What Preps are you doing this week? Part 10

[Nurseandy]

I managed to put these in my basket without any restricted item issues.

[jennyjj01]

You can buy needles off ebay. If you search for livestock instead of human ones they're a much more practical size for injecting plants.

These look the business
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174813965535

[Nurseandy]

Yeah, they look like they should work but I see 20ml is the largest syringe- that's maybe a bit small? Would still work. Just need refilling more often.

[jennyjj01]

Yeah, they look like they should work but I see 20ml is the largest syringe- that's maybe a bit small? Would still work. Just need refilling more often.

lol. For that difficult weed... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165925203229

[Yorkshire Andy]

Your only want to inject a ml or so one drop of the good stuff neat will fettle it (obviously used within the manufacturers instructions )

[jansman]

Adds a lot of expense and hard work to hard work though doesn’t it?

[jennyjj01]

Adds a lot of expense and hard work to hard work though doesn’t it?

Hey Jansman,
Serious question: Have you ever had to tackle Marestail?

I do agree with you that spot weeding in this way adds a lot of expense and a lot of initial effort. I'm not yet convinced it will be worth it. The reward would need to be the total demise of the main or common root. But I think my root is too chopped up for that to work.

Choice seems to be:-
1: Surrender and let it be. Not out of the question, because it's a benign enemy.
2: Attack it every time it sprouts by chopping and tugging: Seemingly a never ending chore of maybe an hour a day
3: Attack it every time it sprouts by individual lethal injection: Maybe over the course of a couple of weeks I'll have murdered the bigger roots and the chore will end?

4: Beyond that, use card and membrane to inhibit all weeds.

At the moment I'm on #2 and #4
I have suitable weedkiller to hand for if/when I opt for #3.

[jansman]

Adds a lot of expense and hard work to hard work though doesn’t it?

Hey Jansman,
Serious question: Have you ever had to tackle Marestail?

I do agree with you that spot weeding in this way adds a lot of expense and a lot of initial effort. I'm not yet convinced it will be worth it. The reward would need to be the total demise of the main or common root. But I think my root is too chopped up for that to work.

Choice seems to be:-
1: Surrender and let it be. Not out of the question, because it's a benign enemy.
2: Attack it every time it sprouts by chopping and tugging: Seemingly a never ending chore of maybe an hour a day
3: Attack it every time it sprouts by individual lethal injection: Maybe over the course of a couple of weeks I'll have murdered the bigger roots and the chore will end?

4: Beyond that, use card and membrane to inhibit all weeds.

At the moment I'm on #2 and #4
I have suitable weedkiller to hand for if/when I opt for #3.

Yes. I did have marestail back in the day. Third of the garden. Just kept forking and moving. Grew spuds there ,old style . Means you keep moving the soil. Keep moving roots. We currently have goose grass everywhere. It changes all the time. Where possible,I don’t prat about. Weedkiller spray. No mucking about,ain’t got time.

[jennyjj01]

Hey Jansman,
Serious question: Have you ever had to tackle Marestail?

Yes. I did have marestail back in the day. Third of the garden. Just kept forking and moving. Grew spuds there ,old style . Means you keep moving the soil. Keep moving roots. We currently have goose grass everywhere. It changes all the time. Where possible,I don’t prat about. Weedkiller spray. No mucking about,ain’t got time.

Forking and moving?You mean disrupting it's chance to 'get comfortable'. Or did you mean to type 'mowing' or 'removing'?

Did shade from the spuds suppress it? The advice I keep reading is hoe it regularly so it wastes all its energy generating shoots that we remove before they can put energy back in the root.

I'm with you on the wish to save energy and money. No aversion to weedkillers if they save me hours of graft, especially to destroy couch and bindweed. I just like the syringe idea because it might need less ongoing effort and might really knock out the deep roots. The 'stuff' might even work its way back to roots and shoots on adjoining plots, which might otherwise be sustaining it. Or I might be overthinking this.

Tonight I had another shoot chopping session. I can honestly say that less had surfaced than I expected. I wonder if I'm seeing the first sign of progress? Early days!

Speaking of saving energy.... I left the chopped shoots where they perished.

[jansman]

Hey Jansman,
Serious question: Have you ever had to tackle Marestail?

Yes. I did have marestail back in the day. Third of the garden. Just kept forking and moving. Grew spuds there ,old style . Means you keep moving the soil. Keep moving roots. We currently have goose grass everywhere. It changes all the time. Where possible,I don’t prat about. Weedkiller spray. No mucking about,ain’t got time.

Forking and moving?You mean disrupting it's chance to 'get comfortable'. Or did you mean to type 'mowing' or 'removing'?

Did shade from the spuds suppress it? The advice I keep reading is hoe it regularly so it wastes all its energy generating shoots that we remove before they can put energy back in the root.

I'm with you on the wish to save energy and money. No aversion to weedkillers if they save me hours of graft, especially to destroy couch and bindweed. I just like the syringe idea because it might need less ongoing effort and might really knock out the deep roots. The 'stuff' might even work its way back to roots and shoots on adjoining plots, which might otherwise be sustaining it. Or I might be overthinking this.

Tonight I had another shoot chopping session. I can honestly say that less had surfaced than I expected. I wonder if I'm seeing the first sign of progress? Early days!

Speaking of saving energy.... I left the chopped shoots where they perished.

I used the fork and dragged it out. As for spuds; dug into trenches,moulded up into ridges,remove weeds at the same time. Constant movement of soil.