Yup, wait for a foggy, dewy morning, tho, the dry stuff likes to light up
easy if you're not careful.
I like it because you can fry the seed heads if the weeds get away from
you.
As you know ,there's zillions of seeds.
This one is on sale for 20$. Can you get a big bottle( 3 gallon propane
tank) on your scooter?
The little bottles are so expensive in comparison to the amount of fuel
contained.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=467&pricetype=
I have quack grass spreading all over the place. Has anyone ever used
those propane weed burners on crabgrass? TIA
Margaret L
Gardening in Intermountain West and Handicapped gardening
http://www.margaretlauterbach.com
I have quack grass spreading all over the place. Has anyone ever used
those propane weed burners on crabgrass? TIA
Margaret L
Gardening in Intermountain West and Handicapped gardening
http://www.margaretlauterbach.com
I have quack grass spreading all over the place. Has anyone ever used
those propane weed burners on crabgrass? TIA
Margaret L
Gardening in Intermountain West and Handicapped gardening
http://www.margaretlauterbach.com
If I remember right, Margaret, I think Kay suggested that you
painstakingly oaint Round Up on the leaves at the very beginning of the
spring before the other grasses are active. I do know that the porpane
torches do not work - been there done that, didn't work - the quack
came back!! Used it once on chickweed and it worked - sort of!
Gayle in Calgary
zone 0 to 3
true , but if you keep at it, it ought to keep it at bay- weakening it.
ANd you can fry the seeds to oblivion, whereas if you pull it out you
just scatter thousands of seeds.
bille
---Original Message-----
Those flame throwers will work on crab grass, but not on quack grass. Since
quack grass relies as much on rhizomes as seed to spread you need to get to
that root and the heat from the flame won't get deep enough into the soil to
reach them.
Kimm
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Margaret wondered;
> I have quack grass spreading all over the place. Has anyone ever used
> those propane weed burners on crabgrass? TIA
Those flame throwers will work on crab grass, but not on quack grass. Since
quack grass relies as much on rhizomes as seed to spread you need to get to
that root and the heat from the flame won't get deep enough into the soil to
reach them.
Kimm
:-) Send me some, Kimm. I'll kill it in plastic bag... need some manure in
there to heat it, feed the decomposers, and some air. Maybe a little lime
too, to really get things going.
bille
who puts it ALL in his compost pile( rhizomes included)
Behalf Of Kimm Miller
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 6:25 PM
To: OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Quack grass control
punched holes in the plastic and were growing. I've put the stuff on
concrete in full sun and watched them sprout at the first rain. If the
glysophate products were as good as we are told we would not have to spray
quack grass 4 times a year to control it. The stuff is tough and genetically
programmed to survive.
Kimm
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billevans said;
The seed head of a quack grass stalk looks a lot like that of wheat or oats
or rye, but mine never gets a chance to set seed, at least in the yard, and
it still spreads, by the rhizomes. A number of years ago I was told that
putting the rhizomes in a black plastic bag and sealing that bag and putting
in in the sun would kill them. At the end of the summer the rhizomes had
punched holes in the plastic and were growing. I've put the stuff on
concrete in full sun and watched them sprout at the first rain. If the
glysophate products were as good as we are told we would not have to spray
quack grass 4 times a year to control it. The stuff is tough and genetically
programmed to survive.
Kimm
2 ways to get rid of quack grass:
1) dig it out (hire teenage boys!)
2) spead new cow manure or horse manure on top of it. Loads and loads of it.
(Both work for me.)
Carol
That's a lot easier said than done, Carol.
Margaret L
Gardening in Intermountain West and Handicapped gardening
http://www.margaretlauterbach.com
> true , but if you keep at it, it ought to keep it at bay- weakening it.
> ANd you can fry the seeds to oblivion, whereas if you pull it out you
> just scatter thousands of seeds.
> bille
Are we really talking about the same grass? One should have eradicated it long before it goes to seed!!!
Besides it mostly (in Denmark at least) grows by small pieces of root breaking off under the soil and growing new grass. One should, if digging, use a fork and not a spade og be very gentle, picking out any root, no matter how small, one finds. They are also very healthful to eat.
Carol
However, if you are not ancient, it is extremely doable to dig it all up. Get a bunch of friends and their children together for a "work weekend". Men dig, wives and children gather roots. In Denmark things like that often get done in a weekend that is actually a party and loads of fun, stuff like whitewashing a house.
I battled quackgrass for six years, from 1963 to 1969. And it was all alone and I was successful. It always grew back in from the garden surrounds, but that was easy enough to clean up (several times a year, I admit!).
Helps to have loose soil, of course, I would hate to try to get those roots out of a heavy clay soil!!!
Carol
Quack grass, "Agropyron repens" or "Elytrigia repens" can be "one of the
worst pests someone has to deal with, taking possesion of cultivated ground
and crowding out valuable crops" A. F. Sievers, 1930, and "Quack grass is my
totally unwanted weed" Tina Finneyfrock "In Defense of Weeds" while Jane
Grimsbo Jewett, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture says "My
favorite plant that most people consider a weed is quackgrass. It is an
excellent forage for cattle; it's drought resistant, tillage resistant,a nd
appreciates manure. It is somewhat allelopathic though I somewhat suspect
any inhibition of other plants is due mainly to the phenominal spreading
root system."
Mrs. M. Grieve, 1931, "A Modern Herbal", Though commonly regarded as a
worthless and troublesome weed it is considered a wholesome food for cattle
and horses."
Nicholas Culpeper, 1653, "Culpeper - The Complete Herbal" "Although a
gardener be of another opinion, yet a physician holds half an acre of them
to be worth five acres of carrots twice told over"
Pernicious weed. Couch grass, quackgrass, dog grass, twitch grass, cough
grass, etc. has a creeping rhizome, or underground stem, just below the soil
surface, with leaves and roots growing from nodes about an inch apart.
Spreads rapidly and quickly regorws from the smallest piece left in the
ground. Very difficult to eradicate, and much more vigorous than most crops.
It quickly forms a dense mat of roots that can strangle other plants. Much
Hated by gardeners and farmers.
In Europe quack grass roots were used until quite recently to make a popular
drink to purify the blood and it has many uises in traditional medicine in
many cultures, especially for kidney ailments. The CRC Ethnobotany Desk
Reference, Tim Johnson, lists it as an anthelmintic, Aperient, astringent,
demulcent, diuretic, etc. Other references list it as an antibiotic,
antimicrobial, to treat bronchitis, catarrh, constipation, cystitus, "female
disorders" gallstones, lower back pain (I'm picking and choosing), prostate
(enlarged), skin diseases, syphylis.
The roots can be dreid and ground into flour for making bread, or boiled to
make beer. The roasted root is a coffee substitute, seeds can be used as a
cereal (very similar to wheat in taste, at least raw), can be made into an
infusion which is a good liquid plant food, or used to make a grey dye.
It is a favorite herbal medicine of dogs and cats which seek it out and eat
large quantiies of it (and then vomit).
http://www.journeytoforever.org/edu_quackgrass.html
Kimm
I never said (or thought) it would be easy to wield a fork for many hours in a wheelchair, Margaret. I just think that if it encroached on my patch today, even though I am 45 years older, I could get rid of it by digging just as I did in the sixties. And I also am a very little handicapped and cannot work hard too long at a time. By just keeping at it, little by little, one can do anything.
(I am especially bad at bringing wood inside, but little by little...)
Carol
My daughter told me about drying roots and grinding them into flour. I did dry a huge quantity, but we never tried it out. We did boil some up and taste it though, and it wasn't bad, sort of muscillaginous. (sp.?)
All in all, though it is a noxious weed, no doubt, I would say that one should dig it up and then USE it.
Carol
