From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   T wrote:   
   > Hi All,   
   >   
   > I am involved in a holy ware against the weeds again   
   > this year.   
   >   
   > The past two years, I though that if I just picked the   
   > weed and dropped in in place, the it would stop them   
   > from seeding.   
   >   
   > Well, It is worse than ever this year.  Apparently, when   
   > you pull the weed, whatever it has left in it puts its   
   > effort into seeding.  Now I have four times as much cheat   
   > grass!  Poop!   
   >   
   > This years I pull them and stick them into a bag for   
   > disposal.  So far, two big garbage bags full of cheat   
   > Grass and others.   
   >   
   > Death to weeds!   
      
     some plants are different, you gotta know the life   
   cycle to be effective.  some plants you can pull as   
   they are flowering and they won't be able to ripen   
   the seed fast enough.  others will persist and get   
   ripe enough seeds to continue.  so it sounds like   
   cheat grass is one that you have to target earlier   
   to control it.   
      
     the best defense against weeds is a good offense,   
   plant radishes, turnips, buckwheat and any other   
   cover crops you can get going so that there are fewer   
   hospitable places for them to use.   
      
     ah, ok, i looked it up, it is an annual, but you   
   have to get it early (in the fall/winter before spring).   
      
     get a stirrup hoe and scrape the ground a few times   
   when you see it coming up.  no plant will survive that.   
   you don't even have to (nor do you want to in many   
   cases) disturb the soil much.  just skim it along the   
   surface to chop it off.   
      
     now that you have a seed bank established it will   
   take several years of consistent effort to get rid   
   of it.  i know how that goes, i have something called   
   speedwell here which is annoying and a perennial.   
   very cute blue flowers, but the smell of it when   
   weeding it gets my nose running really bad so i now   
   remove it on sight.  it's all over the place though.   
   it will be years before i have a chance of getting   
   rid of it.  make a good dent each year but the lawn   
   mower and some lack of weeding means it can still   
   get spread around.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)