[permaculture-oceania] Cooch grass control

[kdawborn]

One of the best tools I've found for removing cooch - a garden fork - to
loosen soil and roots before pulling up. Might seem obvious to some but
didn't to me - for too long... Tried sheet mulching and found the same thing
you did steve, more recently just weeded and mulched heavily with wood
chips. What I found and a friend pointed to, is that the cooch seemed to
grow more weakly with heavy chip mulching and has become progressively
easier to clear as it grows more thinly. But whatever you do, don't overlook
the good old garden fork. It's a gem!

Kerry Dawborn

 

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-oceania-bounces at lists.cat.org.au
[mailto:permaculture-oceania-bounces at lists.cat.org.au] On Behalf Of
steve_burns at wvi.org
Sent: Saturday, 10 June 2006 3:41 AM
To: permaculture-oceania
Subject: Re: [permaculture-oceania] Cooch grass control

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 
                                                                           
                                                                   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
_______________________________________________
permaculture-oceania mailing list
permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au
http://lists.cat.org.au/mailman/listinfo/permaculture-oceania


_______________________________________________
permaculture-oceania mailing list
permaculture-oceania at lists.cat.org.au
http://lists.cat.org.au/mailman/listinfo/permaculture-oceania