Weed abatement

[Paddy]

is wearing me out. Anybody else doing this?  We live on 6 acres in the middle of many acres of scrub oak, sagebrush and various native California overgrowth.  I use one of two gas powered string trimmers with .095" line, a gas powered chain saw, electric hedgetrimmers hooked up to a 1250W power inverter, and yesterday I bought a 10" electric 110V pole saw to cut some of the growth overhead above the driveway so fire trucks can get in if need be.

The poison oak is outta control; it's getting sprayed with Brush B Gon.  We had lots of rain this winter, even into May.  The thistles are still green and thick and impossible to cut with anything but loppers. Whew!

What do you do (besides hire someone)?

[duck hunt]

I'm having the same problem with poison oak.  I even got an abatement notice from the city because it's taking over the alley.  Last year I had some success with Brush-B-Gon but I didn't spray this year.

[jefnvk]

I have literally attempted to get agent orange through the local NG base.

I'll stop in at Dow Tuesday and see if I can get you any

[garyk/nm]

Hire some illegals. Fire also works well.  A little gasoline... a little more gasoline...a little more gasoline.... WHUMP! no more weeds.  Or eyebrows.
BTDT, healing nicely, thank you.
Seriously, those propane weed burners are very helpful in getting the lighter stuff out of the way, then you can attack at will with the chainsaw.

[jefnvk]

Here is your solution: Homemade Flamethrower

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:7iRPKKvnxqsJ:forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php%3Fthreadid%3D1107178%26perpage%3D40%26pagenumber%3D1+homemade+flamethrower+site:somethingawful.com&hl=en

(had to use a google cache, thesite now requires registration)

[Silver Bullet]

Remington 870  

[Ben]

Round-Up is your friend (from your local farm supply store, not a do-it-yourself place that sells the weak formula for way more duckets).

[Paddy]

It's really too dry around here too use a flamethrower.  Yikes! I'd cause the problem I'm trying to avoid- WILDFIRE!

Each summer I've filled around 3-4 small boxcar loads of brush and trees.

I know what you mean.  We've been dumping slash down the hill by the bend of the driveway for years now.  There is so much fuel there that if it ever catches fire, it will look like a thermonuclear explosion  I'm thinking about using a chipper this year.

[Waitone]

Round-up is a wonder of nature.  It doesn't kill fast but it kills dead and hard.  No misshapen plants.  Just quiet, serene death of targeted plants.  The stuff is meant for woody stem plants of any kind.  Here in redneckville we suffer with Kudzu, iron thorns, honeysuckle, poison, grasses of all kinds and nothing compares to it.  It is pricey but effective.

Standard southern routine is a pumpup sprayer with recommended strength applied.  Stout herbs like kudzu and iron thorns need full recommended strength.  Grasses die nicely at 1/2 strength.  At the end of the week you will see what was hit and what needs to be hit again.    So hit is again (one week after the first hit).  Then you are on a two week schedule until fall rides into town.

[Ben]

Round-up is a wonder of nature.

Not to mention that as a bonus by-product, the mere mention of the name "Round-Up" in the vicinity of anyone who wears Birkenstocks and thinks the Earth liberation Front is cool results in instantaneous death by heart attack of said individual (no re-application necessary).

[roo_ster]

A coupl hints WRT Round-up:

1. Use a surfactant.  That thar' is fancy-talk for some sort of detergent additive that helps the Round-up mix stick to the plants' leaves.  If you are buying in small quantities, a bottle of that cheap pink dish detergent or cheap liquid laundry detergent is a solution.  If you are going to use a LOT of Round-up, there are big commercial-sized surfactants to be had.  

2. Spray when it is dry and will be sunny for a day or two after you spray, as Round-up needs the sunlight to work properly.

3. Buy the concentrate & mix yourself.

[Waitone]

Not to mention that as a bonus by-product, the mere mention of the name "Round-Up" in the vicinity of anyone who wears Birkenstocks and thinks the Earth liberation Front is cool results in instantaneous death by heart attack of said individual (no re-application necessary).

Around here we are more interested in survival against our weeds rather than esoteric questions by enviro-nuts.  

The south has risen again because of air conditioning and roundup.  

[El Tejon]

We Yankees go in for hand-to-hand with cold steel.  *snicker*

Cut thistles (big suckers like the finches and other critters like) out with a surplus bayonet.  Of course, 1.  I live downtown with a small yard, 2.  yard work was one of the first things I gave up as my situation changed.

[Larry Ashcraft]

I use one of those weed eaters on wheels, 6.5 hp, .155 line.   Or a brush hog on the larger areas. 39 hp John Deere, five-foot brush hog.

If you tank mix 2,4,D with your Roundup, you get the quick killing power of the 2,4,D combined with the strength of the Roundup.

Roundup sold at farm supply stores is typically 36 percent.  At a garden supply or handyman store the best is usually 18%.  The "ready-to-use" is 1% and it can still be diluted about 10-1.

[Paddy]

I've considered one of those weedeaters on wheels, but much of the clearing I have to do is on a steep slope.  The 2,4,D suggestion is a good one I hadn't thought of.  

What is the chemical that kills all vegetation forever?

[Ben]

What is the chemical that kills all vegetation forever?

Pu

[Larry Ashcraft]

Salt?  Calcium Chloride?  I don't know.  The best soil sterilants around here only work for about three years, and we only get about 11" of precipitation annually.  I've got an old high school friend who owns a farm chemical supply.  I could find out.

I just tried an experiment I've read about before.  I covered an area about forty feet square with 6 mil plastic for two weeks.  I used black, because that's what I had, but clear is supposed to work better.  It killed all the weeds, but time will tell if it sterilized the soil.  If you make sure the ground is damp before spreading the plastic, it's supposed to cook all the seeds.

[roo_ster]

Salt?  Calcium Chloride?  I don't know.  The best soil sterilants around here only work for about three years, and we only get about 11" of precipitation annually.  I've got an old high school friend who owns a farm chemical supply.  I could find out.

I just tried an experiment I've read about before.  I covered an area about forty feet square with 6 mil plastic for two weeks.  I used black, because that's what I had, but clear is supposed to work better.  It killed all the weeds, but time will tell if it sterilized the soil.  If you make sure the ground is damp before spreading the plastic, it's supposed to cook all the seeds.

Bermuda grass laughs at the old, "cover it up with a tarp for weeks & kill it" trick.  BTDT.  Yeah, it will kill it, but it comes back.  Same with Dallas grass.

I am thinking the only "permanent" solution is to kill/remove the weeds you don't want & replace with plants you do want, plants that will choke out the weeds.  Even plastic covered with rock/gravel will not keep them away forever.  Mother Nature is one persistent b*tch.

[Tallpine]

Sounds like you are talking two different things: brush and weeds.

I bought a heavy duty Stihl gas trimmer and put a circular metal blade on it.  The blade can be sharpened with a round file just like a chainsaw.  You MUST have the "bicycle" handlebars on the saw to use this type of blade.  Works on up to about 2" material, and sure saves the back compared to using a chainsaw.  We still have acres of "dog hair" on our place yet to cut, though I have a nice perimeter around the house now.

We have an enormous noxious weed problem here.  I have a backpack sprayer that holds about 3 gallons.  When it quits raining, I will again be making several rounds per week attacking knapweed and thistles.  I use 2-4-D concentrate bought in 2 gal jugs.  I need to remember the surfactant (dish soap) - I worked for a commercial sprayer briefly and he used that in the 100+ gallon truck tanks.

There are also some other blades I want to try on the Stihl trimmer for the big weeds, especially thistles.  But I haven't used the string head at all yet.

EDIT: oh yeah, we burn our slash piles every winter when there is snow cover.  Some of our burn sites have been used twice in the last two years and are full again waiting for next winter.

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

BTW, if you go the Roundup route, remember that spray drifts and wind helps it drift.

I went after some ailanthus with Roundup in a pump sprayer a few years ago. Did quite well on the ailanthus -- and every other green living thing in range...

- NF

[Perd Hapley]

Fire also works well.  A little gasoline... a little more gasoline...a little more gasoline.... WHUMP! no more weeds.  Or eyebrows.

My dad tried that when he was a kid.  Several skin grafts later, his leg is still working, but his chest and stomach have large, funny-looking patches where the skin was removed for grafting.  

[TarpleyG]

Since we dredged this old thing back up can I ask all of you what your opinion is on lawn care service to fertilize and control weeds?  I am having a company that does my BIL's lawn come out at the end of the month to aerate and seed but I am contemplating also signing up for the 7-visits-per-year service they offer.  My grass looks pretty nice but it does have some weed issues that I can't seem to overcome.  The cost seems fair to me at $37 every other month.  I just don't want to spend the next 2 years paying these folks with no return.

Greg

[Art Eatman]

As far as brush goes:  I figure anything that will kill mesquite will kill most anything.

I use "Remedy" and diesel.  Remedy costs about $94/gallon at Tractor Supply.  I mix it one tablespoon of Remedy to a gallon of diesel.  I use a little two-gallon sprayer.  I cut the small stuff and spray just a small amount on the stump; I'm a tightwad on spending $94 for a gallon.  So far, right at 100% effective.

Art