OP, this is possibly the best advice of all for your situation, (IMO) based on what you have said.

Ask the hire shop for a helmet with a visor as well; wear long trousers and sleeves, and stout gloves: and strim it so low that you are pinging up the ground as well. It's quite fun, once you get going.

If you are nervous about it, could you ask your gardener chap to do it?

Then in a week or two, apply the (carefully diluted, freshly mixed) glyphosate-based weed killer.

Good luck!

Rachel

In article , Martin Brown
writes
I do have a continuous war of attrition with ground elder



Oh I know the feeling !! gets everywhere and you can work really hard
for a whole season digging out every bit and it seems to come back as
healthy the following year.
--
Janet Tweedy

In article , sweetheart
writes
Well that is the problem. It is difficult. I have been cutting them
down in patches( using sheers) and then using glyphosate. But the
nettles have almost lethal stings on them! well painful anyway if I get
caught.



You'd be better off either going over them with a lawn mower or
walloping them down with a broom and damaging the stems, then when they
are trodden down and bruised apply the weed killer to them.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , Muddymike
writes
More like this perhaps, I run mine on a mix of 20% petrol 80% diesel. I
think its meant to run on paraffin.



Yes Sheen guns run on paraffin
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
I do have a continuous war of attrition with ground elder

Oh I know the feeling !! gets everywhere and you can work really hard
for a whole season digging out every bit and it seems to come back as
healthy the following year.

I hate the fact that it (and creeping buttercup!) manages to blend in
really well with the strawberries

"sweetheart" hotmail.com wrote in message
...
Hello,

A quick question really. Has anyone used one of those weed torch gadgets
? - they have a gas can and are like a blow torch on a long handle

I would like to know if they are worth getting , are effective and on
what kind and how big a weed ( or weeds). Are they easy to use?

I have tried countless times to get rid of all sorts of weeds in my garden
with weed killer but the stuff seems to lack guts these days and was
wondering if fire might be the answer.

I tried a blow torch which was a torch powered by a large gas cylinder, but
it did not do any permanent damage to the weeds, they just grew back again
after a while, I have put my faith in weedfillers, but you have to choose
the right one they do not all work very well, I'm currently using Roundup
which seems to have killed the couch grass down to the roots, so I shall
continue with that untill it all grows back again!

Alan

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , sweetheart
writes
Well that is the problem. It is difficult. I have been cutting them down
in patches( using sheers) and then using glyphosate. But the nettles have
almost lethal stings on them! well painful anyway if I get caught.



You'd be better off either going over them with a lawn mower or walloping
them down with a broom and damaging the stems, then when they are trodden
down and bruised apply the weed killer to them.

I don't think that would work very well as you need to soak the leaves to
make the weedkiller effective.

Alan


--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , Alan Holmes
writes
I don't think that would work very well as you need to soak the leaves to
make the weedkiller effective.

Alan


Alan I've always been led to believe that bruising the leaves means the
weed killer gets into the system better?

Also she says that she can't get to them as they are so tall so at least
this way she can get to the back of them.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

On 04/07/2012 00:12, Janet Tweedy wrote:
In article , Alan Holmes
writes
I don't think that would work very well as you need to soak the leaves to
make the weedkiller effective.

Alan


Alan I've always been led to believe that bruising the leaves means the
weed killer gets into the system better?

Also she says that she can't get to them as they are so tall so at least
this way she can get to the back of them.

It only really matters for things that are water repellent and either
have very waxy outer coats (like ivy or holly) or a silica exoskeleton
(like equisetums).

Most normal green plants are toast when you hit them with glyphosate and
if you make a mistake you need to cut the affected part off PDQ.

The mistake the OP seemed to be making was chopping everything down and
then applying glyphosate to what was left. This is about the worst
possible way to use it and wastes most of the active ingredient.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Hi,
I have one and they are OK for small no of weeds as they can be expensive on the gas canister but your best bet is to use Glyphosate at the recommended rate. it will kill ANYTHING in the garden, keep spray away from anything you don't want killed, get a 1Ltr bottle of full strength Glyphosate on the internet for £16-00. i have used both for a long time (I have huge gardens)be sure that you get a sealed bottle.

best luck

luvlyboy

Luvlyboy wrote:
Pea and Bean Weevil are having a whale of a time scoffing the Kidney
Bean leaves,any cure advice will be more than welcome, also woodlice are
eating the outer green covering on my cucumbers in the greenhouse which
disfigure them, any advice will me more than welcome,

As far as I know, woodlice don't do damage themselves, they only feed on
pre-damaged items. And they like damp.

Vicky wrote ...

Luvlyboy wrote:
Pea and Bean Weevil are having a whale of a time scoffing the Kidney
Bean leaves,any cure advice will be more than welcome, also woodlice are
eating the outer green covering on my cucumbers in the greenhouse which
disfigure them, any advice will me more than welcome,

As far as I know, woodlice don't do damage themselves, they only feed on
pre-damaged items. And they like damp.

That is the scientific view about Woodlice, I am not convinced they are
totally innocent.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
Pea and Bean Weevil are having a whale of a time scoffing the Kidney
Bean leaves,any cure advice will be more than welcome, also woodlice are
eating the outer green covering on my cucumbers in the greenhouse which
disfigure them, any advice will me more than welcome,

As far as I know, woodlice don't do damage themselves, they only feed on
pre-damaged items. And they like damp.

That is the scientific view about Woodlice, I am not convinced they are
totally innocent.

Were they woodlice hoodlums, with hoodies and tatoos and the like?

On 7/18/2012 5:49 PM, Bob Hobden wrote:
Vicky wrote ...

Luvlyboy wrote:
Pea and Bean Weevil are having a whale of a time scoffing the Kidney
Bean leaves,any cure advice will be more than welcome, also woodlice are
eating the outer green covering on my cucumbers in the greenhouse which
disfigure them, any advice will me more than welcome,

As far as I know, woodlice don't do damage themselves, they only feed on
pre-damaged items. And they like damp.

That is the scientific view about Woodlice, I am not convinced they are
totally innocent.

I've watched them chew up perfectly healthy flower petals, going round
and round the blossom til they reach the centre.

"Luvlyboy" wrote in message
...

Hi,
Pea and Bean Weevil are having a whale of a time scoffing the Kidney
Bean leaves,any cure advice will be more than welcome, also woodlice are
eating the outer green covering on my cucumbers in the greenhouse which
disfigure them, any advice will me more than welcome,

I got pea and bean weevil on my peas when I planted them out, making frills
on the lower leaves but the peas outgrew them and it doesn't seem to have
harmed them.
They haven't touched my kidney or dwarf french bean leaves. I hear that
derris dust sorts them out, but I didn't use it and please don't take this
advice - look into it yourself.
I've never had any crop damage from woodlice and unless I actually saw them
scoffing my cucumbers, I'd suspect snails/slugs.