Re: startup advice....weeding

Beth,
   There is nothing wrong with using Roundup ( unless you are an organic
grower). He may not need to use it, however. As you know, there are millions
of weed seeds in the old patch and Roundup will not kill seeds in the soil. So
when you till the soil new seeds will sprout. I would use Roundup only if you
have some tough perennial weeds to get rid of. Roundup is sprayed on a growing
weed....it gets into the system of the plant and kills it roots and all. If
you have tough weeds to get rid of, don't plow, let the weed start to grow and
then spray it. In a week, the plant will be dead or dying. Then plow the sod
under....let the sod rot for a week or two if you have the time....then harrow
and rototill. Roundup is not a persistant killer in the soil and will
decompose in a couple weeks....unlike Atrazine which is around for a year or
more. I have used many herbicides on field pumpkins, but don't think it is a
good idea for the Atlantic Giants....use mechanical weeding unless you have
some real persistant weeds. What your father may have been referring to is the
Stale Seed Bed method of weeding. The idea is to plow the soil, harrow and
prepare the seed bed, let the weeds come up, kill off the weeds with Paraquat
or Roundup while taking care not to disturb the soil. If you can get all the
weeds to come up in the first two inches of soil and kill them off.....few
others will come up. In theory it is a great idea. The problem is that some
weeds come up early, some late. If you have a cool Spring, they won't come up
at all. With Atlantic Giants you run out of time....you should have them well
underway by mid May. Many of the weeds arent up yet. If you have grass
problems you can use Poast. It kills grass and won't kill broadleaf plants
(pumpkins). After final tilling if the grass comes up, hit it with poast when
the grass is young. Usually, the first year a sod soil has been worked, you
will have a great crop....just keep battling the grass. It will be better the
following year. Albert Larson, an old Yankee farmer, taught me how to weed
many years ago. Till the soil, prepare your bed, let the weeds come up, skim
them off when they are one inch or less tall, use a swan neck hoe (found in
gardeners supply catalogue), skim weeds off a second time in a few weeks and
you will have no weed problem. The trick is to use a swan neck hoe whose blade
skims shallow under the surface of the soil, clipping off the weeds and not
disturbing the underlying soil which would bring up more seeds. I can't
impress upon you enough how easy it is to weed when the weeds are only one
half inch tall....easy as pie....put the weeding off a week and you have a
problem. Good luck and happy weeding.
                                     pumkinguy@aol.com
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