By Wayne McLaurin
Georgia Extension Service
Volume XXVII |
It makes no difference what we do, weeds seem to win. What you really want to do is prevent the weeds from going to seed. A favorite saying of my father's was "one year of seed equals seven years of weed."
A single dandelion plant is said to produce 15,000 seeds in one year, and each seed is capable of surviving for up to six years in the soil. Each purslane plant, too, can produce thousands of seeds that can survive for many years. So it's in your best interest to stay ahead of the weeds.
Tried and true weapons
The best weapons for the home garden are the hoe and rototiller.
Over the past years, hoes have been redesigned. There are quite a few designs for weeding tools now, including different handle lengths; pointed, arrow-shaped blades; and scuffle hoes, which have a twin-blade action.
However, I still prefer my lightweight, normal-headed hoe. With the small head I can get around plants with ease. For larger areas, shallow cultivation with a rototiller a few times during the season can do wonders.
Mulches work, too
Mulching around plants will go a long way toward reducing weeds' ability to take over, too. And organic mulches tend to cool the soil and conserve soil moisture while reducing weed germination.
Apply materials such as chipped or shredded bark, straw, hay, grass clippings or pine needles 2 to 4 inches deep, and replenish them as needed.
Plastic mulch tends to warm the soil. It's best used on warm- season vegetables such as tomatoes, melons, squash and peppers. If soil gets too hot in midsummer, you might want to put a shallow layer of organic mulch on top of the plastic mulch.
Don't just sit there and look! Use your hands. (Well, make that your gloved hands.) Young weeds are very easy to pull, especially after a rain or irrigation.
Use chemical weed weapons with care
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a number of herbicides, but relatively few are available for home gardens. Most are restricted to commercial use, and you have to have a license to buy them.
Herbicides are very effective when used right by the label. However, there is a risk of damaging the very plants you're trying to protect.
If you use a herbicide, read the label and follow directions.
Also, if you choose to use a herbicide and use sprayers and other equipment to apply it, make sure you label the equipment for that use. And have a different sprayer for other types of pesticides.
Some herbicides must be applied before the weeds emerge. Others can be applied after the weeds have started growing. Some are more likely to volatilize and drift from their intended target. And others are intended to kill any green plant and must be used only on the plants you want to kill.
Some herbicide products come ready-to-use in a convenient, trigger-spray bottle, while others have to be mixed with water. Some specialized products, too, can help minimize risk to desirable plants. Wick and wand applicators, for instance, let you place the herbicide directly on the intended plant.
There are fertilizer products out there, too, that contain weed killers. These fertilizers are designed to be applied to your lawn and kill any broadleaf plants that come up.
I've had many calls when people have only grass coming up in their garden. They've used the weed fertilizers, and almost everything they planted in the garden was a broadleaf plant. Please don't use these in your garden.
It's easy to see where the home gardener can end up causing unintended damage to other plants by using herbicides.
Maybe it's good for the "ab" muscles we hear so much about to just bend over and pull the weeds.
