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Index : Pests
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- 17. Controlling Winter Weeds in the Garden and Landscape - Top
- Weeding and weed control is the drudge-work of gardening. For all your efforts, if successful, there's little to show. You could say: "look at where those weeds would have been". But this hardly will impress the neighbors. What will impress them though, is the health and beauty of your weed-free garden and landscape.
Besides being unsightly, weeds rob surrounding plants of water and nutrients. They also continually produce more weeds. Annual weeds reseed themselves, and perennial weeds spread by seed and spreading shoots or roots. To stop the many types of weeds that exist, a combination of control measures must be used.
Mulches are materials used to blanket the soil. They provide many benefits, foremost is their ability to prevent weed growth. Mulches can be an organic (once living) types, such as ground wood, compost, or pine straw. Or they can be an inorganic (non living), such as decomposed granite, river rock, or plastic weed mats.
It's best to use organic type mulches when possible because of the additional benefits they provide. Besides preventing weed growth, mulches insulate the soil, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. They also help conserve moisture. A 2 to 3 inch layer of organic mulch is preferred. Decomposed granite or other inorganics are beneficial, but they will not improve the soil quality as will organics. Plastic mulches should not be used here in Tucson.
Hand weeding is an effective way to control weeds, when their aren't too many. For easier pulling, hand weed when the soil is moist and weeds are small. Cultivation using a hoe, machete or other sharp object can also be used to control weeds. Try to shave off weeds rather than cutting into the soil. Many landscape plants and most flowers and vegetables are shallow-rooted. Cutting into the soil damages these fine, shallow roots.
Chemical weed preventers, also called pre-emergent herbicides, can be applied now to prevent winter weed seeds from germinating. Look for products like Weed Stopper, Weed and Grass Preventer, or Weed Preventer on your garden center shelf. One of the best landscape pre-emergent herbicides is a relatively new product called Amaze. Another is an old stand-by: Surflan. Amaze and Surflan can also be used in flower beds, as can Treflan, Dacthal or Eptam. All except Eptam must be watered into the soil after application. Eptam must be mixed into the soil.
Chemical weed killers, also called post-emergent herbicides, can be used to control weeds that are up and actively growing. One of the best post-emergent herbicides is glyphosate, better known by the trade name Round-up. It can be used to spot treat weeds. It works by being absorbed into the green tissue of leaves and stems, and moves down through the weed into the roots. It takes time for Roundup to work, especially in cool weather when weed growth has slowed. Allow 10- to 14 days for the weeds, roots and all, to die. As with all pesticides, follow all label directions before applying chemical weed controls.
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Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona, 520-626-5161.
Material originally appeared in Arizona Daily Star gardening column, on October 27, 1996
- Updated: October 27, 1996
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