Miles of weeds have swallowed haha

[Penners]

Rob - you're starting to sound dangerously like Alan Partridge.

 

[robgil]

Dear god no , I'm even starting to look like him, what's happening? Especially with the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre.

Dan , Dan,Dan , Dan, Dan , Dan, DAN, DAN ,DAN, DAN ,DAN, DAN ,DAN, DAN, DAN, DAN ,DAN, DAN! dAN! DAN!.................DAN! .........DAN!DAN!

 

[citizensmith]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DR-Strimmer-m...arden_GardenPowerTools_CA&hash=item3cb67f7905

Seriously - for brambles and stuff you need one of these beasties. We have 2. One in France and one for clearing woodland bramble here. It demolishes all in its path and leaves nothing to pick up.

 

[skier-hughes]

I think spraying off is the answer, although yesterday I diluted my Roundup in a watering can and only managed 6 watering cans in an hour as it's a long way from the tap. I only did around 5 sq metres. No idea if was using too much or too little product but if I only manage 5 sq metres a day it will take me 160 days, by which time the weeds may have grown again.

Which round up have you bought?
Here is a guide to how much to sue of the pro type, not the garden centre standard one
http://www.pitchcare.com/file/tHjlLI7bPi.pdf

 

[Moo]

I diluted my Roundup in a watering can and only managed 6 watering cans in an hour as it's a long way from the tap.

I know how you feel, Joce!
I solved the problem on my very long allotment by filling the container from a hose. That way all I had to carry was the Roundup can and an empty container.

 

[Schoolmarm]

You can't get far enough and it is a too wet from a can.


The sprayers are much better and less wasteful.

 

[johnandrew]

Joce

Gardeners' Question Time on R4 this afternoon had a question about getting rid of bracken. Among the suggested solutions was the use of pigs.

John

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh wow! Will try to catch that.
Thanks for all the lovely, helpful suggestions. I've concluded, though, that this is one of those jobs that with the best will in the world just can't be DIY, well, not with me doing it anyway! I cant penetrate them to spray, not even in wellies and jeans - they just want to shred your clothes!
Some kind of farm cutter thing on a tractor is going to have to be arranged if it's to be done this summer.

 

[Schoolmarm]

You don't penetrate or wade into them with the sprayer. You wait for a very still day and extend the nozzle on the sprayer to about 24 inches then you reach up high and fowards and let it spread over a very large area. You wait until the stuff is dead then start chopping. You need the leaves to carry the poison into the roots to stop it being able to take water up from the soil.

 

[skier-hughes]

Of course your weeds are quite deep, so you might have to do it in two applications, spray, wait til dead, clear, spray, wait til dead and clear.
A friendly farmer would of course be so much easier and take maybe half an hour

 

[Penners]

spray, wait til dead, clear, wait for new leaves, spray, wait til dead and clear.
A friendly farmer would of course be so much easier and take maybe half an hour

See my red insert in Graham's quote. As Carol said above, you have to ensure that leaves are there to take the poison into the plant's system.

I agree about using a friendly farmer's flail cutter, but you'll still have to follow this by spraying (once new leaves have grown). Otherwise the brambles will simply regrow.

 

[skier-hughes]

I was being brief, taking Joce's weeds are say 10' deep, she may be able to spray and kill to a depth of 5', clear this away and then tackle the remaining 5' of depth to get to the haha.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Ahhhhh, so you were working sideways whilst David and I were working forwards in time.


Are there even enough leaves on it now, to work?

 

[worms]

I really don't think this is a weedkiller job.

You could hire or buy a petrol brush cutter (specifying a blade head rather than a line). At £30 a day or £60 a week you might be better off buying one for £80 - £160. If you cut it, you could more easily burn off the dead stuff and would then be able to spray any regrowth (if there are no livestock in the field to keep it down).

 

[JoceAndChris]

It's thick, thick prickly brambles encased in layer on layer of ivy. So yes, there are green leaves. We have a really good petrol brush cutter, I've had a go, it's completely defeated me. I can't really convey how dense and huge this area is, you'd need to see it.
I come again to the conclusion that it would be better for me to be in full time work and paying professionals with the proper equipment to do these sorts of jobs where I am so thoroughly ineffectual.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I think I'd leave them - they do at least reduce the entry and exit points for ne'er-do-wells.

 

[Penners]

Oh, I dunno... I managed to get in.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: but what a lovely ne'erdo well, if only they were all like you Mr P!
Gareth, good point, though it will all be fenced this year, and a hedgerow planted behind the fence. I know it's easy to climb over a fence and young hedgerow but I'm leaning towards putting something in the field that would make you not want to, a couple of magnificent rams for example, in with some gigantic geese and perhaps a raging bull or two.

 

[vicky whitworth]

Hi Jose, your task sounds soul-destroying. And wont the problem be that the brambles will just grow back each year so you will be into spraying year after year? Once bramble gets between the bricks it will be the devil's own to get out. And all those chemicals aren't great for you and your lungs let alone the critters who live in the wall. There may be slow worms and they are protected, I believe.

Mightn't it be better to keep the wall hidden. After all the only bit being 'robbed out' isn't owned by you so there's not a lot you can do about that. I would have thought a bramble thicket would be just the trick to disguise the wall as, well, a bramble thicket.

The country folk round here used to make little baskets woven out of bramble by rubbing the prickles off first and then weaving using the most colourful stems. The baskets then make ideal 'packaging' for selling eggs, jars of jam. Maybe a little side-line?
Anyway good luck with your challenge.

 

[Penners]

wont the problem be that the brambles will just grow back each year so you will be into spraying year after year? ...And all those chemicals aren't great for you and your lungs let alone the critters who live in the wall.

I would never advocate careless or thoughtless use of chemicals. But a glyphosate like Roundup is about as innocuous as you can get - except to the plants upon whose leaves it falls. Properly used, it will kill the plant, roots and all. So it shouldn't grow again.

Any that falls on soil is immediately neutralised, so there's no residual danger to fauna. Personal protective equipment while spraying is nevertheless common sense.

The country folk round here used to make little baskets woven out of bramble by rubbing the prickles off first

Ah yes - that'll be the country folk known in the pub as Fingerless Fred and Stumpy Stan. :wink: