Hi everyone

I'm new to gardening. Just been given my first allotment, and spent
a few days with a brush cutter clearing the dense undergrowth, and was
planning to spray the plot with weedkiller, cover it with black
plastic for the winter, and then start digging it over, and planting
things in say February. But have I overdone it? I've cropped the
vegetation so close to the bare earth that there's hardly any green
showing. I was going to use glysophate, which I understand can only
be absorbed into the root systems of the grass and weeds via the leaf,
and is destroyed by contact with the soil. So this seems to mean
that either I give the weeds a chance to recover before I can use
glysophate on them, or I need to find another safe weedkiller.

Any comments?


Ken Cohen

In om,
ken cohen typed:
Hi everyone

I'm new to gardening. Just been given my first allotment, and spent
a few days with a brush cutter clearing the dense undergrowth, and was
planning to spray the plot with weedkiller, cover it with black
plastic for the winter, and then start digging it over, and planting
things in say February. But have I overdone it? I've cropped the
vegetation so close to the bare earth that there's hardly any green
showing. I was going to use glysophate, which I understand can only
be absorbed into the root systems of the grass and weeds via the leaf,
and is destroyed by contact with the soil. So this seems to mean
that either I give the weeds a chance to recover before I can use
glysophate on them, or I need to find another safe weedkiller.

Any comments?


Glyphosate works best when the plant is in avtive growth. Having just been
decapitated your root systems are desperate to put out new top growth. ie
you have lost very little. Water well, wait a few days then when there is a
flush of nice green growth, spray. in fact if the area was vry overgrown you
will find it easier to get 100% cover the way you have done it.

pk

Hi everyone

I'm new to gardening. Just been given my first allotment, and spent
a few days with a brush cutter clearing the dense undergrowth, and was
planning to spray the plot with weedkiller, cover it with black
plastic for the winter, and then start digging it over, and planting
things in say February. But have I overdone it? I've cropped the
vegetation so close to the bare earth that there's hardly any green
showing. I was going to use glysophate, which I understand can only
be absorbed into the root systems of the grass and weeds via the leaf,
and is destroyed by contact with the soil. So this seems to mean
that either I give the weeds a chance to recover before I can use
glysophate on them, or I need to find another safe weedkiller.

Any comments?

As you're planning to cut out the light with black plastic sheeting for several
months I'd suggest you save your money and don't bother with Glyphosate.You may
want to try leaving all the weeds where you've cut them, then covering them
with black plastic and leaving them for the bacteria/worms to compost down and
work into the soil. Ideally you'd want rainwater to pass through the plastic
to get to the soil. Any weeds that come up through holes/gaps in the plastic
can be spot treated with just a little glyphosate. You should have a clean
canvas to work with after a month or two. Any weeds that do come up after that
will be easy to treat.

Dave.

In message , ken cohen
writes
Hi everyone

I'm new to gardening. Just been given my first allotment, and spent
a few days with a brush cutter clearing the dense undergrowth, and was
planning to spray the plot with weedkiller, cover it with black
plastic for the winter, and then start digging it over, and planting
things in say February. But have I overdone it? I've cropped the
vegetation so close to the bare earth that there's hardly any green
showing. I was going to use glysophate, which I understand can only
be absorbed into the root systems of the grass and weeds via the leaf,
and is destroyed by contact with the soil. So this seems to mean
that either I give the weeds a chance to recover before I can use
glysophate on them, or I need to find another safe weedkiller.

Any comments?

You would probably have had an easier time spraying glyphosate on it and
then cropping it to the ground a couple of weeks later. But no matter,
leave everything to grow on for a couple of weeks and then hit the nice
new soft regrowth with glyphosate. Leave it a couple of weeks to take
effect and then when it is all tinder dry you can have a bonfire.

Any regrowth after that you can hit as needed and start digging the
roots out. Depending what weeds are present it may take a few goes.

Buttercup tends to resist glyphosate and will recolonise the bare earth.
Dandelions and thistles seeds will arrive by airmail.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown