Weed Control

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by alamo5000

I am barely learning enough about tomatoes, much less weeds LOL!

I have no idea what kind of weeds they are. Plus its the middle of winter so I can't go snap a photo.

From what I recall the 'stalks' if the weeds are round... kind of like hay but other than that I don't know what to tell you.

If it is hay like then it could be Johnson grass which happens to be one the top 10 weed list by the US government.

Or it could be Giant Rag Weed
The latter is easily eradicated by just pulling up.

From what you say it sounds like Johnson grass. this stuff is a real bugger to get rid of.
It has rhizomes in the soil that can do for many feet away from the plant.

The best way to none chemically get rid of it is to kepp it cut down to the ground. in this way it will starve out the rhizomes and they will eventually die.

Here is a picture.

Giant ragweed looks like this.



There is another weed I call beggars lice that looks like a young carrot but has little burs that when they get in your socks you might as well throw them away.

I have yet to find a picture of the weed.Tthen there is sorrel and dock.

Sorrel.

Dock




Both sorrel and dock are eatable at the you stage befoer the put out seed shoots. they are both of the Rumex genus.

You guys have some stuff up there that stops growing about 100 miles north of me that looks like a big light pale green fuzzy thing with big leavs that sets low to the ground and puts up a seed shoot in the late summer.
I dont know what it is.

And last but not least is crab grass.


Worth

[JackE]

Alamo, send photos of the weeds to TX A&M and they will identify them for you - preferably when they are flowering. We cannot recommend herbicides without knowing what weed you have. From what you say, sounds like grasses - and that's pretty easy. Remember, though, that our TX "nut grass" is NOT grass - it's a sedge. Grass killers don't phase it. And don't spray them on your sweet corn - corn IS a grass. :-) Are you confused enough now?

Jack

[Worth1]

I forgot nut grass.


I have seen ths stuff grow through the bottom of an above ground swimming pool. No cover will stop it besides concrete or rocks.

Worth

[prizebull]

;Worth said "You guys have some stuff up there that stops growing about 100 miles north of me that looks like a big light pale green fuzzy thing with big leavs that sets low to the ground and puts up a seed shoot in the late summer."
Would that be Mullein ? People use that like tobacco by drying the leaves and smoking it and I think you can make a tea with it also.
Gene

[alamo5000]

Based on your photos...

I have (at least)...

Giant Ragweed, lots of sorrel, and dock...and of course lots and lots of crab grass too...

And Nut Grass too...at least one type I think...

I am going by memory here...but normally we just keep everything mowed really good. Take away the mowing and next thing you know its chest deep. Literally chest deep.

Hence I grow in containers. Or have been for the last two years.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by prizebull

;Worth said "You guys have some stuff up there that stops growing about 100 miles north of me that looks like a big light pale green fuzzy thing with big leavs that sets low to the ground and puts up a seed shoot in the late summer."
Would that be Mullein ? People use that like tobacco by drying the leaves and smoking it and I think you can make a tea with it also.
Gene

That's it! Thank you so very much.

[Fusion_power]

Go to http://www.shawfabricproducts.com/ and look at the 15 ft wide lumite.


DarJones

I used a herbicide last summer that selectively killed both crab grass and nut grass in a Bermuda grass lawn. It killed both effectively without effecting the Bermuda grass. I don't remember the name of the product, but I will look when I am in my shop tomorrow.

Ted

[JackE]

Alamo --

You only have one kind of nut grass - Purple Nut Sedge, "the world's worst weed" by general consensus. The Yellow Nut Sedge is more northern - much easier to control since it only produces a single nut per plant. Our nut grass, though, sends out thin, thread like runners, linking many new nuts together (as kids we would carefully dig to see how many nuts in a row we could get without breaking the thread - sometimes a dozen)

We put-in a hot asphalt driveway when we built this house without fumigating the soil and the nut grass came-up through it!

It only has one weakness - it doesn't compete well with other weeds. but stays dormant for many years. RU will kill the plant itself but the nut sprouts again, and again and again....up to 12 times in tests at A&M, but if you keep-on spraying it, the nut will eventually run-out of energy and dessicate. When the plant first appears in your garen, you must remove or kill it before it gets 5 leaves - that's when it sends-out it's first runner. And that's a matter of a couple days

There are a couple chemicals and soil fumigants that claim to kill it - but all very toxic and must be professionally-applied. There is. however, light at the end of the tunnel - a promising new product that is supposed to kill it - Sandea. It's a new, safer selective herbicide, approved for use on many vegetable crops - the first one you can spray over the top on cucurbits - also tomatoes!

I want some Sandea so bad I can taste it - but it's $400+ for a 10oz bottle. However, an ounce goes a long ways (like a hundred gal of spray or something). Supposedly, the bottle would last a small grower for several years. I have talked to some guys on the web that use it and they have glowing reports - kills nearly everything, including purple nut grass, with no crop damage. No generic on the market yet. Here's the label - very impressive -http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld5LK002.pdf

Jack

[JackE]

Ted - when you check it, please give us the name of the active ingredient. Sandea is halosulfuron-methyl, as I should have indicated above. When all the generics come-out for these chemicals, the trade names mean very little. Chances are it's not labelled for veggies though - most of those lawn products aren't.

Wild bermuda is extremely difficult to kill, but Arrow (clethodim) controls it.

Jack

[JackE]

MR MODERATOR--

I've tried to unsubscribe from the email notifications, but they just keep filling my inbox. Please shut off that feature for me - or tell me how.

Jack

[tam91]

I'm not him, but here you go:

Go to the main page, just www.tomatoville.com
On the left, select "My Profile"
On the left, select "Edit Options"
Scroll down to "Messaging and Notifications"
Under Default Thread Subscription Mode, select "No email notification"
Scroll down the the bottom and hit "Save Changes"

That will prevent future threads from notifying you

Then scroll back up until you see Subscribed Threads on the left
Click on List Subscriptions
On the right, tick the box next to "Notification"
Scroll to the bottom, and click the down arrow next to "Move to Folder and select "No email notification"
Click go

That should get rid of them

[JackE]

It worked! Thanks very much.