Composting large amounts of noxious aggressive weeds

[patandchickens]

If you want to cover your piles just to discourage any rmaining root tissue from sprouting, and to keep them evenly moist (water well BEFORE covering!), scavenge used carpeting from where people leave it by the side of the road. It works good.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[White Elk]

Thats a good tip patandchickens. And I have my own carpet to add once
I demo the basement for remodel this fall. But another way struck me today...


I should bag two birds with one stone and use this stuff as chicken and duck litter! I can yank those nasty plants out and leave them lay to dry for a time. Then pitchfork them up and add it to the hay and alfalfa mix. Any growth from those plants will be decimated by the chickens. And even if a colony of the stuff did get a foothold... then its in a containable place with two cider walls and a lawnmowed backyard. The stuff doesn't stand a chance! And using it for chicken litter reduces the cost of having chickens!!

 

[White Elk]

Well I been turning and watering the piles a couple few times since July. The piles stay cold and much of the plant matter is still green! Seems like I'm preserving not composting! And volunteers keep trying to grow out of the piles.

I was gonna perforate some old PVC pipe and place a few in each pile to let oxygen in. Then cover with discarded black heavy plastic. But I'm tired of monkeying with this stuff and its already time to battle the survivors from the last weed war. Plus for the sake of forest beautification I just want them gone.

So the solution was to pay for roadside pickup of yard waste. Its only $7 a month and from March-November they pick up 4 times a month. Then from November-March its down to 2 times a month. The bin is big, sturdy and is wheeled. Its working well and my piles are gradually disappearing. I will compost the leaf and grass here. Waste Management takes away the rest.

 

[chickaD]

White Elk, I feel your pain! We're battling with goutweed (aka Bishop's weed; Dragon's tooth and a few of my own inventions!), also HIGHLY invasive.
I'm reading all these posts with interest...

 

[sht4luck]

do you know anyone with a goat. I hear they can do wonders. You might be able to sell or use the nettle some how, it can be a usefull plant. just a thought.

 

[poppycat]

White Elk I am dealing with the same pests as you. The blackberry canes compost ok without any unhappy returns, I just cut them up with shears. The Ivy on the other ugh. We have just dedicated a part of our back yard to an ever growing ivy heap. It's too much to fit in the yard debris bin. Every once in a while we have the whole business hauled off.

I just don't think you can compost ivy on a backyard scale. Even a little piece of stem will grow and take over once again. I'm trying to look at it as a process, and every square foot reclaimed is a good one.

I had decent luck with a combination of growing pumpkins and mulching with black plastic to prevent the blackberries from coming back.

Good luck to you and welcome to TheEasyGarden

 

[katz]

I use Round up or my goats ! ,

my goats just love poison ivy and blackberry vines but not nettle and buttercups as I use the Round Up on them while the plants are small . That's how I got started with goats due to all the brush we have .

 

[Madfarner]

Can you keep pigs? confined in a portable pen (4 stock panels), they will root out EVERYTHING and turn the soil for you. Then move them over one pen-width.

Madfarmer