3 ms·

For smaller farms there's tarping: "Occultation" Others have mentioned roller crimping. There's hoeing, flame weeding, and others. Plenty of rabbit holes for

For smaller farms there's tarping: "Occultation" Others have mentioned roller crimping. There's hoeing, flame weeding, and others. Plenty of rabbit holes for you

jimnotgym 6mo ago
Indeed, I mentioned it myself under the guise of 'specialised rollers'. Doesn't kill the scutch and black grass though, so cultivate to make them germinate and then glyphosate again. Edit: addressing your second point, flame weeders and hoes are not really effective on perennial grasses. With scutch (couch grass) hoes just divide it up. Burning the leaves off doesn't kill it either, it just grows again. They used to plough and then harrow the roots out repeatedly, burning yet more energy.
- erikerikson 6mo ago
  Repeated cultivation is the only offered non-chemical option for scutch[0] but it is an option, yes [edit:at scale] burning fuel. My first offered technique was occultation not crimpers. That of course won't work in all circumstances. Often you have to use multiple techniques and really stay on top of the persistent ones. Automation can do that but then there is the pricing issue. As noted by others you seem quite knowledgeable for someone not in the field but also wrote confident that you have the answers. [0] https://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/fact-sheet/weeds-quackgrass-elymus-repens-elytrigia-repens-agropyron-repens/ https://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/fact-sheet/weeds-quackgrass...
  - jimnotgym 6mo ago
    Extreme kudos for calling it scutch like I did!
  - jimnotgym 6mo ago
    Occultation, as you mentioned, is only really feasible on very small areas. Market gardens, that sort of thing. I'm assuming plastic sheeting I have found it rather disappointing in practice, in my experiments. It needs to stay down for a very long time to kill bindweed, for instance. You would think a month would do it, but it won't. :(
    - erikerikson 6mo ago
      Yes, silage tarps specifically. White on one side black on the other. You can get very large rolls but then laying them out and keeping them from blowing away gets unweildy. Use is sensitive to temperature and other time of year matters but is always dependent on patience. My only experience with bindweed is low scale but you can surely look it up on hortsense.

For smaller farms there's tarping: "Occultation" Others have mentioned roller crimping. There's hoeing, flame weeding, and others. Plenty of rabbit holes for you

jimnotgym 6mo ago

Indeed, I mentioned it myself under the guise of 'specialised rollers'. Doesn't kill the scutch and black grass though, so cultivate to make them germinate and then glyphosate again. Edit: addressing your second point, flame weeders and hoes are not really effective on perennial grasses. With scutch (couch grass) hoes just divide it up. Burning the leaves off doesn't kill it either, it just grows again. They used to plough and then harrow the roots out repeatedly, burning yet more energy.

erikerikson 6mo ago
Repeated cultivation is the only offered non-chemical option for scutch[0] but it is an option, yes [edit:at scale] burning fuel. My first offered technique was occultation not crimpers. That of course won't work in all circumstances. Often you have to use multiple techniques and really stay on top of the persistent ones. Automation can do that but then there is the pricing issue. As noted by others you seem quite knowledgeable for someone not in the field but also wrote confident that you have the answers. [0] https://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/fact-sheet/weeds-quackgrass-elymus-repens-elytrigia-repens-agropyron-repens/ https://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/fact-sheet/weeds-quackgrass...
- jimnotgym 6mo ago
  Extreme kudos for calling it scutch like I did!
- jimnotgym 6mo ago
  Occultation, as you mentioned, is only really feasible on very small areas. Market gardens, that sort of thing. I'm assuming plastic sheeting I have found it rather disappointing in practice, in my experiments. It needs to stay down for a very long time to kill bindweed, for instance. You would think a month would do it, but it won't. :(
  - erikerikson 6mo ago
    Yes, silage tarps specifically. White on one side black on the other. You can get very large rolls but then laying them out and keeping them from blowing away gets unweildy. Use is sensitive to temperature and other time of year matters but is always dependent on patience. My only experience with bindweed is low scale but you can surely look it up on hortsense.