couch grass disaster!!!

lutink

Hi all, i need advice!!

My allotment has couch grass....and tonnes of it...
I've been turning it all over by hand ( well fork!) pulling out as many of the roots as possible but there are literally THOUSANDS!:mad:

I refuse point blank to use weed killer, i just don't want to, i've read up on it online, but i was wondering if you had any ideas what i could do?

Can i still grow my veg? I've managed to clear 90% out of 5 of the beds, but the rest are driving me CRAZY!!!

Thank you so much!

Wookey

Grow away in the beds you have cleared, for the others get them covered with weed suppressant fabric or similar, 6 months of being covered with no light should kill the worst of it of. Once dead dig and clear as and when you feel like it.

chrisaj

Thing is with couch grass, is that if you snap any of the roots when your digging/pulling it up, then the bit you leave behind will germinate :mad:.
As said weed suppressant fabric is the best bet.

RAS

grow tatties in the uncleared beds as they will cope - even if the odd one gets speared.

Use the other beds for vegtables that need less competition.

lutink

Thanks guys.....Its so annoying, it really needed rotavating until someone told me what all the roots were, not even thinking about rotavating now! damn it....
going to spend the next two weeks endlessly pulling out and raking out roots and praying whenever possible that they all just go away!

ginvzt

I have similar problem with Aquilegia in my garden in rented house - the borders were left to run wild with it and I can't get rid of it. I keep removing them as soon as I can when I see the new ones coming out, but I noticed if you leave the tiniest bit of root, it regrows. I am so fed up, that I was even thinking to use weed killer on the whole border in the worst areas, but then I don't want to lose other plants (currants, rhubarb, etc), so keep doing it by hand. Maybe in few years time it will be gone...

The border was overgrown with grassand other weeds as well, I did go by hand collecting every single root and plant I could, but it is still growing!!!!!

valk_scot

I have couch grass...you'll never get rid of it 100% but you can keep on top of it. The only way to do it is as soon as you see a bit pop up don't pull, but use a hand forkto track back along the tiller root to get as much as possible out. I spend ten minutes of every allotment visit just walking around looking for new couch grass to dig out. Only way.

Black plastic won't kill it btw. It will just grow up near the surface and spread out looking for light. It is easier to pull up though when you take the plastic off.

lutink

Ive just been up, spent 40 mins digging up some more and layed the black plastic over where i want to dig next.....

I hate the thought of not being able to use most of my allotment because of it, so i think i'm going to have to go up and dig it through every day.....

Vixie_Pixie

our allotment has a major couch grass problem but we dug out as much as possible when we dug the plot over - it hasn't eliminated the problem completely (some has grown back) but it did not affect the quality of the fruit and veg we grew last year. It will drive you crazy but your veg will be ok

lutink

Thanks all, i'm digging it through in 6 by 4 foot patches...by fork, then going through each forkful by hand pulling the roots out....tiresome work but i pray, worth it in the end.....

Winged_one

My plot is infested with it too. We tried to pull as much as we could when we first cleared it and stay on top of it as much as we can.

Beds where the plants are large but need gaps, we plant them through weed suppressant membrane or cardboard. And when we pull that up, clear as many CG roots as possible again.

Cover as much as possible when not actually growing anything in a space. So plastic, cardboard, mulch - whatever you have.

And when getting beds ready - we don't have board edges or anything posh - we use a spade in spring to chop cleanly through roots and pull out what we can then too.

Even in our first year, when we just cleared and used 3 beds, we got reasonable crops and we still manage a decent amount every year. But it would be nice if the potato and onion beds didn't get re-infested every season as they are not covered!! (And they rotate every year too).