How to get rid of weeds - proven methods of struggle

But the experience of my neighbor in the country gives me no peace. Here he is not so keenly asked how to get rid of weeds. He has almost none on a huge( by my standards) plot of 9 hectare in size. I, all my guests can not stop looking at his neat clean garden. Only the notorious birch remained completely undefeated. But it is so small that it is not difficult to flush it. Usually it takes no more than 1.5 hours for him - he walked with large steps around the plot, waved it a hundred times with a hoe, gathered all the cut grass, carried it into a compost pile. And then passes through the site, loosening the soil where it is needed.

But he did not achieve this immediately.

In the beginning, when the plot for the cottage was just acquired, there were a lot of weeds. This is birch, thistle, wheatgrass, ragweed, swine. I have now listed only the most basic, the most malicious, difficult to destroy weeds. Of course, in real life there were a lot more.

The first 5-7 years at the dacha, according to a neighbor, were the most difficult. He, and first his parents, carefully weeded the whole garden. It was almost daily work. At the same time, they did not leave bludgeon grass at the site, but collected them in pots, carried plant residues to a compost heap. When weeding, we chose from the ground not only what grew from above, but also tried to choose roots. This was especially true of the roots of birch and swineroi.

Of course, I foresee the indignation of the adherents of organic farming - it is not necessary to remove the grass, decomposed, it enriches the soil. All rightBut experience is experience. She herself many times noticed that the weeds left on the field “came to life” after the rain - not all, of course, but a considerable part of them again took root. This is especially true of birch, wheatgrass, swineoi, portulac. If they are not removed, then all the work is for nothing - in a week the field looks as if it were not weeded. My neighbor’s experience confirms this. If you want to have a clean garden - remove the grass in the compost pile. And when planting seedlings, planting potatoes and other vegetables, return completely rotted weeds as compost back to the field.

Now the plot of my neighbor in the country is 100% free from pig grass and wheat grass. From the birch, as I said, he could not completely get rid of. But stubbornly does not want to use chemical agents. Does not recognize them. Or rather, does not believe that they are safe for our health.

Another secret of my neighbor. He begins to weed potatoes a week after planting. He is confident that 80% of the weeds in this case are destroyed in the so-called filament state, when they have not even got out of the ground yet. He puts the potatoes in the furrows, so the inter-row spaces are clearly visible - in them he passes with the hoe. The next weeding combines with hilling. Indeed, weed has almost no grass in a potato field.

And more. You can not give the weeds to bloom, to form seeds. They need to weed before flowering. Remember, at the very beginning I said that the first 5-7 years of weed control were the hardest for my country house neighbor? So, experts say that weed seeds remain viable for 7-10 years. That is, all the first years were destroyed herbs, the seeds of which were preserved in the upper arable layer and they rose every year. As soon as they became smaller, life became easier.

Soil coating with opaque materials

Another natural method of weed control is to deprive them of solar energy for the entire season. Plants cannot survive without light. For this, the area that you decided to clear of weeds, covered with sheets of cardboard, black film, special non-woven black covering material such as spunbond, straw, sawdust, pine needles and other improvised materials. Without light, the grass disappears completely from this area. True, straw, sawdust, conifer needles need a lot. The layer should be thick, its height - not less than 30-40 cm.

Good results are obtained by combining the usual film and any mulch. The old translucent film is laid on the ground, and on top it is covered with a thick layer of straw, last year’s leaves, and peat. Straw, leaves, peat block the access of light to the plants under the film and they die.

In my experience, black agrofibre helps to get rid of weeds. It lets the air, water, but does not let the sun's rays. When I did this for the first time, I first weathered the site in the fall, which I planned to free from annoying weeds. And only then covered him from above with a cover. The covering should be well fixed - I place bricks and stones quite often around the perimeter, and rarely scatter them all over the surface.

The most stubborn weed, which I still got out even under shelter, was the notorious birch. True, she was weak, almost unviable. But it was clear that if I removed the cover somewhere in the middle of summer, it would come to life - after all, all the power of the birch is in its root, which is located at a depth of 1.5-2 meters. I had to hold the area under the cardboard, black spunbond until the end of summer and leave it all on the ground for the winter.

Not so long ago, I became acquainted with the experience of a gardener who held a double layer of black agrofibre on a plot of 3 m × 10 m for two seasons. That is, he covered it in the fall of 2012, and took it off after 1.5 years - in the spring of 2014.He covered an empty plot - the grass was simply mowed, it was not removed anywhere, it was left on top. Under the cover in the fall there was no grass - everything was transfixed. But. .. Birch still tried to survive - pale yellow rather long shoots could survive in such conditions. When the cover was removed, then under the bright hot sun almost all the birch died. The earth was so loose that it was not necessary to dig it over. On this place was planted onions on greens. And the beds were perfect, clean - there were no weeds.

One disadvantage of this method is, after all, it is difficult to cover a large area with cardboard, black agrofibre or another coating. That is, this method is suitable, for example, for beds, for tree trunks under fruit trees.

This method works well when planting berry bushes. Immediately after planting the seedlings around them, black agrofibre is laid, a piece of roofing material, black film - a hole in the middle. Black agrofibre, in my opinion, is better, since it lets through water and air, that is, when watering, no difficulties should arise.

And more. I really liked this method for cleaning weeds from the tracks. First, it does not require a lot of covering material. Even small pieces of film, oilcloth, plastic bags, other materials are used - everything that lies idle in the country. And secondly, it is very beautiful - clean tracks.

Digging a plot of weeds with forks

Why forks? If you dig with a shovel, then in the process of digging you will cut the roots of weeds into pieces. And to choose from the land, you can not all. Even a centimeter slice of the root of the pig, birch, and wheatgrass will give birth to a new plant. That is, the number of weeds will increase. And, digging with pitchforks, you will simultaneously loosen the earth well and almost completely together with the roots you will be able to choose weeds. Such digging greatly weakens the most vicious weeds. In this area they will remain less.

Siderats against weeds

I tried this method. Sowed on a plot 1.5 meters wide, 60 meters long - mustard. While the mustard was growing, there were no weeds. When the mustard mowed down, hot, dry weather was established. There were almost all of them summer on this site. But as soon as it started to rain, everything was overgrown. I missed the moment. We had to sow again with mustard or some other sideratom. Well, they learn from mistakes. .. Next year I’ll take into account this not very successful experience. Mustard did not help me to clear the area of ​​weeds. But maybe this is impossible in one season. ..

At another site, I sowed phacelia. The experience was more successful. There were very few weeds after mowing, even after the onset of rainy weather. Of course, I didn’t get rid of them completely. .. The birch is tenacious - her phacelia did not win.