I have tried making nettle fertiliser. The smell is awful and I have noticed a very severe increase in flies since making it. Is the nettle fertiliser to blame or should I be looking for another source of the problem? I have thought of making the fertiliser in a small water butt so that the lid can remain on and the fertiliser can be tapped. Would that solve the problem of flies and smell?
Although some popular butterflies demand nectar plants, and stinging nettles, there's a serious contradiction about trying to grow both of these together.
Wild flowers prefer soil with low fertility, but nettles normally grow in situations which have very high fertility.
Nettles are full of nitrogen, and make a good fertiliser themselves, simply because they tend to grow on very rich soils.
The original poster mentioned chickens. Chicken droppings are a recipe for high-nitrogen soil, and high fertility, and nettles. Where you have had chickens, you'll often find nettles.
You might almost think of nettles as green chicken manure.
Roundup will kill the nettles etc but wait until they have flowered before spraying, that is when the foilage sends food back to the roots for next season so they will send the glyphosate down too. Don't spray if there is risk of 'drift' as u will kill other stuff. Add a bit of washing up liquid to the spray, this will take the wax off the leaf so its takes more chemical in. Chickens are ok but don't spray them!!. Do NOT spray anything which is not on your land, ever..... have a word with the farmer most will understand if they are causing u problems.
Garry has a good point about fertility of the soil, you may also have drainage issues which creeping buttercups really like. Perrenials are laid back souls and dont like regular cultivation. A glyphosate based weedkiller is good and they are not all owned by Monsanto if that bothers, you only invented by them originally. I consider Docks,Nettles and Buttercups as moderately difficult to control there are worse ones. Many organic producers use Roundup prior to applying for organic status, using it once does not make you a chemical fiend some weeds just need putting in their place which is ..... C
Tom that probably wasn't necessary as long as you were planning to keep your lawn mowed. We have wrested a footie pitch from an overgrown meadow full of thistles, nettles, docks and buttercups. The thistles, docks and buttercups keep making a go of coming back to reconquer their old territory, but nettles really don't like having their heads chopped off, so consequently have beaten the retreat.
Debs, I don't think a wildflower patch is ideally suited to an area which has been newly cultivated from a weedy wasteland. As a planting plan it is an open invitation for the squatters to come back - you need to change the locks. When I first cultivate a patch I use things like weed suppressant fabric or plastic covered in bark chippings and plant things through it, then continue to battle back. If weeds can't go through their life cycle properly, the deep roots eventually die off, and the further you go into your wilderness, chopping back anything that seeds, the fewer new weeds you will get. Once you have an area which has been free from old weeds for a few years, maybe then think about a wildflower patch.
A couple of years ago, I removed, with some trepidation, the weed fabric from the beds nearest the house, to refresh the soil etc. I thought that it would be open season in there, but with just a bit of bark chippings, they are much easier to weed because the invading army has been pushed further back and far fewer seeds make the flight.
Hi all, I'm a novice gardener who is trying to remove a few nettle plants from the top and sides of a wall that dates back about 400 years. The wall isn't part of my property however it forms the bottom wall to my garden (It forms part of an old stable block belonging to the village pub). Due to the age of the wall and the fact it's not mine I'm not to keen on digging them out of the mortar, is there a permanent solution I could use to remove them. There are only about 5 plants but would like to solve the issue before they spread . Thank you all in advance for any help, it will be gratefully received.
I am wondering if I used the glyphosate correctly!
I sprayed bramble, netle,hogweed and sorrel it died back right down to nothing, that was in the spring, Dove may remember when I uncovered those little hedging trees on that bank, well, having disappeared they are now back and looking so healthy, I have never seen such large leaves.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
I have tried making nettle fertiliser. The smell is awful and I have noticed a very severe increase in flies since making it. Is the nettle fertiliser to blame or should I be looking for another source of the problem? I have thought of making the fertiliser in a small water butt so that the lid can remain on and the fertiliser can be tapped. Would that solve the problem of flies and smell?
Although some popular butterflies demand nectar plants, and stinging nettles, there's a serious contradiction about trying to grow both of these together.
Wild flowers prefer soil with low fertility, but nettles normally grow in situations which have very high fertility.
Nettles are full of nitrogen, and make a good fertiliser themselves, simply because they tend to grow on very rich soils.
The original poster mentioned chickens. Chicken droppings are a recipe for high-nitrogen soil, and high fertility, and nettles. Where you have had chickens, you'll often find nettles.
You might almost think of nettles as green chicken manure.
Roundup will kill the nettles etc but wait until they have flowered before spraying, that is when the foilage sends food back to the roots for next season so they will send the glyphosate down too. Don't spray if there is risk of 'drift' as u will kill other stuff. Add a bit of washing up liquid to the spray, this will take the wax off the leaf so its takes more chemical in. Chickens are ok but don't spray them!!. Do NOT spray anything which is not on your land, ever..... have a word with the farmer most will understand if they are causing u problems.
Garry has a good point about fertility of the soil, you may also have drainage issues which creeping buttercups really like. Perrenials are laid back souls and dont like regular cultivation. A glyphosate based weedkiller is good and they are not all owned by Monsanto if that bothers, you only invented by them originally. I consider Docks,Nettles and Buttercups as moderately difficult to control there are worse ones. Many organic producers use Roundup prior to applying for organic status, using it once does not make you a chemical fiend some weeds just need putting in their place which is ..... C
It will unless it is a specific lawn weedkiller. What weedkiller did you use?
Tom that probably wasn't necessary as long as you were planning to keep your lawn mowed. We have wrested a footie pitch from an overgrown meadow full of thistles, nettles, docks and buttercups. The thistles, docks and buttercups keep making a go of coming back to reconquer their old territory, but nettles really don't like having their heads chopped off, so consequently have beaten the retreat.
Debs, I don't think a wildflower patch is ideally suited to an area which has been newly cultivated from a weedy wasteland. As a planting plan it is an open invitation for the squatters to come back - you need to change the locks. When I first cultivate a patch I use things like weed suppressant fabric or plastic covered in bark chippings and plant things through it, then continue to battle back. If weeds can't go through their life cycle properly, the deep roots eventually die off, and the further you go into your wilderness, chopping back anything that seeds, the fewer new weeds you will get. Once you have an area which has been free from old weeds for a few years, maybe then think about a wildflower patch.
A couple of years ago, I removed, with some trepidation, the weed fabric from the beds nearest the house, to refresh the soil etc. I thought that it would be open season in there, but with just a bit of bark chippings, they are much easier to weed because the invading army has been pushed further back and far fewer seeds make the flight.
Hi Andy - treat them with a weedkiller containing glyphosate and then leave them there to die.
The glyphosate will travel back into the roots and kill the whole plant. It will take two or three weeks.
When it's all brown you can cut the nettles off flush with the brickwork.
As you so rightly say, if you pull them you run the risk of disturbing the mortar.
How conveniently close you are to the village pub
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I am wondering if I used the glyphosate correctly!
I sprayed bramble, netle,hogweed and sorrel it died back right down to nothing, that was in the spring, Dove may remember when I uncovered those little hedging trees on that bank, well, having disappeared they are now back and looking so healthy, I have never seen such large leaves.