[APWG] Weed thatch to kill weeds, 99.997% kill in 60 days

[craig at astreet.com]

Dear All,
Update on the Arastradero poppy project,
that you can see at http://www.ecoseeds.com/arastradero.html happening
here in the Palo Alto, California  hills.
Starting Phase 2, and
found that about one pound of weed straw per square foot, harvested after
the seeds have shed, will kill all of the annual weed seedlings between
October and December 31.    Then you have a clean spot to plant
the natives from January 1 to February.  
A few dormant
straggler weed seedlings will come up periodically, but it is a lot better
than the 2,000 weed seedlings per square foot that were coming up before
the weed straw treatment.
In California, instead of cutting and
removing the weed straw from a site, which is how weeding has been done
for decades, I am suggesting that you wait for the seeds to drop, and then
use the straw to kill the next generation of seedlings.  I look at
hillsides of wild oats and thistles as 24K gold now, free weed
killers.
It is about a 5 to 1 ratio in terms of area of straw that
needs to be cut, to cover an area to kill the seedlings.  Hope this
is useful to those of us who have wall-to-wall annual weed seedlings to
manage, like California, the Great Basin, etc.
Since my project is
in a city preserve, and located right next to the parking lot, everyone is
invited to come and view the results, if you are ever in the
area. 
Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
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