[APWG] Why not use the weed thatch to kill themselves, instead of herbicides?

[craig at astreet.com]

Dear Gena and All,
The 70 acre hillside, before the project
started last summer was a mix of weeds consisting of wild oats, ripgut
grass, Blando brome (a USDA//NRCS selection of the bad weed Bromus
mollis), Italian thistle, ryegrass and filaree.  The mix balance is
about 50/50 with the grasses and the thistles.
The weed grasses come
up at the rate of 2,000 seedlings per sq. ft. and the thistles are about
400 per sq. foot.
We hand-cut a huge area of weed straw after all of
the weed seeds were shed, and raked it into a mulch layer five inches
deep.  I think any kind of weed straw mulch would work, as long as it
was cut either before the seeds were mature, or after the weed seeds were
shed.
 Last summer, we cut after all the weed seeds had shed,
and this year, cut before the seeds were ripe, to expand the planting
another 100 feet up the hill.  I would suggest trying any other local
straw that is available, as long as there are not viable seeds in the
straw.
 I would also suggest trying heavy fertilization of the
weed patch with a lawn-starter fertilizer when the weed seedlings are
first germinating, like cheatgrass or thistles or any other annual weeds
like wild oats, to produce the maximum amount of biomass that you can cut
for mulch. 
Getting rid of the weeds is only 49% of the
project, because once your weed mulch has gotten rid of 99.997% of the
weed seedlings within 60 days, what now?  What do you want to have
growing in the place of the weeds?
 You only have a few weeks
after the weeds are killed, to get the local native plants back in as
close to 100% cover, otherwise you leave bare areas vulnerable to rapid
weed recolonization.   I have done four paintings of the project,
that you can see as #41, 43 and 46 at http://www.ecoseeds.com/art3.html
and #11 at http://www.ecoseeds.com/art.html.
I would love to hear if
anyone else has depicted their weeding/native replanting projects in
paintings?
Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650)
325-7333
========================================
 
>
Nice project! I'm not clear --- Did you use only the cut weeds to

> suppress future weed growth, or did you also lay down other straw?

>

> Gena

>

>

> On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 11:56 AM, <craig at astreet.com> wrote:

>

>> Dear Wayne and All,

>>

>> Love the discussion. Why not just limit the use herbicides only
on the

>> perennials when needed, and apply from wicks instead of spray?
Wouldn't

>> that solve all the problems?

>>

>> The annual weeds are going away 99.997% with the use of straw
mulch in

>> my

>> Poppy Project in Palo Alto, California, that you can see at

>> http://www.ecoseeds.com/arastradero.html.

>>

>> I look at the weed thatch, cut either before the seeds are ripe,
or

>> after

>> the seeds are shed, as my most valuable weed-killing material to
use, to

>> kill 99.997% of the weed seedlings of the future, without the use
of any

>> herbicides at all.

>>

>> Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333.

>>

>>

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the

>> opinion of the individual posting the message.

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>
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