how to fight weeds

[slice]

for the time being I have all of my plants in pots, hundreds. Its not the ideal and not what I expect of my collection for the future but its the best I can do now. So , if you are in a similar situation you know how weeds can grow with good weather and first class nutrients... I find my self wasting dozens of valuable gardening hours a year de-weeding...and I'm fed up. I wonder what could be done?

[Evil Genius]

Add a Top Layer of large Quartz stones and pull out the Ones that manage get through. It won´t be many.

OR: Chemical Weed-Killers.

[zelly]

once you get the upper hand on them, its easy to maintain year after year without the use of chemicals or goats........

in my experiences top dressings allow the weeds to develop a good root system before poking thru the top dressing, whereas with no top dressing i can see the tiny weed when it first starts to grow.

[paradox]

don't fight them, they'll always win if you do... think Judo/jiujitsu as opposed to brute force. you're only limited by your own ability for ingenuity.. understanding ecology as a whole in the deepest way possible will always help. we need to understand what these species are doing in the niche that we've provided them & therefore why they're there.. If we understand that, then we can begin to understand how to eliminate the niches we don't want & create the ones we do want which will in turn foster the conditions that do not favor the species we don't want & do favor the conditions & species that are less of a 'problem' & may then displace the problem species..

i think a war-like attitude toward 'weeds' is only asking for a coronary.. if you insist on making an enemy of some species of opportunistic plants then at least you need to know your enemy so you can starve them out or simply out think them.. as far as an arms race goes though we will always be out done & herbicides imo are only ever rarely appropriate as a last ditch strategic method..

i don't know how helpful any of that is but hopefully food for thought.. i probably have a lot more to say on this subject but it might come across as convoluted & i will have to not be half drunk like i am now ;)

[Optimystic]

I agree that topping makes it easier to control weeds , but particularly for pots, you can still see tiny plants popping through the pebbles (shale I use) .. I didnt' even think of that benefit but it is indeed more annying to see a little weed with a stone background so I find myself spotting them more early on lol... .. I wouldn't recommend top dressing in a cooler climate tho and probably not for plants in the ground... wood mulch is supposed to release terpins which control seed sprouting to some extent but I havent tried that except for mulching herbaceous plants and trees

I agree with paradox just change the way you look at it, its just a part of life when dealing with nature... its not wasted time its benefecial time gardening.. .quality time w/ur plants if you will ... its like giving the earth a haircut - you are natures hairstylist

don't let them get too big, just make it a regular habit to pinch out the little ones as soon as you spot them...

Edited September 16, 2014 by Spine Collector

[myco]

I don't have so much of a problem with the weeds you can keep em under control by getting em when theyre small pretty easily

it can still be a prick of a job literally that's my only problem with weeding my cacti pots getting constantly fucking stabbed haha

[Nailthesnail]

I usually just cry for hours about it and it doesn't change a thing.

[franky]

Just consistent picking of weeds before they flower is best bet, if ou were going to go chemical route I would pick all he weeds then drop a pre emergant herbecide down on top of the pots.

[watertrade]

A Dutch hoe and herbicides. I still amazed that 2 minutes of spraying around the place can kill everything. I do the rough weeding with the sprayed and the finer weeding with the hoe and the final weeding by hand. The hoe also helps me get up once I'm bent over too.

[watertrade]

What I'm most curious about is... Will a broad leaf selective weed killer kill cacti? And how about a grass selective weed killer?

Edit,Weeds killers selective just for grass are available but really only available wholesale and out of my budget.

Edited September 17, 2014 by watertrade

[gtarman]

My 2 cents is that unless the weeds are causing you serious problems or they're particularly noxious or outta control, don't worry about 'em. Maybe if they're growing right next to one of your prize plants and potentially stealing away root-real estate and nutrients, then pull it. Other than that I say live and let live...

Weeds are one of those things that have a whole lot to teach us about the way we live our lives - that often trying to impose our ideas and our control on nature and chaos is not only impossible (or highly impractical) but it also is often a waste of energy and a cause for needless worry and suffering. If you go with the flow and choose to give your focus only to what really matters to you, you'll find yourself much happier generally.

Geez I'm zen as fuck today

Edited September 17, 2014 by gtarman

[watertrade]

What I dislike most about weeds arounds my cacti is that they harbour snails which love to eat the tips of my cacti and make them grow funny.

Edited September 17, 2014 by watertrade

[watertrade]

The rest of my garden is a shit hole. ;)

[franky]

Weeds will harbour insects etc why I get rid of em

[Bert&Ernie]

Has anyone done much testing on how roundup affects cacti I would assume it would mess seedlings up but I'm wondering how a mature one would last....

[etherealdrifter]

get munted and grab a fork (or a spork if yabe that way inclined ) and line up all your pots as if they were your toenails gettin ready for a spring clippin! don't clip to close to the skin fukya.

othwerwise, tip all pots on their side. kick pot away from roots - the weeds easily fall away ehy....then plant all ov them in ground.

disclaimer: i've tried this over and over again and still never get beyond the first choof oftheday.

then buy a hovering camera thingy from television and go hovering in the TOnezie's house.

when they shoot it down for spying tell em well next time i see one in the sky above my abode i will shoot it down also....and plead the 5th according to Tonezie baby

[ThunderIdeal]

This is about pots right? Concentrate on the major foes like oxalis (use an implement to properly excise them especially where cactus restricts your fingers) and check every week to interrupt the seed cycle on flickweed.

[ThunderIdeal]

What I'm most curious about is... Will a broad leaf selective weed killer kill cacti? And how about a grass selective weed killer?

Edit,Weeds killers selective just for grass are available but really only available wholesale and out of my budget.

awww gee WT. Ive discussed this at length here if you search. Cactus are "broadleaf" altho many species laugh at herbicide.

search the forum for "fusilade" and feel free to ressurect.

[ThunderIdeal]

A Dutch hoe and herbicides. I still amazed that 2 minutes of spraying around the place can kill everything. I do the rough weeding with the sprayed and the finer weeding with the hoe and the final weeding by hand. The hoe also helps me get up once I'm bent over too.

its a wonder she helps you at all when you talk about her like that.

actually that gives me an idea for weeding cactus pots. Dutch rudder.

Edited September 17, 2014 by ThunderIdeal

[watertrade]

awww gee WT. Ive discussed this at length here if you search. Cactus are "broadleaf" altho many species laugh at herbicide.

search the forum for "fusilade" and feel free to ressurect.

yeah, I saw that post but generally ignore anything you post ;)

;)

[ThunderIdeal]

why don't you give it a go WT and post the results. i had a perfect situation to do an experiment but there was literally zero interest so i didn't bother.

i'd supply the chemical if there was any way i could get it to you, since you won't be needing five whole litres in this lifetime.

[slice]

Thanks for all the input. I wouldnt be discussing this if I had tiny weeds, I'm under an aggressive attack! 40days out of my growing place and they took over, some measuring over 50cm. I started yesterday using a 1 inch coir layer to block light but to tell you the truth I think that the real solution here is putting the cacti in the ground and forgetting about weeds, Ill get there.

[paradox]

I'd say for the size of your plants your pots are waaaaaaaaay too big.. so basically you have a ginormous patch of empty soil with a few tiny cacti here & there. The way most plants we call weeds have evolved is to colonize bare soil as an extremely important topsoil preservation & improvement function. The situation you have there is just asking for exactly what you can see there in your picture & there is probably not a great deal you could do about it other than drench them in herbi constantly, which would cause more problems than it would solve imo or you could incessantly pull the weeds out for 6 hours or so a week for the next two or three years until the root systems more densely colonize the pots & suppress the weed growth somewhat.. which also would probably be pointless as by that time they will need to be re potted anyway..

[Gunter]

I recommend as large a pot as possible. These plants grow so fast that a 35L pot is on the small side after only a couple of seasons.

It is true that exposes more soil to weeds, but the benefits in terms of growth are well worth it.

Hand weeding is tedious but nevertheless effective.

[_Cursive]

WOW! From those pictures you certainly have more weeds than land!

To me, it looks like you neglect your land and the weeds get to height where they are able to deposit their seeds into your pots.
What I would do is use a weed-eater to get the land flat then get cardboard and layer it down where you want your pots, put the pots on top with a 1 metre radius of cardboard around the pots. That should stop the weeds from getting near your pots.

You will need to saturate your pots with water (or wait for a heavy rain) before you try to pull any weeds. Pulling weeds in dry/arid soil is a waste of time, they cling on like dags and inevitably break short. To be honest I'd re-pot everything and start fresh. Even baking all your soil to eliminate any dormant seeds.

This technique won't stop the weeds permanently, but it'll give you a great head start to be able to weed them as you see new ones emerging.

HTH!

Peace.

Edited September 22, 2014 by _Cursive