half acre of weeds, what to do?

[habeeb]

hi guys

I bought a new place, and it has about a half acre of "landscaped" gardening. but being as the bank took it, it's gone to crap, and now I have a half acre of weeds..

so I didn't want to use round-up, so I'm looking for options of the best solution on what to do to get rid of the weeds, and keep it maintainable..

I have some people doing the work, so anything is an option as long as it doesn't involve chemicals..

any help would be great, as I'm not sure what to do....

 

[Papulz]

can you just burn or till it all?

having a hard time thinking of ways that will not be super labor intensive..

 

[AGBeer]

Get a goat. Or three.
They will take care of it in no time.

 

[303hydro]

Goats are good to have around anyways. Great f$^&ing answer!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Why no roundup?

 

[laughingmoon]

you can rent goats for this specific reason

 

[supermanlives]

around here we use mexicans

 

[paperchaser825]

Burn it or lay down weed barrier and hope the wind doesn't blow it away.

 

[lokes]

Goats or a PTO mower. The roots and seeds will still be there though, so its not a true solution.
Round UP goes inert after contact with the soil. I'd probably go that route first, then put down a pre emergent to keep the seeds from sprouting.
After that you can go organic.

 

[Papulz]

wow great idea on the goats, now i remember that those little guys even take care of poison oak.

just thought of another option dependin on how long you want this to take overall.

you could cover the ground for awhile with plastic or whatever and that should clean it up pretty well.

 

[foomar]

Hi habeed , i do this kind of reinstatement for a liveing and have tried all options over the years.

Dependant on how many years it was abandoned would clear the site with brushcutters or machete and compost or burn , find and clear by hand around any nice specimen shrubs that might be hideing.

Would leave it for 2 - 3 weeks and spray the regrowth once with roundup under good weather conditions and use handtools to work the soil from then on , rotavators can make perrenial weeds worse.

I try to avoid useing chemicals whenever possible but one application saves so much work longterm it may be worth consideration.

The best but hugely intensive method is to fork through and remove roots by hand , half an acre could take a while , depends on the labour cost.

 

[ijim]

Even if you killed them with a chemical you would still have to go in an chop them out or till them under. Sounds like a weed eater and machete is your friend. Or a hoe, no not my ex a garden hoe and dig them up. Then you still have all the weed seeds that have been deposited. So I would till the roots up and into the soil then plant a heavy ground cover that would keep the new weed seedlings from surviving. Weeds are not easy to get rid of without chemicals. Just ask the DEA

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

A sharpshooter shovel ain't cheep but comes in handy for the bigger weeds.

 

[303hydro]

around here we use mexicans

wow that's classy man.

 

[DaPurps]

Mow it down or weed-whacker it and then till the ground

 

[HUGE]

There is a lady who rents her goats out just for this.

 

[Tilt]

Our local gardening expert recommends a section at a time boiling hot water. It boils the sap in the roots. Some weeds love fire and come back with a vengence. Mulch will also help too. She also uses her kitchen steamer to kill individual weeds. Horticultural grade vinegar also will work too.

 

[dubwise]

Goats are great but chickens work well too. We made a little "clearing" box 5'x3'x3' with wood and chicken wire. Place one chicken in the box (the box is open on the ground) and place the box in the area needed to be cleared. In a matter of days the area is cleaned and ready to move into the next location.

 

[pearlemae]

Like Tilt said horticultural vinegar works very well. I've used it on Blackberries and it works. The acetic acid burns the weeds. You might check out propane weed burners, it's a torch that generally goes on a 5 gal propane bottle(bbq size). When using a weed burner you only need to hit the weeds with the heat long enough to change the leaves bright green, looks like they were hit with boiling water. Weed burners are portable and do the job.

 

[GanjaPharma]

2 pigs will clear AND till a field like nobody's business. i have seen 2 pigs do a 1/2 acre parcel from covered in weeds, to loamy black earth in a few months. plus you can use them to sew a cover crop when they are done clearing (ala sepp holzer) , they are some hard working tractors.
and of course you can eat em when you are done...ever had goatmeat? i wasnt impressed.