Re: Re: CULT: mulch/alfalfa and weed preventer

Hi John,

Where do you buy these chemicals?


Char Holte, New Berlin, WI (Near Milwaukee)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Bruce" <jbruce1@cinci.rr.com>
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [iris] Re: CULT: mulch/alfalfa and weed preventer


> Chuck--
>
> We use Surflan (oryzalin) which is related to Treflan, but seems to have
no
> ill
> effects on transplants. It is an orange liquid, and just a small amount in
a
> two gallon
> hand sprayer will treat 1000 square feet. It can be effective for 4-8
> months. It is recommended
> that plants be established before spraying, but that is NOT an option in
the
> production fields. Waiting for irises to establish would give weeds time
to
> be thick
> and proud <G>. We apply the day we transplant, and hopefully mother nature
> cooperates
> with 1/2" of rain within 21 days to fully activate the surflan. Meanwhile,
> we spot treat weeds by
> pulling or spraying Stinger. For those who hate herbicides, note that we
> have 1.5 acres of
> iris in a commercial garden, and cultivation is a 1.5 man show. We are
> responsible with
> the chemicals. That said, you may ask how we are sure it has no ill
effects
> on the irises....
> well, one year we miscounted and ended up at double the recommended
> concentration
> for 8 month control. Irises did well, and few weeds appeared until a year
> was passed.
>
> Monterey Lawn and Garden Producs---Weed Impede
>
> John Bruce
> Hidden Acres Iris Gardens
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Chuck B" <whozher@mintel.net>
> To: <iris@hort.net>
> Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 8:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [iris] Re: CULT: mulch/alfalfa and weed preventer
>
>
> > Grif,
> > I learned a herbicide lesson the hard way this year.  Last fall I
sprayed
> > Treflan (active ingredient trifluralin, the same as Preen) in some new
> beds
> > to help with grass primarily.  To my delight--no grass or much of
anything
> > else.   Also to my surprise and dismay the newly planted iris I
purchased
> > did not grow at all in the virgin soil.  This summer I dug some of the
> most
> > pathetic up and found no roots!  An overdose of trifluralin will inhibit
> new
> > root growth.  I translplanted the worse-off plants and they have
responded
> > nicely.  My application rate with a hose end sprayer involved some
> > calculation which I thought was close but apparently not close enough.
I
> > gues I should have spent more time reading directions and cautions--as
> much
> > as I dislike doing it.
> > Lesson learned.
> > Chuck Bunnell
> > Lafayette, IN
> > Region 6
> > Zone 5a-5b
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "J. Griffin Crump" <jgcrump@erols.com>
> > To: <iris@hort.net>
> > Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 5:41 PM
> > Subject: [iris] Re: CULT: mulch/alfalfa and weed preventer
> >
> >
> > | Several years ago, after being fed up with having to mix my own
6-24-24
> > | fertilizer because the ready-mixed can't be obtained in the Washington
> > area
> > | (like so many things), I took the advice of Nancy Szmuriga, who had
been
> > using
> > | Rabbit Chow as a top dressing on her seldom-turned urban beds in New
> > Jersey.
> > |
> > | Apply some in the fall, and again in the late winter/early spring.  It
> > worked
> > | very nicely.  I decided to incorporate it as a tilled-in mix in
> preparing
> > new
> > | beds, and again it worked very well.
> > |
> > | Then, 2 years ago, my newly set-out seedling sprouts suddenly went
> > owhere  --
> > | just sat there for months looking like they did when they were first
set
> > out,
> > | and only one of the few hundred bloomed the following spring.
> Subsequent
> > to
> > | that, somone of our list correspondents praised alfalfa but warned
> against
> > the
> > | use of Rabbit Chow, saying  --  if I remember correctly  -- that it
> > contains
> > | salt, which inhibits growth.  Looking at my seedlings, I wondered if
> that
> > | explained the no-growth of a year's crop  --  that perhaps some kind
of
> > toxic
> > | salt had been added to the Rabbit Chow recently, since it had been
> working
> > | nicely up till that crop.  There was, however, another possibility  -- 
> > that
> > | the pre-germinant weed controller I had used on the beds, "Snapshot",
> was
> > the
> > | culprit.  Again, however, I had been using it for some years without a
> > | problem.  That year, however, my supplier had sent me a product with a
> new
> > | name, "TG2" or something like that, the packaging and contents looking
> so
> > | otherwise identical that I thought it was just a product name change.
> So,
> > I
> > | pulled the left-over bag out of the shed and read the accompanying
> > information
> > | very, very carefully.  Sure enough, there was a warning to the effect:
> > Don't
> > | use on seedling beds.  I talked to my supplier and he apologized for
> > sending
> > | the wrong product  --  "Snapshot" was indeed still available  -- 
> however,
> > the
> > | price had gone up from $135 for 50lbs to $189.  I decided to resume
> using
> > | Preen.
> > |
> > | This year I was scheduled to create several new beds and dig and renew
> > some
> > | old ones, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay the king's ransom
for
> > one
> > | sack of the Snapshot.  (The area where I raise some of my seedlings is
> > rife
> > | with morning glorys, and Preen doesn't prevent them, but Snapshot
does.)
> > | Just in case, I read the Snapshot instructions very carefully, as I
had,
> > in
> > | fact, when I first began using it.  And a good thing I did!  Here was
a
> > whole
> > | new paragraph not only warning not to use Snapshot on seedling beds,
but
> > to
> > | avoid using it on beds into which adult plants were to be set until
the
> > soil
> > | had "cured" for some time (my word, not theirs).  In the past, I had
> used
> > this
> > | product in both situations for several seasons with no adverse
> > consequences.
> > | Apparently, whatever bad thing is in "TG2" has also now been put into
> > | Snapshot.  So the wrapup on the pregerminant weedkillers is this:  I
put
> > the
> > | Preen on the new seedling beds and the new transplant beds, and used
the
> > | Snapshot on the established beds.  Everything is working fine in both
> > | situations, and when the morning glorys pop up in the beds awaiting
the
> > | transplants, they get a shot of Roundup.
> > |
> > | So, now, what about the Rabbit Chow?  Even though I had by now
concluded
> > that
> > | it had gotten a bum rap in Iris-talk and Iris-photos and had almost
> taken
> > the
> > | fall here for the real culprit, "TG2", I decided to experiment.  I
mixed
> > | alfalfa pellets into the soil of half of the new seedling beds and
> Rabbit
> > Chow
> > | into the other half.  Result?  They're both growing like gangbusters
and
> I
> > | can't see any difference between them.  What Rabbit Chow has that
> alfalfa
> > | doesn't is antibiotics, so I'll be sticking with it.  --  Griff
> > |
> > | zone 7 in Virginia
> > |
> > | ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > | To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> > | message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
> > |
> > |
> > |
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> > message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index