Killing Nettles 9 July 2020 at 1:03PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 7 replies 231 views

Rockman60

Hi

There is a large area of waste ground to the rear of my house which is over run with nettles which encroach into my garden. The waste area is owned by a local builder who went bust and refuses to respond to me. Is there a cheap and effective way to kill nettles?

Thanks

Farway

Weedkiller, such as Roundup

But although it annoys you can it be right [or legal] to go onto someone's property & kill the plants there because you object to them?

Apart from that nettles are a haven for lots of wildlife and are food plants for many

Just remove those that are in your garden

Justagardener

Use gallup it is a stronger version of garden centre roundup  (glyphosate). If they are very established and have woody stems use SBK brushwood killer.

Davesnave

It isn't legal for you to interfere with the builder's wildlife planting by spraying onto his land, but if you spray the nettles on your land the weedkiller will translocate to the stems on both sides of the boundary. Nothing you can do about that!

onwards&upwards

Nettles make great fertiliser or compost activator.  Dig up the ones on your land, cut off the roots and throw them away, then use the stems and leaves to feed your own plants!

twopenny

Yes, use the nettles on your land to make liquid feed by chopping them into a bucket with rain water. Or put them on a compost heap. Or make them into soup, very good for you/ Dig out the roots.

Nettles are the breeding ground for Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock Butterflies which are lovely and will fly round your garden.

You could throw a load of wildflower seeds in to improve the look of the nettles if they are visible from your garden. Foxglove seeds are usually fairly indistructable if you throw some of those in.

Apodemus

Up until this year, I have been tolerating the nettles in parts of my garden because of the wildlife benefits and been happily adding them to my compost.  This year, my veg beds where I used the compost are coming up with a lovely crop of nettles!

The lesson is that if you are adding mature nettle heads to your compost, make sure it gets properly hot, to kill any seeds!

Snowdrops_Bluebells

Depending on how well established they are (the ones on your property) you might need to prepare yourself for the long haul... dormant seeds may well germinate next year etc... If you can spray wait for them to die off and then cover with cardboard and mulch for a couple of years that might help? (Obviously not if turf)

Given that I spent the first 3 weeks of lockdown digging out nettles and brambles I can say without a doubt it is back breaking! I was amazed at the root systems they have and how deep they go ( the area they are in hasn’t particularly been maintained in decades) however the area I cleared has pretty much stayed that way. I am however going to spray the rest now the bluebells have shrivelled up!