Dear Merla, What you propose sounds good.
We control noxious weeds here with BD but it takes a while to get the swap over. The ash will knock it and retard its vigour the first year. Then when you keep repeating it you will gradually win. You also need to keep knocking the weeds physically as you are and be sure they don't seed. Some weeds spread underground when they are cut and so it is often best to cut them just before the seed sets. Burning them in a low fire risk time is also good on a leo moon. Weeds are not easy. However they are good indicators of what is going on in the ground. You do need to plant competing pasture and then spray it with all the preps 500 plus 502 to 507 in a barrel compost spray. Be sure also to use 501 also. Thistles, if purple, often show the ground needs light and is a bit sour. This is just a brief summary. You could keep me going for hours on things we have tried. There isn't a weed problem at home but I have tuned into many properties where there is and given advice on a programme to turn it around. Its a fascinating lead into understanding an area. Great fun trying out brews to help. Barbara ----- Original Message ----- From: bdnow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 12:37 AM Subject: Fwd: Bio-Dynamic weed control > >Status: U > >Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 01:31:51 EST > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: Bio-Dynamic weed control > >X-Comment: Original message was addressed to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > >Hello, > > > ><snip> > >I have been Bio-Dynamic for many years. I live in Sandpoint, Idaho. I > >have sold valerian plants to Hugh Courtney for a few years now. I also > >do a bulk order of Stella Natura calendars. I'm certified organic, but > >mostly I am a clay artist and sell handbuilt one-of-a-kind animal > >statues for gardens. > > > >I'm also the only organic person on the Bonner County Weed Advisory > >Board and have a grant from the state to do non-chemical weed control on > >an 8-mile road right-of-way that is the feeder road for many private > >roads in my neighborhood. We had a chemically sensitive man > >living on this road who was injured by a clandestine herbicide spraying > >by the county in 1999 and he has had to move away. I think that is why > >the state gave us the money. We have been fighting being sprayed with > >2,4-D and clopyralid for 9 years, but haven't really "taken care" of > >the weeds until this summer, our first year of the grant. I didn't own a > >weedeater and they bought us one with all the trimmings. We spent > >76 hours weedeating the knapweed, tansy, hawkweed and thistle. > > > >I need some way to discourage a lot of so-called noxious weeds. > > > >I have 15 units of Pfeiffer Field Spray that I hope to put together with > >a D-7 weed ash solution of the four varieties of "weeds" and spray > >every year for four years. I am thinking that I could repeat just the > >weed ash spraying several more times in the season. We have built > >a sprayer out of a Shurflo pump to be run off a truck alternator with a > >professional spray nozzel to go on three successive 50-gallon barrels > >down and up the other side of the road again in one pass. > > > >I also thought of demonstrating some other non-chemical methods like > >planting competing plants like rye, native grasses and red clover; mulching; > >in test plots to use up the money, but really, what I want to demonstrate > >is superb weed control that does not harm microorganisms or animals. > > > >Do you have any expertise on this subject that you can share? The state > >has granted me more money than I can use and won't carry it through this > >year. I don't want to have it sent back and am writing a sort of grant > >application to the new Weed Supervisor and the Commissioners and also > >trying to interest the Extension Agents. Bio-Dynamics is so foreign to > >them and nobody believes that we can get rid of the weeds with homeopathic > >doses of a weed ash solution. I've always just dug up or pulled weeds > >on my own land and I have maintained the strip of right-of-way on either > >side of our private road mechanically for many years. > > > >Thank you for any help you can give me > > > >Merla Barberie > >1251 Rolling Thunder Ridge > >Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 > >
