Question
QUESTION: The mayor of our community is looking for an alternative for weed control companies to use. We live on a island and the bay is dying do to chemical fertilizers and weed killers(glyphosate).  He does not want to put the people out of business that are providing this 'service' and wants to find a effective alternative to suggest to them.  Most properties are covered with landscaping stone. I just read about acetic acid vinegar.   Do you think this is viable?  We do not wish to use corn gluten meal since most corn is genetically modified.  Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.  Joanne

ANSWER: Valiant goals, yours - our planet depends on people like you.  Glad to help.

First, I have to address the employment issue.  I recall years ago listening to an NPR interview with someone from the Post Office who maintained that getting rid of junk mail would cost 'x' number of jobs, because junk mail would no longer be sorted or delivered if no one was sending it anymore.  That seemed even then to be a ridiculous solution to the employment crisis.  Why do we need to pollute in order to keep people working?  Sounds like hogwash.  Pay them to twiddle their thumbs until this blows over.  There's no reason people have to be paid to destroy or damage.  So please, although I think we must deal with this issue, we don't have to kill fish and give people cancer as part of the solution.

Next, to address the weeds problem, I need to know where you are located.  Not because I am going to come over to your house and invite myself for dinner, but because weeds are location specific, and I have a feeling you are not clear on what weeds you are trying to rid of.  It will help if I knew your climate, your soil, your ecosystem.  And I need all the help I can get.

I am hoping you live in a state with a local Extension service.  That's the kind of outfit that can identify specific weeds you want to eradicate.  Acetic Acid might or might not work, but I am wondering if you really want all that searingly low pH fluid to wash into the water that your local fish will be living in.  Know Thine Enemy.

Take Thistles and Bindweeds, which I wrote about a few years ago.  Aggressive mowing and hand weeding are the best way to rid your real estate of these two noxious weeds.  Vinegar is also effective.  But anti-Thistle and -Bindweed advocates get help from friends like the Thistle Stem Gall Fly (Urophora cardui), Altica carduorum, Ceutorynchus litura, Urophora carduii and Larinus planus.  Yes, insects.

In 1999, scientists in Montana studied 'Biological control of Canadian Thistle' (www.invasive.org/publications/xsymposium/proceed/03pg203.pdf#search='Silwet').  They discovered that certain Fungi are 'highly virulent when applied to Canada Thistle roots in soil'.  Studies of the Rust Fungus (Puccinia punctiformis) are also promising.  And there's the Canada Thistle Stem Mining Weevil (Ceutorhynchus litura), which chews up Thistle sprouts.

To get rid of Bindweed, we have the tiny Bindweed Gall Mite, native to Greece.  And an organic farmer planted a 'cover crop' on his farmland called 'Chickling Vetch'.  As the Vetch spread, it choked all the Thistle on his farm. You can read this last report, 'Chickling Vetch: A New Green Manure Crop and Organic Control of Canada Thistle in Northwest Minnesota', at www.mda.state.mn.us/ESAP/greenbook2005/cssf-juneau.pdf#search='organic%20thistle').

That's Bindweed and Thistle.  What does your garden grow?

Let me know, and we'll search for the best way to wipe it out.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: LIG  Thanks for your quick response.  We are located on Long Beach Island in NJ.  Most properties are covered with white stone instead of grass.  Most home owners don't live here and want a quick fix since they're on vacation.  We just pull our weeds out.  We have a variety of weeds dandelions,lamb's quarters, chickweed etc. (I don't know what the etc.'s. are) on our property.  I often put the dandelions in a salad.  I like your comments about the employment factor.  Thanks for your interest.

ANSWER: White stone?  Consider yourself lucky - imagine you had to live in Las Vegas and walk past artificial Grass up and down the sidewalk.

If you are OK with the Dandelions (because of the food factor), dig up the ones that you don't want and be vigorously disciplined about keeping them from going to seed.  Dandelions are a perennial.  They will come up for years, growing bigger along the way, until you dig them up.

This is the week that we must put down pre-emergents.  That's the stuff you use to kill Weeds before they ever knew what happened.  Corn Meal Gluten interrupts the life cycle of sprouting seeds, and they bite the dust.  It's harmless and wonderfully organic. Let me know if you need any more details on this product.  And get it down asap.  You cannot wait for this exercise.

There's a website called Gardens Alive:

www.gardensalive.com

This company sells a lot of very safe products.  One of them is a pre-emergent weedkiller called WOW!  (That stands for "WithOut Weeds!".) The WOW! is based on treated Corn Meal Gluten.

The principal is explained by the DirtDoctor (www.dirtdoctor.com): 'Cornmeal is the natural fungal disease fighter that is especially good for use on brown patch in St Augustine grass, damping off in seedlings and fungal leaf spots on roses, Indian hawthorn, photinia and other susceptible plants. Corn Gluten Meal is the natural weed and feed product.'  Gardens Alive has many Weed treatments that won't make you sick.

Also, consider that every time you put shovel into soil at your house, you are exposing dormant Weed seeds to light.  And the majority of Weeds require sunlight to germinate.  Message:  Dig only when necessary.

My old entries about organic Lawn Care will also help you here.  But I strongly encourage you to get in touch with the New Jersey Cooperative Extension at Rutgers.  Your tax dollars at work in the Garden State:

www.njaes.rutgers.edu

Identify the weeds you don't recognize and let me know what you've got there.

Depending on your plot, Vinegar and/or Pelargonic Acid might be good choices.  Here's my answer to one homeowner a few years back with a problem similar to yours:

www.allexperts.com/expertx.cgi?m=11&expID=72897&qID=4605025

Quoting myself here, 'The Better Lawn and Grass Institute
(www.turfgrasssod.org/lawninstitute/guide.html) points out: 'Proper mowing, watering, and fertilizing practices develop a lawn that needs less chemicals to control weed, insect, and disease problems.  This is particularly true when you have established your lawn with improved grass varieties.''

Finally, consider one of the more progressive solutions to the Great American Lawn problem: Go Grass-less:

www.helium.com/items/1349857-lawn-alternatives-substitutes

Any more questions?

L.I.G.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: LIG:  Here is the info you requested regarding my original question, "the mayor of our community is looking for alternatives for weed control companies to use" the bay is dying due to chemicals.  You needed me to identify the types of weeds we have here in our community.  They are common goundsel, hairy bittercress,spurge, bull thistle, various grasses(rough bluegrass & rye.  I've already mentioned dandelions & lambquarters.   Dandelions and bittercress are most numerous.  Spray N Grow sells 2 products that sound good, Avenger & Burnout both made with plant oils. Avenger is OMRI listed.  (spray-n-grow.com)  Sorry for the delay, it took some time to get this info.  Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Answer
If you are concerned about Weed control in Lawns, start to take mowing very seriously. There's research (well established) that indicates mowing at the proper height invigorates Lawn Grass and weakens Weeds. Rutgers University tests Lawn Grasses to find the ultimate mowing treatment for different Grasses and you can read their reports online.

Note please, I do not consider Clover a Weed.  I see it as a natural Nitrogen factory.  And that, in a Lawn, is a Good Thing.  Just to get that out of the way.

One of my favorite articles is one that appeared in the Kansas State University Coop Extension, "Horticulturist Gives Top Reasons Weeds Invade Kansas Lawns":

www.oznet.ksu.edu/News/sty/2000/weedsinvade.htm

Mowing, watering, stress, insects -- there are 10 reasons on that list, and NONE of them is 'Not Enough Weedkiller Applications'.  Weeds do not overtake a lawn because there is no Crabgrass Killer.

Are you aware that Lawn Grasses and Weeds do not like the same kind of Soil?

Weeds THRIVE in Acid Soils.  Lawn Grasses prefer slightly Alkaline Soils.  Tilt the scale in the wrong direction and you strengthen the Weeds population, weaken the Grass population.

Which brings us to the problem of Nitrogen Fertilizer, every husband's favorite Lawn treatment.  See, most people (and I used to be one of them) view 'organic' as anti-pesticides/fungicides/herbicides.  They don't see anything un-organic about chemical fertilizer.  Like they say, Nitrogen is Nitrogen.  Who cares if it comes from Urea or Clover?  Molecules are molecules.

This is just another great Suburban Legend.  Not only does Clover and its underground microbe allies generate Nitrogen more slowly, they generate a superior Nitrogen form which I do not have the resources to go into here but which grows better Grass.  HOWEVER, Nitrogen fertilizer can also be an excellent Weed control method.  Scientists at University of Illinois studied Tall Fescue fed with different doses of Nitrogen:

www.turf.uiuc.edu/research/summaries/1994/94_3.1.pdf#search='university%20test%20mowing%20height'.

Results: 'Annual Bluegrass populations were greatest in Tall Fescue maintained at a 1 or 2 inch mowing height.'  (BTW the 'Annual Bluegrass' they mention is a noxious Weed, not that famous Grass from Kentucky.)

Researchers also noted: "Crabgrass populations increased as mowing height decreased..."

Better still, it didn't matter how much Nitrogen they fed the Lawn.  Any Nitrogen at all was better than NONE when it came to Weeds suppression.  Putting down ZERO fertilizer had the worst results: 'Tall Fescue that was not fertilized had significantly higher broadleaf Weed populations than turf fertilized with any Nitrogen.'

It merely boils down to giving your Grass what it likes.  Especially when the Weeds dislike it even more.

Researchers in this study also notices that "even a low annual rate of Nitrogen fertilization can decrease broadleaf Weed populations and reduce or eliminate the need for herbicide control."

Let's read that again:

'...REDUCE OR ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR HERBICIDE...'

Music to my ears.

You have certainly heard about the great things that happen to Aphids when Ladybugs and Praying Mantids are around.  Now consider this:  A single female Cricket devours up to 50 Weed seeds a day.  Mice and squirrels eat even more.  Bugs, arthropods and rodents are your best friends in the garden.  Keep them happy and healthy and you will see the results in your Grass.

All of this is fairly general.  Let's get down to the business of bulldozing the Common Groundsel ('Senecio vulgaris'), Hairy Bittercress, Spurge and Bull Thistle, and the aforementioned Dandelions.

The key to controlling Common Groundsel is to get it before it flowers.  I cannot drive this point home enough.  One plant produces more than 1,000 seeds in a season.  It needs light to germinate, so a no-till policy minimizes new plants.  But this Weed is also susceptible to regular mowing, flame-Weeding, solarization and steaming.  Keep it from flowering and you win half the battle.

Hairy Bittercress ('Cardamine hirsuta') is one of the scarier Weeds on your list.  This plant actually ejects ripe Seeds, shooting them across the Lawn to settle and germinate.  Hand pulling, while not glamorous, is a very effective method of control.  Just make sure you get it before it flowers, because otherwise it will be force-feeding the seeds to your Lawn.

Leafy Spurge ('Euphorbia esula') has been a backyard bane in the Midwest for several decades. In North Dakota, they've tried to use Flea Beetles to discourage this Weed:

'Biological control of Leafy Spurge was initiated in the mid 1980s.  To date, 12 species of insects have been released in North Dakota for control of Leafy Spurge, and eight have become established. Five of the eight established insects are Flea Beetles (Aphthona spp.), which have reduced the Leafy Spurge density more than any other agent.'

You can read 'Leafy Spurge Control Using Flea Beetles' here:

www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/weeds/w1183w.htm

The Defoliating Moth ('Hyles euphorbiae') flocks to Leafy Spurge like bees to honey.

Violet-flowered Bull Thistle ('Cirsium vulgare') is one Weed you may want to have around.  Goldfinches LOVE the Seeds of this Weed.

If you've ever seen pretty little yellow birds the size of a saltshaker in your garden, you'll want to grow the Thistle in pots.  (Bull Thistle is actually a major ingredient in Bird Seed, so it's important to be vigilant about housekeeping under the bird feeders.)

As scientists at UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research point out on their website (next to the Botany Photo of the Day of C vulgare), 'Part of its success as a weedy invader is due to it being a myrmecochore ?a plant whose seed is dispersed by ants.'  It has enemies, too.

The Bull Thistle Gall Fly (Urophora stylata) has been used in official control programs for decades now.  The Fly deposits eggs onto Bull Thistle flowerbuds, which hatch and devour important tissues and curb sharply the number of seeds the plant can produce in a season.  Here's a photo of U stylata in action:

dnr.state.il.us/Stewardship/cd/biocontrol/pdf/19BullThistle.pdf

Lambs-Quarters (Chenopodium album L.) numbers as one of the 5 most widely distributed plants on the planet, at last in part due to its aggressive seed production (a mature plants makes 500,000 seeds a season).  So there has been a lot of work in research centers around the world to find ways to get rid of it, because it makes upsets a lot of farmers. Fortunately, there's Ascochyta hyalospora, a friendly fungus discovered in Quebec 25 years ago.  Several state agricultural departments have deployed A. hyalospora to wipe out Chenopodium.

Oops!  almost out of spacebytes.  Followups welcome, but please start a new thread!

L.I.G.