Smothering Rhizomatous Grass with a Tarp (results after A FULL YEAR)
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2022
- This video is an update on our quackgrass situation. As many of you know, we've been dealing with this rhizomatous grass in our garden for several years at this point. So last year we decided to cover some of our growing area with silage tarps. Now, after a full year, let's see if it worked.
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So many "how to" videos show people telling what they intend to do, not what they have actually tried. I love the fact you showed the results of a tested process rather than pretending to be an expert prior to knowing the actual result.
Yes, this is why I love this channel.
If people are upfront about what they are trying and that they aren’t experts i’m ok with it. But yes, long terme experiments with results do teach us more.
Yes! I had terrible quackgrass last year, so much so that I also just cut my losses on a large section of my yard. I 1st dug a 6 inch deep trench around the perimeter of the garden, as apparently the rhizomes air prune. I then put a silage tarp for the entire growing season. In the spring I put my chickens on the area for the entire spring until last frost (may 24) the chickens seemed to till up all the rhizomes to the surface where I either raked them away or the fried in the sun. I’m incredibly pleased with that result. So much so I’m duplicating it this year on another portion where I’m putting the chickens on an area then moving them after a month, putting down fresh sheep bedding and tarping for months then bringing the chickens back in, I’m rotating 3 areas like this.
Your success give me hope!!
We don't have chickens, and the wild turkeys don't stay put long enough to help. So unfortunately, we've had to dig them out by hand for hours (and hours, and hours). But so far, it seems to be working. Fingers crossed!
Hello, I used a tarp and I dug a ditch 6 inch deep arounds. The rhizome will not pass the ditch and I left the tarp more then 8 months. Another way for small beds is to remove all the soil up to 6 inch depth, sifted and remove all rhizomes. After dug a 6 inch depth ditch around the bed so the other rhizomes will not passing to your bed.It is a lot of work but had best results in short time.
We put cardboard over our lawns with bricks on top. After a couple months we were able to remove the cardboard, rake and break up the soil under the cardboard and reseed. Of course this was just for our city lot sized lawn.
Yep! Go for the tarp! I've been using them for quite a few years. I rotate areas of the garden and it will kill quack over a hot summer. Another way to use tarps in the garden is in the very early spring to cover beds for a few weeks to kill annual weeds. Take the tarp off when you plant. Fold the tarps back into the paths to keep them weed free in the summer. Keep the tarps whole, don't plant through them, as you found out. You may have to let these garden areas that are tarped be fallow for a year, but to get rid of quack, it's worth it to me. Congrats on the good looking garden! Victory is sweet!
Perhaps use the tarp with a bucket with its bottom cut out used as a barrier against the quackgrass from mixing with the roots of your crop. I can't imagine that the rhizomes from the quackgrass go deeper than 6 inches into the soil.
Don’t forget that those tarps work very well for slip n slides
That may be our plan for next summer!! :)
Very encouraging. Thank you for taking the time to document this!
The grass invaders I deal with here have long deep taproots, kinda like dandelions. If you leave any of the taproot behind, the grass is coming up later. I have two beds I covered with at least a foot of grass clipping mulch last fall, and the weeds just laughed at me...
On the solarization aspect, we have some cold frames we use for wintering over some of our plants. We've recently pulled them out to try an experiment: We are using them like mini-composters. When we pull the weeds, we dump them, roots and all, in the cold frames, then close the lid. The sun bakes them throughout the day, killing the roots. We hope to be left with some usable compost -- or at least some usable mulch -- by the start of fall when the garlic goes back in.
I hear ya about the weeds just laughing at you. Sigh.
I like the sounds of your experiment. Please let us know how it turns out! Making compost is something that we've not been able to spend much time on yet (we do it, but not on a large scale), so I'm eager to learn more!
Sure love this channel and look forward to every update!
I'm another Canadian gardener who fought quack grass and won with a black tarp. Like wadebacca, I dug a trench around the area to cover and then left the tarp on for a full year. After removal, we heavily mulched every year with rotted sawdust that was available for free and never had a problem with quack grass within the perimeter of the garden again. For 3 years I expanded the garden with another spanse of tarp until the garden was the desired size.
Since we had a 'lawn' surrounding 3 sides of the garden, we dug out the trench about 10" deep and wide both spring and fall as maintenance, but seemed well worth the effort to to keep the quack grass at bay.
Amazing, congratulations!, Glad you finally covered the walking areas, they are the worst for spreading weeds! Since I did it here I came from having full beds of weeds to just pulling 4-5 weeds per each vegetable plant planted every square foot.
We resisted it for a number of years. I really liked the idea of natural paths. But in the end... the quackgrass won. So far, things seem to be MUCH easier now that they're covered.
@@BackToReality And actually they promote healthier soil with all the new organic matter over them, the worms and other critters disperse those nutrients everywhere. Also what I like to do on the fence is to have a 50-60cm tall flat galvanized metal sheet on it so grass doesn't cross the border of the garden nor any grass seed from machine mowing it enters the field. Those are also 10cm below the ground to prevent any creeper weeds to enter, as quackgrass is!
Spending a full year only to play dare-devil to see if the rhyzomes were dead or not? Love it
Same reaction!
Not sure why tarp and silage plastic is soooooo expensive. I use builder’s damp proof membrane, 1200 or thicker grade. Much cheaper. From builder merchants or Amazon. It’s reusable. For new ground, or areas infested with bindweed/invasive grasses, I mow short, top with mulch or any seedless garden waste then cover DPM for at least 6-12 months. I also do same after a harvest of a first season bed that’s not being replanted with actual crops over winter (Live in UK so have options to grow overwintering veg) to protect against unwanted seeds/spores from settling. Once I have a garden bed/area under control, it’s just top dressed with compost/autumn leaves until needed. Like you, one can compromise for a quick crop on a new bed with DPM by putting slots in. But I’d rather use free second hand or older plastic for that. I’ve made a quick garden bed like this growing potatoes. Cut the haulms, pull the black plastic and pick the potatoes off the ground.
I will admit to have spot poisoned returning bindweed in the past using a glyphosate based waxy substance from a tube that worked like a lipstick 💄. Using rubber kitchen gloves under a leaf and gently pasting a tiny bit of wax. It worked well amongst crops- no risk of spray drift. Killed the plant to the rhizome in most cases although I observed (as I pulled the dead plant to burn) that the bindweed would kill its own stem deep underground to stop the poison travelling down to the original mother rhizome. (Isn’t nature amazing?!) But it did weaken it and eventually disappear. Sadly, these little lipsticks seem to have been withdrawn from the market. I know glyphosate is condemned by us organic/regenerative growers, but spot clearing perennial weeds, bramble roots, invasive Japanese knotweed, etc it has its uses. I’d rather not use it now but wouldn’t condemn others doing so in select circumstances.
I too think bindweed has multiple purposes. One day the scientists will let us know…. 😇😂
Hope my experience helps….
Damn that quackgrass!
Ugh, tell me about it!
Use metal roofing panels on two year rotations especially for your walk paths but you can also leave a space between panels to grow veggies as well. I wouldn't recommend cutting holes in the panels but I will assure you after two years no weeds will penetrate them. You can add mulch on top of the panels if you want to cut the heat under them down somewhat. I actually use a three year rotation on my walk path panels and grow a number of pole beans with panels on the ground in between cattle panels as trellis. Eventually you will kill the rhizome weeds down enough with this rotation and impenetrable roofing panels to be free of it as a real problem. You can also build your garden area in the middle of smallish grazing paddocks. Allow livestock like goats or sheep to graze those surrounding paddocks down frequently which will always keep the rhizome weeds in a semi-starved state and stop them from spreading under the fence to your garden areas.
I’m going to try this because the grass pokes through the tarp when it weakens
I always thought it was Bermuda grass invading my garden with endless rhizomes (middle TN zone 7) but now I think it may actually be quackgrass! I’ve had a tarp down for a few months, so hopefully we have the same success!
I wish you luck! Please report back once you peel it back!
I thought it was Bermuda gas’s that was our bane too. Guess I need to recheck this again.
@@BackToReality Well, the tarp did the trick! After being down for 8 months, it killed ALL the surface grass/weeds AND about 90% of the underground rhizomes! The dirt is dark and friable, easily combed by hand.
Here’s an interesting find: the few places with live roots were located under CARDBOARD that was under the tarp. My theory is that the cardboard protected the rhizomes and kept them moist. Areas covered by ONLY tarp were completely dead. Huh! Guess cardboard “lasagna” mulching isn’t a good thing for grass like this!
@@KTplease That is a REALLY interesting observation! Thanks for sharing that tidbit. We'll have to keep an eye out for any differences with cardboard under the tarp here as well! Thanks, also, for coming back to update us on your results 8 months later. We really appreicate it!
It may be that what Americans call bermuda, other countries call quack grass. Because what I call quack grass is a very easy grass to pull up and does not have rhizome spreading roots. We have bermuda invading all over our garden and it has those evil rhizome roots.
I'm looking forward to your video on saw dust paths. I currently have wood chip paths inherited from the previous owner but I'd love something I could walk on in bare feet.
My experience with sawdust is that if it gets wet and compacts (snow in particular managed this), then it kinda glues together and makes a solid mass. I could jump on it and see nearly a 3ft by 3ft area shudder as one. While it would be more comfortable than woodchips, it did get very hard. It also kinda glued to the bottom of my shoes. Over time they got heavy! Dunno if feet would have that problem.
Unfortunately, the bindweed burrowed up from below as if it weren't there, but bind weed does that to asphalt around here so I wasn't surprised.
Back to Reality will have a much better explanation of their experiences than mine... But it might be a while before they upload. So here's a bit about my experience.
Ugh, same problem here in Manitoba! I tried cardboard, but that didn't cut it. I'll have to try the black tarp method and see. However, it does have its benefit for our animals- the geese love it, so I've been letting them graze certain areas of the garden where there are raised beds and they can't get at the veggies. As well, I pull it out for the rabbits. Outside of the garden, the goats are really keeping it at bay in other areas- saves cutting it and free feed!
I think you've hit the right idea. If you can't kill it, try to find a use for it!
We don't have any animals, and so far rhizome tea has been "just ok". But someday I would love to find a use for it that solves some other problem we have. But until then...
Definitely my arch nemesis. In fact we are excavating our entire front yard right now because we transitioned it to a perennial food and pollinator garden and the quack grass just took over like we made the garden especially for it! Unfortunately tarpons isn’t an option because of how much perennial plantings we had in the space. Fingers crossed we dig down deep enough to get rid of the root network and can start the garden again with a blank slate.
Ugh, I'm really sorry to hear that! We definitely feel your pain though. This stuff is just brutal.
I tend to flip flop between pure hatred and overwhelming respect. I'm incredibly impressed with how well it does what it does... I just wish it would do it somewhere else.
It wasn’t supposed to be like that. Sin caused all this. But there is hope in Jesus Christ. Soon this will be over.
“To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.””
Genesis 3:17-19 NIV
@@nickcpv very interesting folklore there.
@@Chet_Thornbushel Yes, it’s interesting, but it’s not folklore. Keep reading. We don’t have much time left here. God bless.
Thank you for experimenting and sharing your results!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching! :)
Same issue here in Colorado. Not sure if the bindweed or the quack grass is my "favourite" garden weed. I really enjoy your videos, thanks for taking such care, and time, to make them. Although the quack grass you pulled out of the oregano may give me nightmares...😵💫
Aaaan...Happy Canada Day! Have a beer for we transplanted Canadians who are far from home. Cheers!
🍁😀
Thanks so much, I'm really glad you enjoy our videos :)
And yeah, I have nightmares about this stuff too. lol
Happy Canada Day to you too!! I hope you find a way to celebrate as well! :)
Hey, I am happy for you, that you got your problem under control :) Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Thanks Blackhuf! :)
I've been fighting this stuff for years here in Northern Ireland. I put down my old lounge carpet at one point across what should have been a lawn. Left it for a couple of years as I focussed on attacking other areas. I've used heavy duty black weed suppressant fabric too. Both work. I still go a few inches down to handpull any remaining roots. They go dormant, not dead I'm afraid. Being on my hands and knees every year has my neighbours convinced I'm demented. I've noticed though, that the more I do it, not only is the couchgrass weaker, but there's a lot less of it in the ground than a few weeks of heavy rain (wet climate and clay soil don't allow sustained campaigns) and a growth spurt would lead uou to expect. I've encouraged existing mosses to take over instead. No mowing, no maintenance beyond pulling new bits of couchgrass and no competition for the plants I add.
Would I have started this in a bigger garden knowing it would take a long decade? Hmm. Fence to fence concrete looks goid at this time of year, I've heard.
Try white clover as a cover crop.
Thank you for this update! I had been wondering about your quack grass issues. It's good to know that the tarp method does seem to work, if given enough time.
Thanks for another interesting and enjoyable video. I love that you share your mistakes, it makes it more authentic and valuable. Your soil looks amazing.
I dealt with the quack grass (and dock/nettle) in another way, spending 5 min every day walking through the garden cutting off the weed sprouts growing through the mulch. The nettle and dock gave up quickly, but the quack grass needed several months of cutting. In total spent probably 10 hours or so, so nothing compared to the 1000 hours or so collecting/spreading mulch haha.
I always look forward to you videos
Thanks for sharing your progress!
I had natural paths last year too, and spent a week or so, "re-edging," them last spring. I created a nice pile of sod/soil that I removed and covered it with a tarp, then decided that was the last time I wanted to do that. The soil that was the sod became a really nice pile of topsoil, but it has some seeds in it that germinate when I've used it as potting mix. I picked up a good pile of neighbors leaf bags last fall and slit them open on the sides to lay them out as a paper barrier as well as to spread the leaves, (etc.,) out on the paths. So far I've had to find and add some extra paper and mulch for much of the edges, where the beds meet the paths, but the grass, (along with sheep sorrel, creeping charlie, wood sorrel, yarrow, and others,) seems to be fading.
Always enjoy seeing you two. Ugh that grass. I definitely think you're on to getting rid of it. I grew tired of trying. I went to a farmer that had 55 gallon poly drums that stored honey, and sanitizer for dairy cow teats. We got 9, cut them in half long way, drilled holes along the lower two sides, and sanitized them. Long, short.. problem of weeds gone, and we are using way less water. Have had the best garden in 20 years. I commend you guys for taking the challenge of that garden enemy. Thanks for another excellent video. 🙂👍
I feel your pain. I used to have this problem too until a few years ago I started using smother and cover tactics in my no-till, specifically for rhizomatous plants (grass, vetch and sheep sorrel). You've covered everything and are spot on with it (and it can take two growing seasons to ensure root death for the strongest roots). The only addition I have made is to put in a permanent perimeter barrier at the beginning of the smothering process as roots underneath can be sustained by still being attached to plants outside the cover. This was a great, well presented video.
Hi! In Australia I use a product called weed gunnel. It lets air and water through and is degradable. (If you leave it in place it will apparently break down harmlessly after 5 or 6 years). I covered an area of weedy lawn with it for 12 months and it completely killed off couch grass, dandelions etc.
I lifted it off the area I treated, which I then mulched with about 4 inches of medium grade pine bark (it's an ornamental area) and I have had zero weed problems there, over a year later.
In stark contrast, the area right beside it, which I initially covered with cardboard and pine bark, is still suffering with couch and other perennial weeds. (I'm about to 'weed gunnel' this area too).
Since then however, I have also used it as a barrier underneath birdies type raised beds.
I also plonked a long mound of compost on a length of it last year and grew potatos. I'm about to completely kill our shockingly weedy lawn by applying it for the next 12 months, and then we will get some nice (non couch!) turf.
I don't know if you have an equivalent there in the US?
Very informative, pro graphics. I realy enjoy your channel !
Just popping in to say I love your content ❤ and to let yt know to always push it
I have the same problem with Bermuda grass. My first shot was to use a double layer of cardboard with a thick layer of wood chip mulch on top, and that worked well for most of the garden. However, here are still little patches where it has grown through. I’m really glad that the tarp worked so well for you! I may give it a try!
Very informative, thanks for the update! I like the idea of reusing a commercial farmer's trash, not something I would have thought about. Another channel that I follow is Red Gardens, and they recently made a quick video about weed control using homemade tools. There's something that I find really satisfying about others' garden pest control methods.
Oh awesome, thanks for the tip. I enjoy his videos as well, so I'll be sure to check it out!
Great video thanks. It is such a problem so good to see different ideas
Nicely solved and videoed, as always :-)
Thank Jack! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Another great video! we have this problem with mint lol. It is everywhere on our property and although we do hate to try to kill it, we can only transplant so much and .... as you know with these types of plants, the more you pull it out the more it grows back. We may have to try the tarp method as we are near kingstom/brockville, so similar climate and therefor I am sure it would be a similar die off time. Thanks so much for sharing!
I feel you too.
I have both peppermint and quackgrass all over the place and I have basically given up by now.
I used a roofing tarp left over from a remodel. Worked great!
Thanks! Awesome information
I have a major problem with this type of grass here on my small farm in Thailand. I dug a lot of it out but trying to do this on 3/4 of an acre is hard work, so I have recently covered most of my land with weed matting and it seems to be doing the job, slowly. great vid, thanks for sharing 🙏🙏
We are giving up the war with Bermuda over here in AZ. We're moving to beds raised up off the ground which hurts my heart because I had dreams of a beautiful natural permaculture oasis, but there is no way to keep the Bermuda out. (It's also not natural to the area, so we're having to come up with unnatural solutions to an unnatural problem.) Now to see if the beds will still retain their water during the hottest parts of our summer. Thank you as always for the great content. You were giving me flashbacks to the last bit of weeding I did through a bed. That stuff looks SO MUCH like Bermuda grass underground it's crazy.
Your videos are simple, yet through. You take note of multiple variables and animate things to make them easy to understand. You do great work here and I NEED MORE! I can not get enough of your content, and I have so many questions, like what do you do with all that lemon balm? LoL keep up the good work 👍
I have both quack grass and bindweed here on Vancouver Island and I found the tarp method works pretty well on the grass but not the bindweed. I have to keep pulling at it every day. I pull the roots of both, let them dry in the sun and then BURN them.
As far as this grass that spreads through rhizomes, does anyone know how to tell which one you have... quackgrass, bermuda, etc.? I live in central Michigan, zone 4. We've gotten as cold as -22°F in winter and as high as the upper 90's in the summer (with, like, 95% humidity also!). We pretty much live on a pile of sand as far as our soil goes. Between this dang grass and voles, I'm about ready to give up!
I'm a new subscriber and have only had time to watch a few of your videos, but every one I've watched has been so great! You put a lot of effort in communicating what you want to get across and it definitely shows! Just as I'm thinking of a question, you seem to answer it in your next sentence! I also love your clear, and funny, animations. Great job!
Dude, you look great! Hardly even recognizable when compared to your earlier videos.
Everyone that complains about the price of food, or the mass production methods of battling the elements should just try growing a bit on their own. It isn't a cakewalk.
Great video. It’s such a problem here in New England as well.
I've encountered some grass rhizomes in my own yard while digging since buying my house last year; you guys weren't kidding when you said they can get sharp!
Thank you for sharing. I have used sheets of black plastic to kill off weeds and unwanted vegetation in the past. I live in Ohio so perhaps where you live in Canada does not get enough sunlight to kill off the vegetation. I left the black plastic bare and found that a few warm sunny days was sufficient to kill pretty much everything but I was not killing quack grass. Thank you,
on reclaiming quack grass infested former pasture, I mowed short continuously and good turf grass took over. turned over garden plots with turf between rows to mow. put down old hay with black plastic on top for a neglected plot to mulch we'll see how it works out. Got to grow your own with the good earth.
In Australia we don't have quackgrass but rhizomatous grasses like couch can be a problem. Here people grow it as lawn. I don't think we should have lawns in our residential gardens any longer, but that's another subject. Once the runners leave the lawn it's a disaster just like you describe. Plastic sheet is an answer, but no slits for oregano or anything else. No gaps at all. The larger the unbroken tarp the better. In the past because we were dealing with relatively small lawns and so we have dug it up manually. We shake out the dirt and just keep on going if any grass reappears above the surface we dig down and find the offending source and remove it until eventually it's all gone.
Then there's next door's bloody lawn. Where there's a solid fence that goes down 450-500mm into the ground, no problem. In our current house we inherited a couple of oleanders growing in the verge (no fence) right up to the neighbour. They appear to prevent anything from growing around them so next door's grass stays over there and we are grass free.
Bermuda Grass/Quack Grass/Couch Grass - I think it's all the same thing, but just called different things in different parts of the world. My most successful way of getting rid of it is to tarp it until all the top growth is gone and you are left with bare soil, then dig out all the roots. It makes it so much easier to deal with.
Amazing
Very informative video; glad it came up on my suggested videos. We deal with something called crab grass that grows the same way. It is invasive and very hard to get rid of and makes the worst stickers. Unfortunately, our property is small and shared with our neighbor (and I don't think I can get away with tarping our yard). We just let the crabgrass, clover, and dandelion have its way. Thanks again and take care.
Thanks Jennifer, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
We do the same in our lawn. It all looks mostly the same once it's mowed, so as long as it's green, it stays ;)
But in the garden... ugh. It's definitely overstayed it's welcome (though, if it could, I'm sure it would be thinking the same of us at this point lol).
I did the same this year, but with strawberry type water permeable tarp. My main concern is destabilizing soil biology, since the temperature is off, there is mass extinction, and then suddenly food scarcity.
We don't have quack grass here in New Mexico, we have Bermuda, which is just as much a pain. Spreads through rhizomes into every crack it can find. But the soil is such crap quality for gardening that I built raised beds. A high quality weed barrier and the boxes being 2 feet deep from ground to top and thankfully that grass cant get through.
Have started using a silage tarp, will use a venetian blind cleaning brush, like a pair of tongs, with wick covers, dipped into a solution of glyphosate, & apply directly to leaves, if needed. It works well, best applied in Autumn when lots of root growth.
Brother and I opaque tarped a plot of thick quackgrass. Only for the winter tho. When we pulled it back in spring the quackgrass had taken over. It just went ahead and set more rhizomes with the heat from the sun. We used a roto tiller to wind it up and get rid of some, and then manual hand work of digging and pulling. ....its not gone, but we made solid progress
such an adventure!
lol, tell me about it!
It certainly keeps us on our toes!
We have had great success with silage tarp on our beds, but similar problems with it coming in around the perimeter of the garden.
I am struggling with this nasty weed too. It has inundated a once beautiful, VERY productive patch of Raspberries. The crab grass has survived 2 thick applications of Casaron and multiple diggings by hoe, pitchfork & spade. Today, I plan to go out and snip all the tall blades before they drop their seeds then use a twisting claw to expose and loosen the rhizomes. . ("Once seeding, 7 years weeding") July is when the berry harvest begin. Like you said, a meager harvest is better than NO harvest.
Zone 4a. Converted a bunny enclosure to a garden for the chickens in the adjoining enclosure. The soil was bare to start. A couple of stumps got pulled, the ground was leveled, and I made rows. If I had left it at that, it would have been about 100% quack grass. Where I planted a ridiculous quantity of lettuce for the chickens, the weeds basically are a minor nuisance. Everywhere else I ended up skimming 3-4' off the top and tossing it to the chickens, because it takes nothing to get them to have a party. I spread compost on top about as thick. The weeds are easier to deal with. The neighbor has a saw mill. When we finally find the time, we'll haul loads of sawdust over for the cows for winter, and the garden paths. There's no shortage of silage tarp in a reasonably tidy pile.
Hey Derrick, yesterday I was out in the garden fighting rhizomatous grass that I’ve been dealing with since purchasing my small farm on the Olympic Peninsula, WA 5 years ago. I just covered up a 2000 sq ft area with repurposed 6 mil black plastic to smother the grass (part of that area is where my new high tunnel greenhouse will go). I stopped for lunch and turned on UA-cam and your video on rhizomatous grasses pops up. Hmmm, does UA-cam read my mind now??? I’d never seen your video content till now. It’s nice to see your year-long results. I also saw your earlier video on the grasses. Good info. Ruth Stout is amazing! Are wireworms an issue for you? Huge problem here.
Any thought on using a large propane brush torch "sidewalk weed torch". Use to heat the soil and kill all roots before grow season.
Where we cut an X to put in a plant (e.g. Squash - which spreads well over the top of the Tarp, so we get a crop whilst killing the weeds :) ) I use a square of old carpet to block out the light. Cut a "+" in the carpet with one slits reaching all the way to the side, slip around the plant, and just make sure that the plant will have enough strength to push the carpet when the stem expands. We especially use this for hedge plants where the Tarp / Plastic mulch is permanent but weeds still want to come up around each plant
These is very helpful for me and many other people I'm sure!!! Thanks!!! Two questions out of curiosity as I never saw you address these in any videos (AFAIK): do you raise animals? Do you have kids? Keep on homesteading!
Oklahoma ag scientists are trying this: scrape off the green, rototill and pull/rake, tarp immediately. When it looks like all is well, remove the tarp, let the new shoots barely appear, scrape, rototill, and tarp immediately and repeat. This works fairly well for bermuda grass. I have bermuda grass, nut sedge, bahia grass, centipeed grass, and pig weed in central Georgia. I will try a small patch to see if it will work, and if it does, we are in business! It might take a whole year to get the nut sedge out. For that, I hear ag molassis sprayed on the ground causes the nut berries under the ground to rot, a last resort measure. For us, a good 20 x 40 plot with a trench and fence around it with a sprayed margin outside the fence sprayed regularly with epsom salt and vinegar ought to keep the creeping down.
I’ve got the same problem but with Horsetail.
Sorry to hear that :(
Have you found any viable solutions for it yet?
@@BackToReality Not really. Likewise I realized that my pathways were allowing it back into my beds. I did tarps and weed barrier this year. I’m gonna leave some until summer next year.
However, in a few areas I let the tarp sit for about four months and they were pretty much void of vegetation. The soil became very loose and I was able to pull out a majority of the whole roots easily. Which gave me enough time to actually grow some spring crops before the beds were taken over again. I think ultimately the tarps and my chickens will be the solution- as long as I maintain the pathways as well.
I’ve been trying for about five years without tarps so I’m hopeful except for the simple fact that horse tails spreads by spores… and I got a whole acre next to my garden. 🤪
@@BackToReality also you didn’t lose out by not using the clear tarp. I did a three-year experiment (unintentional) with a full sheet of polycarbonate. And I’m on the Washington state Canadian border it killed the grass just like normal tarp. As soon as I took it off everything just grew be right back.
We keep a tilled border around the garden to stop the rhizome invasion. The spring has us tilling the garden as deeply and possible, raking the rhizome up each time. That makes an appreciable dent, then we can dig out the few that come up. I've cleared 2/3 of our garden and have hopes of the last third this year. But we can't relax. We are keeping ahead of it. Grrrrr.
I miss you.
I successfully removed quack grass in a 20x25'ft area by removing the first 6-8" inches of topsoil(grass and rhizome) and heat composting it. Then adding a 6" layer of woodchips. Been free of the quack for three years now. Hope this helps.
In Florida this is a problem. We either sheet mulch with double cardboard and mulch on top for six months, or covering with billboard vinyl for four to six months and then raking clear.
Great video. That quack grass is scary. I thought maybe you could use it to add to your mulch everytime it comes up because the mulch keeps the ground soft. I havent tried it though personally.
I did a similar experiment with my garden. After removing the tarps I saw the roots of the quackgrass on the top of the soil. I used my weed burner and fried the roots. That has seemed to kill the grass, as I do not see any signs of it in my garden.
I have quackgrass in my
Blueberry patch . I’m
Just wondering if I use tarps if it would kill my blueberries too? I can’t see how my blueberries would get enough water. Ideas?
How deep were the remnant rhyzomes. I am wondering whether an underground slate barrier might be effective at keep an area cleared of quack grass, free of it longer term. I am also trying out an experiment laying oil corrugated steel roofing over an area. Hoping that this works!
We are plagued with bindweed, I wonder if this would work for that also. 🤔 Will have to try your method. I’m thinking I will put cardboard down, wood chips then tarp. 🤞
Any updates on the patch that was left covered? We are in the early stages of getting rid of a massive infestation of this grass!
Bless you! Thank you for this! 😂
I’m dealing with this issue. We have cogon grass growing every where around my home, in our raised garden beds and in the pathways. It will even grow through a regular tarp. Solarizing doesn’t even work because of the rhizomes.
Great video - I will try this method! Hey... fun fact: Torpedo grass (quackgrass) is not native to the west. It was imported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as forage for cattle. One more government disaster.
In case anyone is wondering, Bermuda is best handled in this manner. It's the easiest way. It takes about this long depending on your climate. In my hot summers, it takes 8 months of light seclusion AND weakening of main plants by digging occasionally. But once it's done, it's done. I recommend leaving a 2 foot walkway around the perimeter of the garden because Bermuda will send runners into the clean areas. The 2 feet gives plenty of time to tend to the garden before the gardener can come back and weed the runners out. Horrible stuff, but it can be done.
One year is not enough to kill quackgrass, I've had tarp and new soil (30 cm thick layer) on top of it for 2 years, and there are still rhizomes left that will quickly take over again should I uncover it.
I used cardboard and woodchips for my walk ways. Mulch my garden with straw. Still get some on the edges but it’s manageable.
Would it be possible to cover the ground with a sheet and build a raised bed on top for 2 years? That way you can deny the quack grass sunlight and still use the space. When you're done pull the sheet out and turn the soil over then, back to good old hay for mulch. Would love to see that as an experiment.
This sounds like a GREAT idea to me. Hopefully someone else can comment if they've tried this. And you never know, we may end up trying it as well! ;)
@@BackToReality I don't have quack grass, but I do have a neighbour with an overgrown garden who's given permission for me to use it as an allotment, I'll see how it goes.
@@BackToReality I'd keep any kind of plastic strictly on the surface, NOT buried under the soil.
In rhysgronow's idea I would use a whole lot of cardboard rather than any kind of plastic sheeting. Then build a raised bed on top of that. Like a standard "lasagna" garden, but with more cardboard than usual laid down first. That will allow water to seep through it somewhat naturally, rather than hitting a plastic barrier a few inches or a couple feet under the surface and quite possibly pooling up, creating real problems for plants that require good drainage and don't like having "wet feet." Which is to say... pretty much every plant folks grow in most gardens.
Roots will grow down through plastic sooner or later, and digging up any kind of weed barrier or sheeting is much easier said than done.
I've done it. It SUCKS! lol. It tends to be a real pain to pull out; it gets brittle and comes apart in pieces, and you never seem to really get it all.
Even if roots don't grow through it and the sheet stays in one piece, digging it all up still sounds like way too much labor to me. And you'd probably be disturbing or destroying a lot of helpful bacteria and fungi that spent the last two years working to help you.
But yes, I absolutely agree that growing on top of it one way or another while you're waiting for the quackgrass to die off is worth a try!
Hi, we live in Alberta, trying a no till garden and quack grass is everywhere ( paths are cardboard with about 6 inches of wood chips) . Any chance the sileage tarp might work over fall and winter and early spring? ( so not a full year). I was thinking of harvesting at the end of the season ( probably September), pulling what quack grass rhizomes I can out of the beds then applying a thick layer of shredded leaves, lawn clippings, straw, cardboard then covering it with a sileage tarp until May the next year . Does this seem doable, any chance it could have a similar result ?
Sounds good! Hope it will stay dead and not just dormant! I'm sure you will still have corn and squash!
I'm really hoping it stays dead too! So far, every time we've thought we had it licked... it eventually came back with a vengeance. So at this point, it's hard to be anything more than "cautiously optimistic". Thanks for the confidence on the corn and squash! :) I've got my fingers crossed for them too!
I wonder if this would work with stinging nettles as well.
Cover an area for two years
Dig a trench afoot down for the perimeter of raised beds 4'*20', leaving a path between each bed.
Install corrugated roofing into trench and sticking out a foot high, driving stakes in to support
Shovel dirt from paths into bed and rake out
Cover dirt with card board or ram board or trimaco paper from home depot paint department.
Cover paper with leaves and trusted head clippings.
Plant potatoes first year not piercing the paper. (Let winter and worms do that.
Oh, and fill in paths with sand.
Hey, who needs to go to a gym?!!?
Do you know what they are used for see it good
I wonder (if you’re still dealing with the grad, which I assume you are coz it’s nightmare stuff) if you used the tarps fully enclosed and try out some strawbale gardens on top so the space is still super productive while the garden bed is out of commission with the benefit of a bunch of fresh compost to introduce when the tarps come off?
Just wondering about the sawdust paths ? x
I'm going to be using used lumber wrap tarps from a local lumber yard. They were just going to throw them away.
Have you considered making your own hay out of the quack grass for future use? There may be area outside of the gardens that you can chop and dry your own hay. There are methods that dont take that much effort, other than picking up the hay
UA-cam Herrick Kimball uses that silage tarp over his mini bed experimental gardens. Seems to make his garden very productive with little watering and weeding. I am regretting not accepting a decent cut of silage tarp from a neighbor to try for myself.
I think you guys would be better of tilting the grow beds every year completely and then tarp it so when everything breaks down underneath the tarp it will also give back organic matter in the meantime.
Oh I LOVE ruth stout method. but.... quackgrass (and its contemporaries) scare me!!!
I feel the EXACT same way! :)
I wonder if black tarp covered by a transparent tarp wouldn't be even more effective by raising the ground temperature underneath even further, or faster, or at least enable solarization in cooler climates thanks to more layers to preserve the gained heat better. Good absorption of the solar energy plus "a greenhouse" layer to keep it in... if the temperature could be raised enough and at deep enough depth to matter. The seed bank might not get entirely wiped out but perhaps rhizomes could?
Oh and I sure hope landfills go out of fashion everywhere if they haven't already. Plastics are just oil in long chains, at least tarps and such are for the most part, and burn just fine in a waste incinerating power plant yielding electrical energy and heat for industry or district heating. No such thing as waste, just resources left in the wrong place. Unless it's stuff like asbestos or heavy metals of course...
Happy to hear of your success! How long would the solarization approach need to go on for?
I have about a quarter acre of quack grass basically, and I’d really love to go ahead with solarization. I’ve already started on a couple of beds, one almost a month in, and the other 3 weeks. I will be peeling back and planting into the first one tomorrow, while leaving the second one over winter
Generally it works much faster, as quickly as a couple weeks. Apparently it does also damage the soil ecosystem due to the amount of heat, but soils are relatively easy to repair, so regenerative practices to bring back organic matter should work.
@@jimmytyson6726 I'm confident that aerated compost tea would be a good idea to help bring back beneficial microbes after the plastic is removed. I think even a real thin layer of nice healthy compost would assist in getting things started; of course more would be even better. Planting beans and/or clover that are innoculated with mycorrhizal fungi should help. If possible, adding some soil from another spot that's free of the unfriendly rhizomes but does have a healthy system living in it.
All those regenerative practices, as you said.
@@dogslobbergardens6606 Yep, as for solarization materials, I've heard that old/damaged polytunnels seem to work well. Might be useful to reach out to local growers to try to divert some waste.
I'm in zone 4 and tried the clear tarp solarization technique for regular weeds in my garden one summer. I left the clear plastic on for three months and the weeds thought it was a greenhouse and grew like mad! It seemed to actually make things worse. I think he was right saying it works better for warm climate areas, although we get very hot and humid here in the summer too. I don't know, maybe I did something wrong...
@@SweetStuffOnMonarchLane That's interesting. Did you mow the weeds down before you put the tarp down? I suspect if the tarp is not directly on top of the soil, solarization will not occur.
I would do a start over and burn the vegetation with a control burn then add in fresh compost water with a good batch of compost tea, mulch beds then cover with a landscaping tarp to allow water to go through and keep future weeds from growing in beds, now you could till after you burn but it's not necessary but depends on soil type and what it needs.