What kind of weeder are you?

I'm mostly a hand weeder with the help of a trowel or weed poker for the really deep roots, but I also use mulch and occasionally herbicides if things get really out of hand or we get a new nasty like the giant ragweed down along the fenceline.

sp. correction

This message was edited Aug 11, 2008 9:08 AM

By hand, I dont even wear gloves.

Mix of #2, #4, #7.

Don't like using poisons.

I use mulch & hand weed, no tools.
NEED HELP!
Bernie

I choose other because it depends on which bed they are in and my mood that day. I try to put down mulch, but one of my beds have seeds that come back every year, so I don't use it in that one. Mostly, I pull them by hand, but I have been known to go out there with every tool in my arsenal to destroy the little boogers!

I voted "other" because some I pull, some I have to use tools, and some I have to resort to chemicals! Even though we mulch we even get weeds growing up in the mulch! We've been in our house 33 years and it seems like the older I get the more weeds there are!%@. I'm getting to the age where I just want to ignore them!

tried burning them with a weed torch, and almost burned my shed down. now i use a hoe

All of the above (except burning them) and they still come back! Ugh!

So many of the things that are willing to grow here in the Mojave Desert at all are classed as weeds (e.g. Lomatium californicum and Erodium cicutarium, not to mention prickly Russian thistle which looks better than barren earth but got weeded anyway from areas where a four foot tall *biter* wouldn't have been acceptable) that the question is close to academic for me. Most areas of my land I don't weed at all because the weeds are the only things growing there.

But when I was doing my Pretty Flowers Row in a fully replaced soil bed next to the garage where I could additionally protect them from the wind with wind breaker brick walls and provide them with water in the arid environment with a timed soaker system (before the rabbits ate every living thing in that planting row), I was hand weeding everything that I hadn't intentionally planted there. I also hand weeded (with gloves) the prickly Russian thistle in areas where I wasn't willing to let it grow to be a four foot tall biting monster. I also weeded with a trowel every single example that I could locate of a particularly noxious early season thing that grew via runners devoid of even a hint of pretty flowers (unlike Erodium cicutarium which rewards the landlord with a pretty boquet of tiny purple flowers). But bottom line is that when "weeds" are most of what one has, one doesn't do all that much weeding.

I voted other since All of the Above wasn't an option. I have yet to burn weeds but have the burner available and some day (after I've been lax at weeding a while) burning may strike my fancy.

Gary

I weed by hand, everything but the cactus bed, that I do with tweezers and a pair of kitchen tongs......

I use a combination of mulch, Preen(pre-emergent), and hand pulling. I 'm even guilty of using Round-Up down the length of our street sidewalk to keep those nasty weeds out of the cracks.

I have to say that mulch and Preen are my two best friends for keeping my veggie garden and flowerbeds mostly weed free! I can't tolerate weedy gardens in my yard, but it's a constant battle no matter what I do.

It's me against "Them". LOL

Sasha

I pull them, I hoe them, I burn them, I spray them, and I cover them, and I'm considering using a pre-emergent next year. Burning is one of my favorites, but it only works on small newly-germinated weeds.

I pull them by hand. I love spending time in the garden weeding. I love the sound of the weed roots letting go of the soil... I love the smell of the gardens....I love the look of a weed free, freshly watered garden. I love weeding! But.. I only have two flower beds that are on the smaller side and am perusing them often. So it's easy to see a new weed come up and yank it out by hand. I'm sure if I had larger spaces to weed it would be a different story.

I pull them by hand and didn't use to wear gloves but will have a wedding to attend in a few weeks so I am trying to save my hands from looking too embarassing, and wear gloves now.

I had to say other, cause it isn't just one. In fact, I've done all of those at one time or another!

With five acres, I actually use a combination of all the above depending on the spot in the yard and the time of year ,and in addition I just mow the weeds twice a year in the "back back" of the property. This time of year I ignore a lot of stuff because it is so hot! We use pre-emergent once a year on the lawn in the spring (you almost have to if you want a decent lawn in Florida), and we use round up on a regular basis in the front of the yard around all the tree rings. Works great and no residual chemical activity in the ground. But, even so, there is an endless amount of weeding on our property, and I am hoping soon we can get a gardener to help out.

Lol jordankittyjo!

I'm glad to see so many people are using the organic options. I'm a hand weeder and am also masterful at ignoring them. :)

I hand pull, spray w/Roundup if it's something widespread or use a hoe or hand cultivator- whatever it takes to get them out of there. Nut grass is pulled ad infinitum as it never goes away. I really hate weeds.

Ann

I hand weed but sometimes just let them be if they are not interfering with my plants. Besides, I get volunteers of many of my hybrid plants that pop up spontaneously from time to time, so indiscriminate weeding could be a bad thing for me!

I hand weed. It may take a while, but I find it very relaxing. I find it rather easy just after a rain. All roots come out & it aerates the ground.

I chose by hand. I love being out in the garden very early in the morning to weed. Sitting on my little stool, it lets me enjoy all the garden visitors and plan my day I find it very relaxing. I do sometimes use a Japanese weeder I got at Kmart if there are lots of weeds in a tight spot. But my hand is the best. I have a cottage garden and let many flowers reseed so using other methods would stop too many blooms!

This message was edited Aug 11, 2008 8:33 AM

I voted "other" because I do a little of everything.

I use newspaper & redwood compost mulch, and sprinkle that with a little corn gluten as a pre-emergent. When weeds germinate, I start with hand-pulling, then progress to tools. My Weed Dragon has been wonderful in areas where I don't want anything growing.

I don't use chemicals unless I'm dealing with bermudagrass that I haven't been able to eradicate any other way. It's the bane of my garden......

I generally ignore weeds until they get taller than I am. Then, with a strong pair of pruning shears, I cut it off as low as possible, and hope it dies. So far this year I've removed 7 foot tall burdock, 6 foot tall mustard, several 8 foot tall clovers, a ten foot angelica growing in the lily bed, several 5 foot tall hawks beard, and several thistles 4 feet and up. The majesty of many of these plants was incredible, which made them difficult to cut down until they were about to set seed, for armies of burdock would not make me happy at all.

I voted other. I weed by hand except I had to resort to chemicals for creeping bellflower. I also plant groundcovers to smother weeds.

I hand weed, use tools when needed, and lay newspapers down in some areas with mulch on top.

I voted "ignore" but that's not totally accurate. I have a vegetable garden that was lawn until year before last, and at first I weeded... having the same mentality as most folks: considering weeds as pests.

However, I have been reading about the actual benefits of some specific weeds such as breaking up hardpan as part of a plan to revitalize my soil. So, those I am ignoring and/or encouraging.

I am about to break my own rule on NO herbicides since I discovered a huge patch of poison ivy around the base of 2 small apple trees that were covered over for years by honeysuckle. Too much P.I. to pull out the vines and dig out the roots.

Right now I pull them by hand, but I want to get my beds to be bio-intensive so I don't have to worry about it as much.

I added a bunch of bromeliads to a bed that allowed weeds to pop up to acheive exactly that!

I remove them by hand, but I also use preen (a lot) and round-up (seldom, blackberries and grass mostly)

I hand weed and use Post for bermuda grass. There are some straggling privets from the previous homeowners that I fight with tools as I'm afraid to put 2-4-D that close to my trees. Roundup is not tough enough to get them.

I like to lay down newspaper and grass mulch around my veggies. That too is work but it lasts longer than pulling the weeds. If I find a weed I can't seem to pull, I at least cut the top off. There is enough seed already in the soil and I certainly don't need more.

I SAID tools (hoe) but I usually just pull them by hand. I like a little hand cultivator to loosen the soil when I need it.

Can't we have 2 choices? Mostly, I ignore them until they just get out of hand. I have a LARGE garden, so a full round of all the garden beds could take a month, if I did not have to work or do anything else! When I HAVE to deal with them, I pull them by hand, sometimes, like brigidily, using a hand cultivator to loosen the soil. I never wear gloves when weeding: how can you "feel" the weeds and their roots if you do? (I don't wear gloves when washing dishes, either [altho my wife does] because I don't think you can tell when something is clean with gloves!).
My worst weeds are horsetail and bindweed. They both just laugh at mulch! And the annual grasses just seed on top of it! A waste of time and energy for anything but moisture control.

I voted "other" some I pull, I use tools on some, and occasionally use chemicals on the toughest ones. I do mulch but some weeds end up growing up through, or taking root in, the mulch.

I also voted "other". We innoculate the soil with mycorrhizae, EM and fermented plant extracts. This keeps the biology of the rhizosphere complex and active, so we don't really get a lot of weeds. Those that do come up are usually pulled by hand .......and often eaten!. The exception is the bermuda grass/johnson grass. That usually needs a tool (spade or fork) to help dig the roots out. We're making headway with the grass though.

By hand! Weeding is a kind of meditation for me.

I put down mulch to prevent them, pull by hand what I can, and use weed killer on bindweed (creeping jenny) and anything that has gotten too large to pull.

I'm a #2, #2 & #4 and if they don't work I just ignore them away.