keep them from regrowing, so be sure to clear out the dead material and refill the gaps with sand or something similar to keep the weeds choked out. Also, it's good to keep the area swept to prevent "newcomers" from taking root.

    It may be difficult to avoid some upfront work, but keeping it well maintained will prevent the situation from returning.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. Levite

    Levite Levitical Yet Funky

    Location:
    The Windy City
    I totally read the title of this thread as "How do you fight weed?" And I was like, "You don't fight it! You smoke that shit!"

    And then I was like, "Ohhhh...."
     
    • Like Like x 5
  6. If you lived in the States I would have directed you to your nearest Extension Service with a land-grant University.......I'll direct you to mine.

    Here's an answer to a question that someone had about weed killer that wouldn't damage the lawn too: Perfect lawn, fact or fiction? | Oregon State University Extension Service

    This publication will help with those pesky herbicide resistant weeds: Herbicide-Resistant Weeds and Their Management | OSU Extension Catalog | Oregon State University

    These deal with PNW pests, so it may not be totally helpful...you can peruse our catalog for free things here: OSU Extension Catalog | Oregon State University

    Also, BabyDaddy's step dad creates a lethal (to plants) concoction for our house. It does a pretty good job. I could ask him what the recipe is.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. ralphie250

    ralphie250 Fully Erect Donor

    Location:
    At work..
    normally we just use ortho week killer and it works great, sometimes the pain in the ass ones i use gas and a match
     
    • Like Like x 1
  8. ASU2003

    ASU2003 Very Tilted

    Location:
    Where ever I roam
    I pull them out, just make sure you try and get the roots.

    Use weed cloth or weed fabric in the garden beds next spring. And get some silicone or concrete patch to go between the cracks.
     
    • Like Like x 5
  9. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars

    No, no. That kind of weed I'm perfectly fine with.


    I hadn't thought of boiling water, though in hindsight it seems like kind of an obvious solution.

    I've swept the walk twice so far in the two weeks I've lived here. The front garden isn't done very well I think, because when it rains the soil all runs out over the walk. I suspect that's the source of the problem. The whole thing will need to be redone at some point I fear, but if I can leave that until spring I'll be a happier man.

    Any and all help is appreciated. I'll have a read through those links when I have a bit more time.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  10. Lordeden

    Lordeden Part of the Problem

    Location:
    Redneckhell, NC
    I smoke them. Hur hur hur hur HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

    *****

    I really don't have good advice. I end up being lazy and calling my lawn guy. Otherwise Cinn just mows over them.
     
  11. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    DM: Roll for initiative!

    [​IMG]
     
    • Like Like x 3
  12. Stan

    Stan Resident Dumbass

    Location:
    Colorado
    That's pretty much my take. If it's green(ish), I whack it with a string trimmer.
    Thistle is the only exception. Nasty stuff that I dig out over and over again. Eventually I win.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  13. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Congratulations on the new home.
    I pull weeds. Then I put down mulch of some sort in the planters. Presently we use grass clippings as mulch because we have lots of it, it helps retain moisture, and it is good for building our soil.


    Cornmeal is good for weed prevention in cracks and crevices.
    My husband purchased roundup and has used it a couple of times, but honestly the weeds grow back faster than just pulling them up.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  14. Charlatan

    Charlatan sous les pavés, la plage

    Location:
    Temasek
    I used to pull weeds. The first is always the worst, because there are so many. After that, it's just maintenance.

    I think pesticides and herbicides are not allowed in Toronto. You might want to double check the municipal code.
     
  15. ralphie250

    ralphie250 Fully Erect Donor

    Location:
    At work..
  16. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    I do have cornstarch. And I'm not concerned about hard work if it comes to it. I just want to do it efficiently. Work smart, not hard.

    I'm starting to think that one way or another I'm going to have to spend some time on my knees pulling those bastards out. So perhaps my efforts are better spent on trying to prevent them from regrowing.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  17. Lindy

    Lindy Moderator Staff Member

    Location:
    Nebraska
    If they're green and in the lawn, they just get mowed along with the grass. The ones right up next to the foundation and the ones in the driveway and sidewalk cracks get attacked with a weedwhacker.
    A trick I learned from my dad is to spray (after whacking) the stubble with a pump sprayer using kerosene or diesel fuel. Don't use an electric sprayer because of the fire hazard. They won't grow back.

    He also uses a long handled propane torch, but I've never tried that myself. weedDragon.png
     
    • Like Like x 1
  18. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    The stuff that's in with the grass is a different matter. I'm not actually super picky. If the ground is green where it's supposed to be green then I'm more or less satisfied.

    It's the green where it isn't supposed to be green that I find problematic. It looks awful. They must die.

    I don't know if I've graduated to fire yet. We'll try some of the other methods first.
    --- merged: Sep 19, 2015 4:29 AM ---
    We do have a house full of college kids next door. I wonder if I can talk them into pulling weeds for beer money.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 26, 2015
  19. Shadowex3

    Shadowex3 Very Tilted

    Unfortunately when it comes to gardening and home maintenance plain hard work is often the only real option long term. "Easy" solutions are very often not so much fixing the problem as simply putting it off, potentially while accruing interest.

    Herbicides are obviously the most efficient option. They're designed specifically to kill plant life and that's exactly what they do, sometimes whether you want them to or not. Nowadays depending on the formula you can go with either preventing weeds from germinating in the first place or killing plants that are already growing, and of the latter category you can either go nuclear with a kill-everything-green herbicide or get a selective herbicide that only kills (or only doesn't kill) certain types of plants.

    If you've got stuff growing in walkways and concrete and you're allowed to use chemicals then that's probably your best bet since hand-pulling is a pain. If you're not allowed to use chemicals then boiling water or boiling vinegar is probably your next best bet, you don't need to worry about collateral damage so just try not to burn your legs. Pour slowly and give the heat a chance to really soak in and cook the roots. On the other hand if your weeds have hostages then a selective herbicide is better, and if that's not allowed hand weeding is pretty much your only option.

    Regardless of what you go for you're going to be doing this for as long as you live there. Plants grow. It's a simple fact of life. They'll grow anywhere they have sunlight, soil, and nutrients. If you put down weedcloth or plastic you're just going to have weeds growing on top of it with their roots going down through it and eventually it's going to make your life more difficult by interfering with digging, tilling, and pulling the weeds. It's one thing to put some down temporarily for a seasonal veggie garden but if you leave it there it's just going to become a pain.

    The bright side is once you initially have the situation under control it's a lot less work to stay on top of things. A yank or three here, a spray or two there, and you keep the place relatively weed free. Just remember if you let weeds live in one spot it's going to be more difficult to control them in other nearby areas where you don't want them.

    Weeds blow in on the wind, drainage is an issue all its own and one you absolutely do not want to put off at least investigating. Drainage issues can be anything from the minor annoyance of your garden's topsoil getting washed away to Very Bad Things(tm) like dumping water back against your foundation. Unless you've already checked on everything else during heavy rains and made sure your sump pump, weeping tile, etc are all doing their job well and everything's graded to drain away from the foundation this is definitely something to look into now rather than later.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2015
  20. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    Drainage isn't really a problem. The front flower bed is raised up and bordered by stone, but the stones aren't put into the ground right is what I think so the soil washes out of the flower bed with the rain. It's running away from the house so I'm not too worried; in any case, if the foundation has survived until now intact it will probably be okay for another winter. I don't know how old the house is, but I know it's old.