Re: no-till gardening-oxalis inhibition
- To: Barbara Sargent
- Subject: Re: no-till gardening-oxalis inhibition
- From: S* A* O*
- Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 09:20:11 -0800
Barbara -
Locally, here in the SF Bay Area, 'Oxalis' usually means Oxalis pes-caprae,
and in our case, the pentyploid, sterile mutant that invades our
gardens. For those who wish to see a photo for an accurate ID, see:
http://www.support.net/Medit-Plants/plants/Oxalis.pes-caprae.html
Right now, in my sadly neglected yard, these are blooming away with their
bright lemon yellow flowers (I'm pulling them as I get time). People
passing by who are obviously not gardeners often comment onhow beautiful
they are!
One way I've found that works pretty well (aside from the selective
herbicides that one must use to irradicate this pest) is to plant something
taller and dense in the same area. Shading our the soil at a height of at
least 18-24 inches helps to gradually kill off these plants - apparently
from starvation. If the groundcover is too low, the Oxalis grows
through. Works reasonably well, but requires perhaps a different planting
scheme than what you might be thinking of.
An infestation of Oxalis pes-caprae is also a good reason to adopt a
no-till method - digging and tilling tends to distribute the bulbils around
the property. This is the most effect method of dispersal, especially
during the summer dormancy period when it is easy to forget that a certain
patch of soil is possibly infested with Oxalis!
Sean O.
At 09:04 PM 2/1/00 -0800, Barbara Sargent wrote:
>Is this oxalis that we're talking about the one with the very crisp, juicy
>stems and bright yellow flowers--kids in Berkeley call it sourgrass?
>
>I've been following this thread and am not completely certain I know which
>oxalis we're talking about.
>
>Barbara
>
> >While we're at it, does Juglans or Eucaplytus detritus inhibit this oxalis?
> >
> >
> >Kay Dreher wrote:
> >
> >> Come to think of it, there is absolutely no O. p-c under the Quercus
> >>agrifolia
> >> in my back garden. Deborah, does your hillside have the oaks already, or
> >>are you
> >> planning to plant them? Does the California live oak actually inhibit
> >>the oxalis?
Sean A. O'Hara sean.ohara@groupmail.com
h o r t u l u s a p t u s 710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose' Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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