Re: [compost_tea] Re: detrimentals not beneficials

From: David Anderson <squtch_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:41:30 -0700
On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 14:01:38 -0700 (PDT), butch ragland
<wilddog_202_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Mulch does suppress weed growth for a while but over
> the long hall it is a wonderful seed starter. And i do
> pull but somewhere during the growing season something
> sprouts in the mulch. And I really want carefree
> landscape, egg in my beer, pie in the sky.

I certainly understand your interest, but coming up with an herbicide
spray is certainly far being maintenance-free.

And whatever biology you spray now will not be there long-haul unless
the conditions are right for it and it can out-compete all the other
critters in those conditions. I just  don't see that happening in
whatever your mulch of choice is.

Why not get a little squirt bottle and fill it with 20% vinegar and
just give the weeds a little squirt when they pop up. It isn't
no-maintenance, but it is a lot lower than brewing up specialty teas,
and nowhere near as harmful as breaking out the roundup. With spot
applications you can still have healthy soil.

> Your answer is a layered crop procedure in the field
> which fits with a theory I read to long ago to site.
> That a balanced system needed 7 different plants
> growing together to reach equilibrium. The argurment
> was that they fed each other, ajuga needs n, tree
> needs p and each takes from the other what it needs.
> Wish I had kept that information, very interesting.

Oh, it has been called just about everything each time it is
"discovered". The thing is, that there really are only two reasons to
have straight row monoculture, 1) you like neat, weed-free straight
rows, 2) mechanical production needs.

I take weed control to mean that I make sure weeds do not successfully
out compete my crops. It does not mean getting rid last weed. If you
don't like the weeds that are there, plant some that you like more.

> An agronamist at UK once told me that mono-grass lawns
> were just the wrong thing to do. He said let grow what
> appears because it likes the spot where it appeared
> and add some seed along the way. As you mow it will
> stay ahead of the seeding of most unwelcome weeds and
> you will in up with a beautiful lawn that is different
> than a putting green but very healthy.

I personally hate grass lawns. The only use for most of them is some
sort of status symbol. All you do is mow them and spend money on them.

Having shor flowers mixed in does noting but add to the usefulness of
a lwan for laying around on, they give you something to play with.

Then when you get to an herbal lawn, you get all those wonderful
smells with every step, they are extremely cushy to lay down on, they
attract and feed beneficial insects, and you only mow them about once
a year.

You don't have to settle for grow it where it lies,  but you should at
least honestly think about what you want in a lawn before you decide
to put in 5 acres of useless green that you have to put all that
effort into.

Of course the turf people here will probably tell you different, but I
am with your friend in the UK on this one.

Dave

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Received on Fri Oct 29 2004 - 18:55:49 EDT

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