Any summer resident or gardener knows from experience how much work you need to invest even in a small plot in order to grow priceless "vitamins from the garden" - vegetables and berries. Unlike garden crops, weeds thrive without any care and concern, drawing water and minerals from the soil intended for berries and vegetables.
One of these uninvited guests on a garden plot or a well-groomed lawn is a creeping wheatgrass. This perennial weed from the grass family is incredibly hardy. First of all, this quality is present in the weed due to the structure of the root. Long knotty roots can go a meter deep and spread, sprouting from a small piece of root that has fallen into the soil. In addition, wheatgrass "spikelets" produce seeds that remain viable for up to 10-12 years. Simply put, getting rid of this plant, "settled" in the garden or on the lawn, is incredibly difficult.
If wheatgrass on the lawn can be simply mowed periodically with all other grass, then how to get rid of wheatgrass in the garden is not an easy question. This is a very time consuming task.
All available methods of dealing with this plant can be divided into two categories: the herbicidal method, that is, using special chemicals, and more harmless "chemical-free" methods, the so-called folk remedies.
Before resorting to spraying herbicides, it is worth trying to learn how to get rid of couch grass in the garden with folk remedies that are harmless to humans and more gentle to the soil.
Selecting roots
With most weeds, gardeners are used to dealing with simple digging. But with wheatgrass this does not work, but rather has the opposite effect: cutting the rhizome with a shovel and leaving pieces in the ground, you can enable the weed to grow even more and faster. How to get rid of wheatgrass in the garden? The most common effective method is to carefully pick out all the roots of this creeping weed from the ground. To prevent the emergence of couch grass from the remnants of the root, you need to sort out all the lumps of soil. Experienced gardeners recommend digging and sorting the ground using a pitchfork instead of a shovel.
Fade out
How to get rid of couch grass in the garden without "chemistry"? Another folk method is blackout. It is great for large garden areas that are overgrown with this creeping weed. Light-loving couch grass is simply blocked for the entire summer period access to the sun.light, covering this area with a dark film and simply sprinkling it on top, for example, with straw.
A complicated way of darkening is the construction of beds directly on top of wheatgrass. The weed is covered with a layer of cardboard, a layer of mulch is poured onto the cardboard (cut grass and weeds, chopped branches, etc.), and then a small layer of fertile soil. "Bed" for reliability along the edges can be overlaid with stones or bricks, and then sown with any plants.
Crushing couch grass roots
How to get rid of wheatgrass in the garden by other methods? This is, without a doubt, one of the most effective ways, completely "contradictory" to digging. The method is based precisely on the property of wheatgrass rhizomes to germinate young plants from a chopped root.
Using a cultivator, the wheatgrass rhizome is crushed, and young shoots with "bumps" sprout from it, which are much easier to remove from the ground. The only condition is that it must be done in a timely manner. Until the roots of new plants grow and grow strong.
Cutting
Pruning of growing young couch grass is carried out in the spring. The grass is cut so as to capture the rhizome a little - five centimeters will be enough. At the same time, the roots remaining in the soil begin to germinate new grass from the “sleeping” wheatgrass buds. After the germination of a new young plant, it is pruned in the same way.
For each germination of grass, the root system will expend more and more strength,which will lead to the death of the wheatgrass. You can enhance the effectiveness of this method if, after several pruning, this area is sown with plants that increase soil fertility - green manure or other garden crops that can destroy wheatgrass.
Sowing the plot with cultivated plants
Another way to deal with creeping wheatgrass is to sow the area "captured" by it with plants, next to which this weed dies. If you do not know how to get rid of wheatgrass in the garden with additional benefits, then this method is for you. You can get a crop from cultivated plants and, if the plant is green manure in addition, the soil in this area will be enriched with useful substances.
This is done simply: the site is dug up or plowed for about 20 cm, after which it is sown with a plant or even a mixture of seeds of plants with which wheatgrass is not friendly.
Such garden crops include buckwheat, various legumes and cruciferous plants.
Oats can defeat the creeping weed. To do this, oat seeds are sown in dug up (plowed) garden soil, and then the oats are mowed before the seeds ripen. On top of the resulting green mass, turned down in layers, the site is re-sown with oats. Further, the grown oats are mowed again, dug up and sown. This method additionally contributes to the enrichment of the soil with nitrogen.
Mulching
How to get rid of couch grass in the garden without numerous digging? A very useful and gentle way is to dig up andprepare the beds and cover the surface with a layer of mulch 30-35 cm thick. Mowed grass or straw is perfect for mulching. Ideally, it's best to let the soil "rest" under a layer of mulch for a year.
The root system of couch grass, isolated from the surface with a layer of mulch, will tend to “crawl out” to the surface, as a result of which the root will not be in the soil, but in the straw or grass itself. Because of this, couch grass that grows through a layer of mulch is very easy to remove by pulling out along with the root.
An additional benefit of mulching is that moisture accumulates in the soil, which is a favorable environment for the earthworm.
Vinegar
If the area infested with creeping weed is small, then there is another quick way. Those who do not know how to get rid of wheatgrass in the garden can simply pour it with vinegar or boiling water. The plant will die.
"Khimichim" against weed: herbicide method
If all non-chemical ways to get rid of wheatgrass seem too complicated, long or ineffective, and also if you need to get rid of wheatgrass as soon as possible, you can resort to the use of special chemicals. The main advantage of this method is the result, that is, the creeping weed will die off in two, maximum three weeks.
The most detrimental to wheatgrass are glyphosate-containing herbicides. Most often, the following drugs of this type can be found on sale: Glyphos and Glyphosate (these are different drugs), Hurricane Forte, Glisol and others.
Easyspraying a purchased herbicide is not enough, there are some features here. Here are a few rules on how to get rid of wheatgrass in the garden with the help of chemistry so that this weed does not reappear:
- Because of its vitality, wheatgrass is a plant that is poorly susceptible to chemicals. Therefore, weeds can only be removed with a concentrated solution. Conclusion: it is necessary to observe the dosage when diluting the herbicide. Too weak a solution will not give the desired effect, and too concentrated - unsafe for both the soil and human he alth.
- The most vulnerable wheatgrass is during the period of active growth, that is, from the moment the "bush" is formed until the "spikelets" appear. It is at this time that the spray is most effective.
- Herbicides can ONLY be used every three years!
The question arises as to if herbicides are so dangerous, is it possible to use the soil after treatment. Experts in the field of agriculture claim that the active substances of the drug, getting directly into the soil, are neutralized and decompose into harmless components.
