"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 07/06/2013 15:04, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:
I've just cleared about 40 feet x 20 feet of 4-foot-high brambly stuff
and bindweed from the far end of Mum's garden, either cutting off at
ground level or pulling them out.

I was going to spray the whole area with weedkiller to stop them coming
back but all the ones I looked at in B&Q said to spray onto the leafy
parts (I bought the Weedol Rootkill Plus in the end). So do I have to
wait until they start reappearing before treating?

Yes. It is pointless applying it to bare ground.

Glyphosate is generally the method of choice for area kill. Then you leave
it all in the sun until tinder dry and torch it. That gives you a nice
black area of ground where it is easy to see re-emergent seeds.

All the decent weedkillers these days target the leaves of green plants.
You can get others that do attack the roots but I don't think any are
licensed for consumer use (too much risk of collateral damage).

Also, I've got a huge pile of the stuff I cut off, will it eventually
dry enough to be put in a bonfire without generating huge amounts of
smoke?

Yes. If it stays sunny like this in about 2-3 weeks. But basically you
have made work for yourself. You could have sprayed the lot cut firebreaks
around the edges and then torched it in situ which is what I generally do
for reclaiming unkempt bramble/nettle/bindweed/horsetail.

Oh bugger. What's your method of "torching", and how big a firebreak would a
wooden fence need? Thanks for the advice by the way, very helpful.