Weeds are much more resilient when compared with plants that are obtained from nurseries. Weeds have quite a number of adaptive features that makes it thrive in the weather conditions and soil composition of the garden. This makes weeds considerably difficult to eradicate especially when they have started germinating.
With this in mind, it becomes clear that the best way to tackle weeds is to stop it from sprouting. A garden without weeds would certainly facilitate enhanced crop growth which is a perquisite for increased productivity. Here are some effective approaches to stopping weeds from taking over your garden (ref: Spray & Go) :
- Avoid too many activities on the soil: there are thousands of weed seeds buried in the soil. However, these seeds cannot sprout because they do not have adequate sunlight. When you engage in farm activities especially with the use of, machineries, you would inadvertently expose these weed seeds to sunlight, thereby making them sprout ad populate your farm stead. To avoid this situation, it is advisable that you plant your crops in heaps above surface level. Planting in bags is equally a great way to reduce activities on the farm soil which could prompt weed seeds to sprout.
- Choking weeds:another approach to preventing weeds from overwhelming you farm land and competing with your crops is to choke weeds using a process known as mulching. There are two broad approaches to mulching and they are embraced by natural mulching materials such as Leaves, Grass clippings, Peat moss, Wood chips,Woodchip, mulch, Bark chips and so on to cover the soil. The second method to mulching involves the use of manmade materials such as Black Plastic Film Paper mulch and so on to cover surface of farm soil thus chocking weeds and preventing them from sprouting.
Mulching is an important farm procedure and must be carried out effectively for impressive results. Some of the factors that you must carefully consider and implement for a productive mulching involve the following:
- Endeavour ton sprinkle water on the ground before spreading your preferred mulch material on the surface. This would help the mulch stick to the soil surface and stop it from being carried away by wind.
- Carpets have a remarkable level of efficiency when used as mulch and sould be considered as a choice mulching material
- Make sure that the mulch is significantly high above the ground (thickness) as this is a precondition to adequately preserve soil wetness and would also prevent weed growth
- It is advisable that you filter straws to remove weed seeds that could be in it. Using straws with weed for mulching is an exercise in futility as this would achieve the opposite effect.
In addition to the fact that mulching is a good way to choke weed growth while preventing them from sprouting, it is also worth mentioning that mulching helps preserve soil nutrient, reduce the impact of erosion and prevent soil dryness which could be disadvantageous to plant growth.
- Implement a full-scale herbicide treatment:eradicating weed from your farm or lawn may require a more drastic measure such as the implementation of a full-scale herbicide treatment. While herbicide is a result oriented approach to eradicating weeds, it is important to point out that strategic timing would often determine how desirable the outcome is. While common practice requires that you wait till you notice the earliest weds sprouting before applying herbicides, this is not effective timing. For remarkable results when using herbicides, you must take note of when you saw the earliest weeds sprout and then spray herbicides three weeks before that time in subsequent seasons.
- Proximity of planting crops matters: planting in close proximity is a great approach to stopping weeds from sprouting. When plants cluster together in nearness, bit would leave very little soil space, oxygen, light and water for weeds to thrive.When planting lawns, it is important that you do not leave room for weeds to sprout. To achieve this, planting fertile lawn sprouts and replanting in cases where lawns fail to germinate would be very useful to preventing weds from growing.
While Weeds are very resilient and pose an unremitting challenge to eradicate, the following approaches to preventing plant growth would certainly yield impressive outcomes by eliminating sprouting weeds and preventing weed seeds from growing.