Author Topic: what to do with pernicious weeds?  (Read 14023 times)

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #25 on: 09 June, 2016, 06:56:45 pm »
Denmark has a problem with glyphosate in the drinking water and has had to close many local drinking water treatment plants as a result.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #26 on: 10 June, 2016, 03:03:16 pm »
Now in all my googling I didn't find any mention of that.
Must have been a odd misuse that lead to that happening.

Glyphosate shouldn't be used near water - it is toxic for amphibians - and breaks down relatively quickly in soil.
I'm a "Don't spray anything in my garden" sort of gardener, but compared to other weedkillers, glyphosate is pretty benign. I guess that low toxicity can easily lead to gross misuse.

We used to use stuff like 2 4 5-T on the farm (very likely contributing to the common bone cancers in the farming community) and just about bathe in DDT. Horrendous stuff.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #27 on: 10 June, 2016, 04:11:10 pm »
Now in all my googling I didn't find any mention of that.
Must have been a odd misuse that lead to that happening.


https://www.information.dk/telegram/2011/01/plantegift-siver-dansk-grundvand

https://ing.dk/artikel/eksperter-slar-alarm-sprojtegifte-truer-grundvandet-121483

Sorry but it's all in Danish of course.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #28 on: 14 June, 2016, 02:14:39 pm »
I can't get to the second one, it won't load.

Do you have any inkling as to how it got there? Give that glyphosate breaks down fast in soil, I'm going with either massive over use (one consequence of 'roundup ready GMO crops) or aerial spraying.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #29 on: 14 June, 2016, 08:48:23 pm »
Breakdown is up to 174 days, so not *that* fast.
Watercourse contamination is usually because it's adsorbed in colloidal matter.

(It sticks to silts and is washed out with the soil)

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #30 on: 16 June, 2016, 08:38:08 am »
Hmm - the labels and other documentation don't make that clear. <sigh> it's almost like Monsanto aren't being honest.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #31 on: 16 June, 2016, 10:19:51 am »
It's out of patent now, so not just Monsanto.
As weed killers and desiccants go, it's pretty innocuous. At least that's my memory of it - a long time since I did any agronomy.

fruitcake

  • some kind of fruitcake
Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #32 on: 16 June, 2016, 10:45:33 pm »
We have a few weeds growing in our garden and I pull as much as possible (ground elder, some weird thing with red stems that spreads, brambles).

Garden is small, so I can't just pile them in a corner. What to do with this stuff when I pull it out?

Depending on how small the garden is, you might have space to drown the weeds, by putting them under a couple of house bricks in a water butt for a fortnight. Many plants that can survive drying will be killed by immersion.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #33 on: 17 June, 2016, 09:00:07 am »
Interesting idea - I've not heard of that one. Makes sense.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #34 on: 17 June, 2016, 01:38:43 pm »
Isn't that going to smell a bit grim? :sick:

fruitcake

  • some kind of fruitcake
Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #35 on: 17 June, 2016, 02:19:15 pm »
You could stick the lid on the water butt, and drain off the water before it gets smelly.

Aunt Maud

  • Le Flâneur.
Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #36 on: 17 June, 2016, 06:56:17 pm »
I can't get to the second one, it won't load.

Do you have any inkling as to how it got there? Give that glyphosate breaks down fast in soil, I'm going with either massive over use (one consequence of 'roundup ready GMO crops) or aerial spraying.

Overuse. The Danes like to keep things tidy.......and I mean TIDY.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #37 on: 18 June, 2016, 09:17:34 pm »
Isn't that going to smell a bit grim? :sick:
See my earlier post on this matter - the two tubs are now about 6 weeks old, and the stink has now subsided a fair bit, so maybe that means that the decomposition is lessening, and I've now got a disgusting mush ready to go on the compost heap.
I'm leaving it another week or so, and will report back - if nothing crawls out of the tub to get me........
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

fruitcake

  • some kind of fruitcake
Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #38 on: 18 June, 2016, 09:48:22 pm »
If the objective is to destroy the weeds by rupturing the plant cell walls, the water in the container can be changed periodically. A water butt with a tap will make this easy. Drain it off then let the rainfall fill it up again.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #39 on: 19 June, 2016, 10:02:03 am »
'It is said' that the disgusting fluid remaining once the mushing has Thames place is an excellent liquid feed. I think I'd prefer the convenience of the water butt method and forgo the smell and feed!
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #40 on: 19 June, 2016, 10:04:03 am »
I can't get to the second one, it won't load.

Do you have any inkling as to how it got there? Give that glyphosate breaks down fast in soil, I'm going with either massive over use (one consequence of 'roundup ready GMO crops) or aerial spraying.

Overuse. The Danes like to keep things tidy.......and I mean TIDY.
I like a garden that looks like if you tripped and fell, you'd never come out alive.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #41 on: 20 June, 2016, 06:05:37 pm »
'It is said' that the disgusting fluid remaining once the mushing has taken place is an excellent liquid feed. I think I'd prefer the convenience of the water butt method and forgo the smell and feed!



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Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #42 on: 03 July, 2016, 08:20:16 am »
I emptied one of the tubs that had been sitting full of weeds and water.
It was vile. The sink was dreadful, but more to the point, six weeks later and I don't think that everything had completely broken down.
One thing I hadn't taken into account (duh!) was the weight of the tub.
It an experiment I won't be repeating, but I've still got two more tubs too deal with. And the old tubs to wash out.

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Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #43 on: 16 August, 2016, 11:47:33 pm »
I'm contemplating re-purposing a patio heater gas bottle as a propane weed burner. While perennials roots aren't going to be hit in one go, it seems as if it might be very effective at killing anything the flame can touch, apparently by boiling the cells, not burning to deth. Anyone else tried?

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #44 on: 17 August, 2016, 01:30:07 pm »
The immersion technique described above is recommended by eco-minded professionals who don't like throwing away organic matter.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: what to do with pernicious weeds?
« Reply #45 on: 18 October, 2016, 11:12:23 am »
The immersion technique described above is recommended by eco-minded professionals who don't like throwing away organic matter.

Yes, we have a "ferti-butt" to create liquid feed from anything that doesn't go on a fire.  We throw in all sorts of stuff like the daggy wool from the sheep botties and various pernicious weeds.  However, with a large garden and a wood burning stove there is a merit order for treating arisings:

Soft stuff/not pernicious = compost.  Two large heaps, each rotted for current year + next year (when we grow squashes and courgettes directly on the rotting heap)
Straightish sticks = shredder, with shreddings used on the veg patch paths
Twisty sticks/bramble/pernicious stuff = fire. Ash goes on veg patch.
Decent branches = firewood for wood burning stove. Ash goes on veg patch.
Travelling religion salemen = fire. Ash is jumped on and encased in concrete before sending to a deep underground repository for a million years.

Nothing that originated in the garden generally leaves site, although we have the space to deal with this. Everything is a resource.