Gardening: How to weed control
There are many ways to control weeds.
Whether chopping, starving or using chemicals - every type of weed control
has its advantages and disadvantages.
Why some plants are simply annoying
You hardly turn around and they are already sprouting again:
Even if wild herbs are of ecological importance,
they simply grow at the wrong time and in the wrong place,
take away water from ornamental plants, grab nutrients from the soil or overgrow the beds completely.
The term "wild herbs" hardly occurs to the troubled gardener in the face of
proliferating giant gruel or spreading chickweed; weed control becomes a regular duty.
Mechanical weed control
Simply chop off or loosen the soil and pull the weeds out of the ground:
Mechanical weeding is the most effective, but also the most laborious
way of weed control - you get rid of the weeds completely one by one.
If you chop off weeds, you gradually starve them out.
This is especially true for established root weeds with metre-long rhizomes,
which simply cannot be dug out of large beds at all or only with a lot of effort using a digging fork.
At some point the energy reserves in the roots are used up and the weeds give up.
Until then, however, you have to keep on the ball, so that weed control can take months.
MSG/Martin Staffler
In the vegetable garden the weeds can only be controlled mechanically
Two tools are essential for weed control: a pulling hoe for beds
and a weed pricker for rosette-like growing weeds such as dandelions,
which like to spread out in the lawn.
A weed pricker is also good for controlling yarrow, which forms runners in the lawn.
If you use weed clippers with long stems, you don't have to bend your knees in front of the weeds.
On larger areas, a wide pulling hoe is the best way to control the weeds.
In dry, warm weather, leave the chopped weeds as mulch, they just dry up.
However, this is only possible if the weeds have not yet formed seeds.
Weeds may also be put on the compost only if they have not yet bloomed.
Otherwise the danger is too great that the compost will become a weed distributor next year.
Roots and even just root pieces of goutweed and other root weeds have no place in the compost.
They go into the organic waste garbage can.
Annoying are root weeds that have nested in the root ball
of perennials and hide there from the weed hoe.
Dig out these perennials in the fall and comb the weed roots out
of the root ball with a hand hoe with prongs or hand grubbers.
As a side effect, you can also divide the perennials in the same way during the weed control.
Tip: Weed control in the seedbed
Digging around, smoothing out and... and watch the weeds germinate.
Digging up a new vegetable patch inevitably brings to light weed seeds that will remain germinable for years.
Therefore, leave a freshly planted seed and planting bed lying fallow for two to three weeks before planting.
During this time, chop off the weeds that will soon germinate and then have some rest between planting rows.
Chemical weed control
Some weeds are still pulled out of the bed grumbling.
But when chickweed, goosegrass or French weed go into mass production,
herbicides are quickly seen as the only way to control weeds.
Chemicals work, but they also have risks and side effects - for the environment and your wallet.
The agents act on and over the green leaves,
and pelargonic acid-containing agents destroy the leaf mass in the process.
Everything that is green dies off.
However, the active ingredient of these so-called leaf etching agents remains outside the plant.
The effect is similar to a chemical chopping off, the roots remain intact,
so that some post-treatments are still necessary.
MSG/Martin Staffler
Chemical herbicides are applied directly to the leaves
So-called systemic agents are also absorbed through the leaves,
but are distributed throughout the plant with the sap flow.
The active ingredient interferes with the plant's metabolism and acts right down to the tip of the root,
so that parts of the plant not directly affected by the agent die off.
Systemic remedies are only effective with heat.
Otherwise the plants are inactive and weed control with the expensive agents remains ineffective.
The weeds must be fully grown, which is why most of the agents
do not work sufficiently after flowering - the plants are too inactive.
Herbicides do not differentiate between good and bad,
all herbaceous plants with green leaves are damaged during weed control.
Only spray if you can guarantee a sufficient distance between weeds and crops.
Temptingly convenient, but absolutely prohibited:
Herbicides must not be sprayed on sidewalks,
terraces, gravel areas or driveways - high fines are possible!
MSG/Martin Staffler
The use of herbicides is strictly forbidden on paths and terraces. Here you have to help yourself
Do not use home remedies for weed control
Whether vinegar, salt or other supposedly biological agents:
you should not use any self-mixed agents for weed control,
even if you keep reading recipes for them.
After all, according to the German Plant Protection Act,
every plant protection product and thus every herbicide must be approved for the specific area of application,
such as ornamental gardens or vegetable gardens.
Even mixed broths are not that, they are not even approved as plant protection products - a double misdemeanor.
Weed control with heat
Heat has proven to be a good method for weed control in pavement joints.
Either butane gas or an electric heating coil provides the necessary temperature
of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius at the weed burner.
Guide the devices slowly over the leaves.
This destroys the cells and the plant dies.
A short heat shock is completely sufficient, the leaves do not have to burn.
This is a convenient and time-saving method of weed control,
but it must be repeated more often, as the roots remain intact and the plants will
sprout again after one or two weeks.
Boiling water, by the way, has the same effect and penetrates even deeper into the joint than hot air.
Alternatives for weed control in joints are special joint scrapers or a green joint,
which are planted with star moss or flat saxifrage plants and thus simply take the place of the weeds.
iStock/greenphotoKK
With the help of a weed burner, the weeds in pavement joints can be effectively controlled
Weed control in lawns
Weed control in the lawn is a special case and can often be done with
a little lawn care - and with lawn fertilizer.
Because lawn is basically a monoculture of grasses.
Everything that strengthens them weakens the weeds.
If you fertilize the lawn regularly and do not mow it deeper than four centimeters,
weeds will not cause any problems.
Lawn herbicides are the last option for weed control.
Tip: If you want to scarify, do not scarify before mid-April,
but rather at the end of April, when the soil has warmed up sufficiently.
The lawn simply does not yet grow strongly enough to cope with the brutal attack.
If one scarifies too early, one pulls runways for approaching weed seeds into the turf.
With a weed pricker, rosette-like growing weeds such as dandelion can be easily removed
Weed control with mulch
Opaque mulch films are an effective way of weed control.
But cover on it and Giersch & Co. disappear into eternal night? In principle,
yes, but you also have to bring some time with you - often a whole
season - and you have to come to terms with a film in the garden, which you can,
however, hide under bark mulch.
Even the most stubborn weeds will not be able to cope with the loss of light.
Instead of foil you can also use thick cardboard.
Not beautiful, but effective: Plant your fruit and vegetables in the kitchen garden in foil, so the weeds have no chance
This method is particularly suitable for large, unused areas and for the restoration of newly acquired gardens.
Mulch film is also useful under paths and gravel beds, provided it is water-permeable.
In vegetable beds, film is particularly effective for weed control:
Lay out the film and make a cross-shaped slit in the areas where you want to place plants.
In planted perennial borders, however, films not only prevent weeds but also impair soil life,
as the films artificially separate the soil from the surface.
In addition, mulch films make general work in the bed more difficult,
reduce planting possibilities and hinder the supply of nutrients through fertilization.
In addition to films, lawn cuttings or bark chaff are also suitable for weed control.
Attention, do not mulch tree slices and vegetable beds too thickly,
this only creates habitat for mice and perfect hiding places for snails.
Root weeds will eventually grow through bark mulch,
but can be easily pulled out of the loose material while the plants are still small.
Groundcovers like cranesbills quickly form a closed plant cover and do not let weeds come up at all
Biological weed control
"Stop, you can't come in here!" Groundcovers act like bouncers when
it comes to weed control and are probably the most beautiful way to keep a bed free of weeds.
On the surface, the plant growth hinders weeds from gathering and even
weed seeds that are on the ground have no place to germinate.
However, this only works in beds and borders.
Stork's bill, pachysander or golden strawberry are suitable, for shadier areas the golden nettle,
which can even suppress the yaw. Green manure in the vegetable patch as after-culture for harvested beds,
which are not needed again until next year, works preventively.
No comments for "Gardening: How to weed control"
Post a Comment