I want to "nuke" an area - help!

nids

Hello!

I'm trying to "nuke" an area of garden I have - It's huge and just under 400m2. It's not used daily (not even monthly!) and borders the north circular in London, so it's v polluted, etc.

It's hugely overgrown with some weeds/plants/whatevertheyare (!) reaching over 2m in height and it's making access to my storage area at the back an absolute nightmare.

I'm considering 'nuking' the area to get rid of the problem once and for all. I've done a bit of reading and research on this... I reckon the best thing to do would be something like this;

1. Clear out all the top of the growth with a trimmer going as low as possible
2. Compost/dispose of the waste
3. Rotovate the area with a heavy duty rotovator
4. Spray down some glyphosate-based weed killer
5. Cover the area with some silage sheeting
6. Wait 6 months

I know using a glyphosate-based weed killer is a bit controversial, but there aren't any waterways in the area, and it's mainly concrete around there!

Is my suggestion too extreme? Or do you reckon it'll work? I just want to get rid of the overgrowth!

I_have_spoken

Glyphosate works on contact with leaves, so you need to spray first, repeat so it kills the brushwood and gets down to roots then clear and rotovate.

N.B. Why not sell plot for housing?

jonewer

nids wrote: »

Hello!

I'm trying to "nuke" an area of garden I have - It's huge and just under 400m2. It's not used daily (not even monthly!) and borders the north circular in London, so it's v polluted, etc.

It's hugely overgrown with some weeds/plants/whatevertheyare (!) reaching over 2m in height and it's making access to my storage area at the back an absolute nightmare.

I'm considering 'nuking' the area to get rid of the problem once and for all. I've done a bit of reading and research on this... I reckon the best thing to do would be something like this;

1. Clear out all the top of the growth with a trimmer going as low as possible
2. Compost/dispose of the waste
3. Rotovate the area with a heavy duty rotovator
4. Spray down some glyphosate-based weed killer
5. Cover the area with some silage sheeting
6. Wait 6 months

I know using a glyphosate-based weed killer is a bit controversial, but there aren't any waterways in the area, and it's mainly concrete around there!

Is my suggestion too extreme? Or do you reckon it'll work? I just want to get rid of the overgrowth!

Not extreme at all. When I first got my allotment I didnt want to even use a strimmer or rotavator but now I heart glyphosate.

Ectophile

Beware of rotorvating live weeds. There are some particularly invasive ones that can regenerate from even a little bit of root. If you're unlucky, you can end up just spreading the weeds around more. "I have spoken" has it much better: kill the weeds first, then rotorvate.

nids

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

I'm a bit unclear with the weed killer - does it have to be applied on the leaves themselves? So that means any chopping down, etc will be useless?

Spray > cut down > clear > rotovate > cover?

Can't sell for housing at the moment, but have longer term plans

RAS

You need to know what your weeds are; do not rotovate Japanese Knotweed.

Wrong time of year to spray really.

I would reduce the height of the plants (say to 30cm) now, wait till the spring and once the leaves come through spray. Plants need to photosynthesise in order for Glysophate to work.

nids

I'll have to check if it's Japanese Knotweed. If it is, will it be a specialist contractor job?

RAS

No - Follow the instrustions linked to in this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4625021

Needs treating in August.

Yorkie1

RAS wrote: »

You need to know what your weeds are; do not rotovate Japanese Knotweed.

Wrong time of year to spray really.

I would reduce the height of the plants (say to 30cm) now, wait till the spring and once the leaves come through spray. Plants need to photosynthesise in order for Glysophate to work.

I agree with RAS. Leave the weedkiller till the spring. Then you need to leave the plants alone for a couple of weeks until they start turning yellow - this is a sign that the chemicals have reached the roots and started killing the plant. In other words, don't strim or chop down immediately after applying the weedkiller.