[permaculture-oceania] Cooch grass control

Sun Jun 11 18:57:09 EST 2006

I too have never failed with newspaper and mulch but you don't rely on that
you must plant out the mulch garden so that once the newspaper and hay
breakdown you are left with a living mulch.  Which one depends on your
climate and needs but there is a huge variety to choose from.  You can even
go into food forest with all the 7 layes and the cooch will never come back.

As Len said it is the edge that you need to secure.  Best edge against any
grass is a living soft edge and we use layers there too.  We combine comfrey
and lemon grass to stop the seed plowing in and germinating in the mulch and
sometimes go higher with arrowroot or a fodder crop.  You will have
replacements in your climate.

For the size of the area you wish to dominate it is the edge that is the
hardest, and requires the most effort and resources...it is the weakest link
and we dig trenches and put "clean" soil in from worm farm or compost with
river sand and line it and go further and it is there we put the hay bakes
and plant the edge barrier inside that.  When they break down the border
plants are up and doing the job.  In Louisianna we couldn't get rectangle
bales but had truck loads of strapped newspaper bundles.  I put the strapped
bundles on the edge and covered with a fluffy mulch from the rolled bales
and it looked fine.  I was concerned about it filling up with fire ants but
that didn't happen and once the edge plants got away they removed the paper
stack and used them as mulch elsewhere.  Then the grass came back to the
barrier and was mowed or it could be a path that is an additional
barrier...but that depends on the design.
Regards
Janet

Janet Millington
140 Finley Road
Eumundi QLD 4562
07 54 427 200
0402 06 24 65

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-oceania-bounces at lists.cat.org.au
[mailto:permaculture-oceania-bounces at lists.cat.org.au] On Behalf Of len
organicpc
Sent: Sunday, 11 June 2006 5:49 AM
To: permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au
Subject: Re: [permaculture-oceania] Cooch grass control

g'day steve & harry,

i've never failed with newspaper and sheet mulching, newspaper in varying 
thicknesses from say 30 sheets to 50 or so (if nut grass is involved), and 
that is for all grasses cooch, kykuya, paspalum you name it. even when i've 
had my bundles of newspaper to be used just sitting on the ground all the 
cooch underneath it died in short order and took ages to regenerate after 
the newspaper was taken away.

check my building a veg garden page and my site and also link to the 
ausgarden blog section i do this always my latest project on the blog site 
involves cooch and kykuya, and no sign of any of it coming through. maybe if

you look at the pics there may be a clue as to what could have made it work 
for you. i have never had nut grass come back on me using the same 
technique.

don't forget in permaculture you need t create a weed barrier around the new

formed garden, my current weed barrier is the garden edge as well that is 
bales of hay, have used saw-dust, 20mm stone & biscuits of hay, you could 
use chipped trees let the imagination work, lay the newspaper again and 
cover with any of the aforementioned.

don't be shy with the newspaper after all it comes free.

With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

>From: steve_burns at wvi.org
>Reply-To: permaculture-oceania <permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au>
>To: permaculture-oceania <permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au>
>Subject: Re: [permaculture-oceania] Cooch grass control
>Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:41:22 -0700
>
>Whatever you do don't sheet mulch it - I did that once to try to 
>control cooch and although it subdued it for a while, the very thick 
>layer off newspapers I put down eventually broke down and then guess 
>what was the only thing that survived underneath?  I had a thick mat of 
>cooch runners waiting to leap into life.... oh dear!
>
>I am aware that WA conditions are radically different to temperate 
>Victoria, so depending on where you are you will probably have lower 
>rainfall and therefore have less active growth, but I'd suggest 
>starting at a defined spot with repeated hand weeding and edge barriers 
>(either physical like timber/brick/stone/concrete or plant material 
>which is densely rooted like comfrey) to stop re-invasion from beyond 
>your controlled zone.  Plant into the cleared area only plants which 
>you are initially willing to sacrifice as you ferret out the cooch that 
>you miss the first time, and the second time, and the third time, 
>etc...
>
>(Be aware that every root section will regrow so they must be dealt 
>with carefully - maybe shredded and then rotted down into liquid 
>manure?)
>
>Another strategy would be to hard edge each garden bed then cover it 
>with a solid black plastic sheet so that all light and water is 
>excluded for an extended period.  This is less labour intensive but not 
>so visually attractive.  Whether it is time consuming depends how you 
>think about time
>- you might have to wait months, but maybe you could use those months to
>write submissions for future funding, door knock your neighbours or put in
>other infrastructure?
>
>Best of luck with it!
>
>Steve
>
>
>
>              Harry Wykman
>              <harrybw at iinet.ne
>              t.au>                                                      To
>              Sent by:                  permaculture-oceania
>              permaculture-ocea         <permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org
>              nia-bounces at lists         .au>
>              .cat.org.au                                                cc
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>                                                                    Subject
>              06/08/2006 07:05          [permaculture-oceania] Cooch grass
>              AM                        control
>
>
>              Please respond to
>              permaculture-ocea
>                     nia
>              <permaculture-oce
>              ania at lists.cat.or
>                    g.au>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Does anyone know of very effective ways of eliminating cootch grass?  I 
>am trying to prepare a community garden site in Western Australia.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Harry Wykman
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>permaculture-oceania mailing list permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au
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