The worst weed out there

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Paletti
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The worst weed out there

Post by Paletti »

As summer is well underway the weeds seem to have taken over about every inch of bare soil they can find in our garden. Fortunately our present garden is not that big so it's easy to handweed them, and we haven't found any really bad weeds so far. Here in Kyoto it's often Horseweed that dominates empty city lots.

I was wondering if there any weeds you have come across that are so terrible to the point where a lot of particular weeds would really become a deal-breaker for you renting/buying the plot. For example, Curtis Stone said in his book he won't take on any plots with lots of rhizomatous weeds like bindweed and Canadian thistle.

The Weed Science Society of Japan has published a list of glyphosate resistant weeds in Japan, link here
http://www.wssj.jp/~hr/
Now I prefer not to use glyosate, I want to keep things as organic as possible as most of you probably, but I suppose this list is a pretty good indication of the noxious ones out there....

Which ones do you find the hardest to keep under control?

Shizuman
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Re: The worst weed out there

Post by Shizuman »

Gday mate

Ive found that around my area Sugina is a tough one to keep under control for the same reason as Curtis states the roots go deep, I dug down about 1 meter and found that some of the roots were still going down. Havent had to many problems with any others. Im dead keen on giving a burner a go to knock off the herbaceous stuff though.

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: The worst weed out there

Post by Zasso Nouka »

I'd probably go with Sugina as well, it's really tough and can spread like wildfire. Control can be achieved but it takes a long time and can be a hard fought battle. The best method I've found so far is to either smother it with another fast growing plant (Oregano does particularly well), smother it with some kind of artificial cover like the tarps Jean-Martin uses or with plastic mulch or super regularly cultivate the area breaking up the roots and starving them of energy.

Caleb Fuller
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Re: The worst weed out there

Post by Caleb Fuller »

Cogon grass - Imperata cylindrica - definitely the worst. This stuff will pierce through almost anything except thick concrete, including wood, plastic, and thin asphalt. The rhizomes are incredibly dense and deep-growing, and the smallest piece will regrow. It's also has sharp leaves that WILL cut your hands.

There's also some kind of "ground elder like" vine that has huge underground rope-like roots that travel massive distances, and get into everything. I have yet to identify it.

Nut grass - very hard to eradicate, but at least it stays low. It will also pierce through many things - it ruined a filled plastic pool left on the grass too long.

Japanese hops - humulus japonicus - this vine is incredibly vigourous and grows over everything. It's also covered in tiny thorns that will scratch the hell out of you when trying to remove it. At least it doesn't have a massive rhizome!

Bindweed - white rhizomes everywhere. Aarghhh... At least they don't pierce through anything...

Mugwort - also gets everywhere, and hard to eradicate. But at least it has many uses.

And now for a "positive" - Orlaya grandiflora - a beautiful lace-flower that grows about 50-60cm tall. Its an annual, but self-seeds prolifically. It literally grows like a weed - I've never come across a cultivated plant to easy to grow and propagate! I gather the seeds in summer when it dies, and scatter them randomly all through my garden. That's all it takes to get an explosion of lacy white weaving through the other plants in spring. It does need a bit of tidying up in summer when it dies, and the seeds can be a bit prickly, but it is worth it to me.

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Paletti
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Re: The worst weed out there

Post by Paletti »

Thanks guys, that is a pretty good list - I think I'll bring it (including photos) when prospecting for land later this year. I wonder how difficult it will be though to actually see these weeds when visiting plots for sale/rent as I guess most owners would cut down the grasses when expecting potential buyers.

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Zasso Nouka
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Re: The worst weed out there

Post by Zasso Nouka »

On the subject of offensive weeds this one doesn't necessarily rank up there with the all time worst ever weeds but if not controlled early on it can soon strangle crops and lead to a near total loss. Don't know the name of this grass but apparently it was imported to provide a feed stock for animals and found summer conditions here very much to it's liking.

Image

It starts off as a very small seedling at which stage it is easy to control by flaming, hoeing of just cultivating back into the ground but if left alone it's growth is explosive and very quickly it forms a very dense mat strangling any crops. It sends out suckers that quickly root and subsequently send out more suckers that repeat the whole process all over again. I learned the hard way that it needs to be dealt with very early on and lots quite a few crops to it, if it does get out of control sometimes the best option is to cultivate the whole bed back into the soil and start again with something new.

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