Re: Clopralid (Alligare)
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: Clopralid (Alligare)
  • From: P* <p*@bellsouth.net>
  • Date: Wed, 29 May 2013 12:47:59 -0400
Linda: wingstem - you must have rich soil. Hope the Alligare works for you. Keep us posted on the white clover progress. Rumex acetosa - God help you. I don't have much of it but where it is I can't eradicate it without killing everything else too. The top looks so lush and succulent but a tangled woody root system. And zillions of seeds. Mugwort is the same sort of devil.
I'd research the preemergents. If you can kill out the existing perennials with whatever it takes a regular program of preemergents will really help keep your head above water. I've been relying on pendimethalin too much to do everything. I'm looking into Gallery or Snapshot to round things out better.
I think we might have similar situations - huge seed store in rich soil. I moved to this place 7 yrs ago and weed control has humbled me. I used to hang out out on a lawn nuts forum where the mantra is - don't disturb the soil unless it is really necessary. When totally renovating a lawn they spread amendments and reseed directly over top the killed grass. Same principle in "no-till" farming. If stuff has been growing well in the place the soil structure is probably just fine and a rotor-tiller will probably screw it up. The fluffed up soil collapses denser than it was before. And for us - the clincher - it brings up a whole ton of new weed seeds. It's all a rethink for me but I'm trying to incorporate the principles. My last new iris bed - sprayed the old pasture turf early spring and left fallow, spraying weeds as they came up. Broadcast amendments. In July scratched a shallow pan enough to plant the rhizomes and they are doing just fine. Moles were the biggest headache and they would have reeked worse damage had I tilled the ground. When I need to create hilled rows, etc. the tiller gets used once. After that it is hand tools only used as lightly as possible. 

Shaub
SW NC Z6b

On 5/28/2013 4:52 PM, Linda Mann wrote:
Shaub, the worst weed infestation out there right now is wingstem (Verbesina). It makes a tall, dense canopy, and has a very strong root system, so is not good for the irises and is hard to grub out. I spot sprayed it with Alligare 3 day before yesterday when it was sunny and relatively hot. By the next afternoon, the tops had wilted down. Very satisfying.
If it works on wingstem the way it seemed to work on vetch, it will stall the stuff immediately, but take quite a long time to actually kill the plant. I'm hoping it will go a bit faster in this warmer, sunnier weather.
The vetch kill was interesting - it seemed to get worse as time went on, & no new vetchlings have appeared. Be interesting to see what happens with it this winter.
Clover, creeping white, does seem to be more resistant, but I think it has been gradually killing it as well.
No sign of illness in the sorrel (Rumex acetosa) yet, in spite of a pretty good wetting with Alligare. :-( I've tried pulling, digging, repeatedly, and just can't get rid of the stuff in one short section of row. & now it's starting to spread. 

I'll let you know how it goes with the clover.

I'm not familiar with pendimethalin.

Linda Mann east TN USA zone 7b

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