burning the weeds

[hollychap]

after digging my fruit patch and planting up last autumn i removed anything that was vegetation but some roots must have avoided me as they are now starting to grow . i dont want to start disturbing my strawbs so what i plan to do is to selectivly burn the weed growth with my plumbers blow torch as anyone tried anything similar ? would the continuous burning every week make the roots give up the ghost and simply die off ,there are not that many at the moment so it wouldnt be a long process any input most welcome

[Alison]

You'll never totally win the war on weeds as even if you remove all roots you'll still get wind born seeds. Personally I'd think it would be easiest to just hoe them off or pull up as appropriate (I favour the pull up technique as I don't get on with hoeing) but guess burning could work depending on the type of weed - some types are like the Terminator, nothing seems to hold them back for long

[hollychap]

not sure on the weed type i know ther not wind born as the plot was covered in them i will take my camera tommorow and see if anyone can identify them

[Two_Sheds]

i know ther not wind born as the plot was covered in them

That doesn't mean the seeds don't/can't come in on the wind...

[hollychap]

i know they will be wind born seeds that will be dealt with with a light hoeing , the ones that are emerging could be deep rooted as when i dug the bed i dug down to clay and with the bed now settled i dont want to dig too deep disturbing the fruit plants so i was wondering if continuous burning of the growth would eventually kill off the roots ?

[chris]

Eventually it'll get exhausted yes - it may take several attempts though. I guess if you could find out (or take a pic) what the weeds are it'd help. Dock for example, man that IS deep rooted.

[Two_Sheds]

i was wondering if continuous burning of the growth would eventually kill off the roots ?

Continuous hoeing would kill off the plant eventually: nothing likes to be constantly defoliated

Another option might be to drop a small pile of salt on the weed (but don't get it all over the beds, it's non-selective and will kill everything). Ditto vinegar.

Boiling water is a good weedkiller too, esp for those pesky cracks-in-paving weeds

[Aberdeenplotter]

Yes even perennial weeds can be defeated by destroying the top growth whether that be with pulling it off, hoeing it off or burning it off but as the others have already said, it can be a lengthy process. If it is a crop of annual weeds you have, hoe them off and then cover with weed suppressant membrane or even just a good mulch. Strawbs do very well planted through membrane so maybe consider that when taking on a row of new plants. If your weeds are perennials,fork them out then put down the membrane.

[hollychap]

heres a pic i took this morning of the weeds

[Two_Sheds]

I'm guessing because I've never seen any: ground elder?

[hollychap]

thanks for the link ts thats the one