Bringing the bush home.

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Bringing the bush home.

Postby puredingo » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 12:07 pm

I don't need to go bushwalking anymore...half of it is now growing in my garden!

*&%$#! farmers friends, stinging nettles, various types of vines and plenty of other natives or weeds I can't identify have set up camp at home.

I assume it's been carried in by me on my shoes or maybe even the pads of my dogs feet? I know one thing, once in it's hard to get rid of. I've pulled, poisened and prayed but they just keep popping up.

Anybody else?
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby Neo » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 3:57 pm

It's definitely growth season especially if you've had some rain. Best trick for weeds is to pull the ones that are flowering before they can set seed. That can be as short as a week for some. Bin or burn to make sure. Then there are the winter weeds that take advantage of when other plants slow down...
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby MickyB » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 5:20 pm

It's been a great growing season for plants but unfortunately weeds as well. Agree with Neo. Get the weeds before they can seed. Make sure you use the correct herbicide for the weeds you want to kill. Round Up is generally good but won't kill all weeds.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby whitefang » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 8:00 pm

Round Up or glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide. It will kill all plants. Different plants require different rates of glyphosate. It also depends on the growth cycle of the plant as to how well it works. Unless you have chem cert I believe the only chemical you can buy is glyphosate. There are selective herbicides, but I wouldn't recommend using them unless you have the proper training.

The best method to getting rid of your problem plants is to use a variety of techniques, but always try to remove them before they can set seed. In areas where you don't want anything to survive spray with glyphosate. If you have desirable plants nearby hand pull, or if the plants are big enough use secateurs, loppers, or a saw to cut the plant as close to the ground as possible and dab the remaining stump with a shoe polish dabber bottle that is filled with glyphosate and water at 1:1.

You should also keep in mind that disturbing the soil is likely to allow more weeds to grow. So minimising soil disturbance where possible is best.

Oh and if using any chemicals always read the label first!

EDIT: Just a comment on how the weeds spread. The seeds probably come in on your boots and clothes, from your dog, on your vehicles, in the air, from any other animals going through your yard, in animal droppings and in many more ways that I can't think of right now.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby Neo » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 8:12 pm

and birds poop some weed seeds. In a backyard you don't really need poisons except for extreme cases. Grab a beer of an afternoon and pluck the flowering ones. Do that every day or so. For woody weeds the cut and paint method is good. I just drip some straight glyphosate on the fresh wound, otherwise avoid using it. They say within 20 seconds.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby MickyB » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 8:45 pm

whitefang wrote:Round Up or glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide. It will kill all plants.

It does not kill all plants. In some parts of my garden I will spray weeds with Round Up and not care if it gets on certain plants as I know they will not be affected. I would not do this though around plants I was unsure of.

For weeds like blackberries you are better of using a herbicide such as Garlon as Round Up can be ineffective. Brush-off is better again but I can't remember if you need a chem cert to obtain it.

Another tip for using Round Up is add a bit of dishwashing detergent. This helps the Round Up 'stick' to the weeds.

whitefang wrote:Oh and if using any chemicals always read the label first!

Very much agree.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby whitefang » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 9:31 pm

MickyB wrote:
whitefang wrote:Round Up or glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide. It will kill all plants.

It does not kill all plants. In some parts of my garden I will spray weeds with Round Up and not care if it gets on certain plants as I know they will not be affected. I would not do this though around plants I was unsure of.

For weeds like blackberries you are better of using a herbicide such as Garlon as Round Up can be ineffective. Brush-off is better again but I can't remember if you need a chem cert to obtain it.

Another tip for using Round Up is add a bit of dishwashing detergent. This helps the Round Up 'stick' to the weeds.

whitefang wrote:Oh and if using any chemicals always read the label first!

Very much agree.


Which variety of Round Up are you using? It should kill them all. As I said, it's non-selective.

Glyphosate 360g/L is effective on blackberry at a rate of 10 - 13ml/L. The only reason to use garlon (Triclopyr) is if you have desirable plants near that aren't effected by it. Garlon is selective and won't kill grasses, but it will kill many other native plants. It's also quite nasty and I wouldn't use it unless necessary. Can you even buy it without chem cert? I use it at work and it is quite terrible. Brush off is even worse, it can really impact the environment.

For home use I would not recommend any one use anything apart from glyphosate.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby MickyB » Fri 03 Mar, 2017 10:17 pm

whitefang wrote:Which variety of Round Up are you using?

I use a couple of different herbicides. The Round Up I have is Bi-Active 450g/L.
whitefang wrote:It should kill them all. As I said, it's non-selective.

Obviously some of my plants don't realise that.
whitefang wrote:For home use I would not recommend any one use anything apart from glyphosate.

If puredingo only has a small property then I agree (if at all). If on a larger property there are other options.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby whitefang » Sat 04 Mar, 2017 9:19 am

MickyB wrote:
whitefang wrote:Which variety of Round Up are you using?

I use a couple of different herbicides. The Round Up I have is Bi-Active 450g/L.
whitefang wrote:It should kill them all. As I said, it's non-selective.


It really surprises me that this doesn't work on all the plants you spray. It's designed to kill them or at the very least make them sick. If they're desirable plants then that's pretty lucky not to kill them.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby cajun » Sat 04 Mar, 2017 9:24 am

I understand that glyphosphate it is most effective on "green" not "brown". So sprayed on leaves it kills most things, but not if sprayed on bark. In my experience though it only slows down onion weed ... :-(
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby Gadgetgeek » Sat 04 Mar, 2017 1:16 pm

another option is to wilt the leaves of the offending weeds with a torch, just enough to curl the leaves rather than burn them. might take a few hits as things here are pretty hearty, but the idea is that you are forcing the plant to use its reserves in the roots to restore the leaf growth.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby Nuts » Sat 04 Mar, 2017 5:32 pm

Commiserations. You could try a steam wand, or the jet tip if you have a steam cleaner? (I haven't but it's next)

Iv'e been battling a 1/4 ha weed patch/lawn for a long time with different methods, was going ok with pulling them out until the chore was neglected one summer and mostly reliant on glyphosate since. Where they are surrounded by lawn a dab will not spread far. Nasty stuff it is though, if not alone but for what it represents in this stage of our invasilution.. Acting on chlorophyll pathway, I can say some parts are now a gaggle of evil looking red exotics. Others, ground creepers and (if green) waxy, bombproof succulents that laugh at Roundup.

I'd swear even the nettles seem to be building resistance in that short time, all gnarly with mutant leaf structure. Both Orson Welles And John Wyndham would be proud :(
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby whitefang » Sat 04 Mar, 2017 7:20 pm

I'm not sure if it's available in your everyday stores, but for plants with a waxy coating you can add a penetrant to your mix of herbicide (something with modified polymethylsiloxane). It breaks down the waxy layer in the cells allowing the herbicide to penetrate.

Adding a wetter such as a product containing alcohol exothylates will break the surface tension of the drops when you spray allowing the herbicide to stick better to the weeds. This will reduce over spray on to desirable plants. As mentioned above you can use dish washing detergent for this or vegetable oil can be used too. Just do a search online to see if the detergent/vegetable oil negatively effects the chemical, because it may reduce its effectiveness on plants.
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby Nuts » Mon 06 Mar, 2017 8:59 am

I think the bigger problem (here) is soil fertility. Leave a speck of root (English Ivy is the current battlefront), perhaps the ready recruitment of windblown seed. The soil is so fertile as soon as we get summer rain a new plethora of exotics emerge.

The topic does bring to mind really 'bringing the bush home', iv'e noticed around the spreading/flourishing Dianella we planted years ago, just a few random broadleaf weeds, none of the more resilient species have lasted there..
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Re: Bringing the bush home.

Postby newhue » Thu 27 Apr, 2017 7:31 am

I use black plastic, or felt (synthetic) weed mat. Something that is flexible and stops the sun. Leave for 10 days, remove, and mulch. If I poison, and I haven't in two and a half years now, I used a round up-wand. Its very selective though can be a little slow.

Its hard to stop neighbours air born particles from mowing, birds, storms and every days winds, but agree with picking seeds and flowers of weeds before they get too far into reproduction. Find a time its relaxing to do so, do a little at a time, and if you can as mentioned disturb as little as possible. I pick a few a couple mornings a week as I check the gardens wonders while listening to the birds wake up.

I have native ground covers, they usually need a shady spot but grow like weeds if given a chance. Density I think is the key, we tend to plant to sparsely where nature is much much denser. So as in nature start with a pioneer tree or shrub, then once shade is established ground covers can start to move it. Stick to indigenous plants to your area, not just native, and you will discover Australian plants are a real joy to have in a garden. Bees, butterflies, all types of insects, birds, lizards, frogs and so on will move in. Delicate flowers do fine a magnifying glass is required to really appreciate, and they make a nice daily table decoration through out the seasons.

Beat the weeds with more plants I recon, indigenous plants and lots of them.
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