20 responses |
About the Author tecko1 perth 22nd May 2009 12:18am #UserID: 2184 Posts: 63 View All tecko1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Brendan says... Hi Tecko, I presume you mean grass that's growing on the ground beneath the tree? If so, put some Gypsum on the ground around the tree, cover this with some newspaper then add more Gypsum then cover all this with mulch, 200 to 300mm thick. Keep the paper and mulch ~ 150 to 200mm away from the tree trunk. Add a fertilizer high in 'P' & 'K', then water in. | About the Author Brendan Mackay, Q. 22nd May 2009 7:06am #UserID: 1947 Posts: 1722 View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author tecko1 perth 22nd May 2009 9:49am #UserID: 2184 Posts: 63 View All tecko1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Roleystone WA 22nd May 2009 3:32pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Brendan Mackay, Q. 23rd May 2009 7:32am #UserID: 1947 Posts: 1722 View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Steve Coffs Harbour 24th May 2009 4:55pm #UserID: 2290 Posts: 23 View All Steve's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Hobo Jones Blue City 24th May 2009 5:13pm #UserID: 2373 Posts: 1 View All Hobo Jones's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Roleystone WA 24th May 2009 8:09pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... Don't wan't to be a Forum-crasher...but after 20+ yrs of renting and therefore putting up with couch 'lawns'...I loathe the stuff (and kikuyu)....I have tried all the tricks and found they don't work in the long-run (eg: glyphosate, hand digging, newspaper..etc) Like Julie says - hand digging is hard - u have to practically sift the soil to get every tiny root. I don't have it here - but it has come in thru' my manure source. I don't muck around with it now and use a long term nasty chemical - but I only apply it to the grass leaves and protect the soil (as it is residual) Personally, I think couch grasses are worse than 'buggars'! - can't say what i really think in a family-friendly forum :))) Tecko - it depends on what grass you are talking about? | About the Author amanda19 gerladton. WA 25th May 2009 1:34am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Myles Las Vegas 25th October 2009 6:44pm #UserID: 2946 Posts: 1 View All Myles's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author 26th October 2009 9:06pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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mike says... Putting a garden bed around any citrus tree is not a good idea as Julie says they have a lot of surface roots which have to compete with the plants in the garden bed for nutrition and any cultivation in the bed is not good for citrus.Glyphosate will kill couch grass,most of the product you buy is very diluted but look for full strength glyphosate 450g/l. Lesser undiluted strenghth will be o.k. Then follow the directions on the label or in the booklet,Though with couch i would double the concentrated amount before adding water.Providing your applying glyphosate to plant foliage there is negligible residual glyphosate left in the soil. cheers Mike | About the Author mike8 albany WA. 27th October 2009 11:15am #UserID: 1772 Posts: 10 View All mike8's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Dekka Newcastle 27th October 2009 12:43pm #UserID: 102 Posts: 219 View All Dekka's Edible Fruit Trees |
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About the Author Brad2 Perth 27th October 2009 4:36pm #UserID: 2323 Posts: 762 View All Brad2's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Itdepends says... I extended my vege garden to include my citrus- they were previously surrounded by lawn. Since I've done that they've taken right off. The few plants I've got growing under the citrus (shallots and strawberries) require minimal cultivation- and compete far less than the grass did. Plus being in the vege garden the citrus gets a lot more water and fertilizer. Your citrus would do a lot better with a garden bed around it planted with shallow rooted plants like a few annuals than it currently does (competing with grass). You can also get those recycled tyre rubber mats that are designed to go around trees if you don't like bare dirt or planting anything under them. Personally they aren't big enough though. Daniel | About the Author 28th October 2009 2:27pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Steve says... You'll never completely stop running grasses invading gardens or mulched areas under trees etc. Physically removing them might be okay for small areas, otherwise you need herbicides, ie glysophate. I have 50 fruit trees, all heavily mulched & only need to spray the invaders a couple of times a year & only when they start to take over. I don't like to use any harmful chemicals on my plants, but regard glysophate the less harmful over many other herbicides. | About the Author Steve Coffs Harbour 29th October 2009 9:55am #UserID: 2290 Posts: 23 View All Steve's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Speedy says... 'Running' grasses spread in two ways. Via Stolons -Stems that run across the top of the ground eg. Buffalo and via Rhizomes- stems that run under the ground eg. running bamboos. The thing with Couch and Kikuyu grass is that they do both. They'll grow under or step over a small barrier IME the tighter the ground (compacted, low OM, exposed to heat and dry) the bigger and tougher the rhizomes grow and the more the grass relies on rhizomes as a storage organ and survival mechenism. Following Brendon's suggestion re. adding Gypsum, this would improve soil tilth, water infiltration, proper nutrient cycling in the soil and thus easier to dig the grass. Thick mulch tends to weaken the grass for some time as it moves its reserves of energy to closer to the soil surface. This also enables it to be pulled more easily. As Steve just said you'll never completely stop them but soil improvement and heavy mulching certainly makes the job much easier. | About the Author Nth Vic 30th October 2009 1:00pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Diana says... I have found that too, speedy, that's good information. I have a bad couch problem, because I am trying to replace most of a large couch lawn on clay with garden beds containing fruit trees. I have been physically digging it up, putting down gypsum and compost, planting trees on mounds, and putting large sheets of weed mat in between the mounds. I keep it from blowing away with a layer of ti tree mulch. Before I put the weed mat down, even thick cane mulch was getting too much regrowth of grass for me to cope with every time it rained (I have a full time job not compatible with full time weeding!). It doesn't completely eliminate grass, but reduces the work by about 90%. The weed mat doesn't go right up to the edge of the trees, so it is easier to fertilise under them. I tried glyphosate before I put the matting down, but it really didn't work, I don't know why. Diana. http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/my/1961/
| About the Author Brisbane (west) 1st November 2009 9:33am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Itdepends says... RE couch grasses- I've just run an electrical trench (minimum depth 600mm) and there's couch roots down to most of the depth of the hole. The stolons however generally only go 30cm down or so. If you do put a root barrier in- make sure it's a decent one. The decorative garden edgings you get at nurseries or hardware stores are useless- for grass you're better off with a tree root barrier, conveyor belting or similar. Daniel | About the Author 1st November 2009 10:52am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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anna says... Re the couch problem, I wondered if you put physical barrier down between the bed and the grass edge, so that the barrier bends right backwards toward the way the grass runners are come from, that the runners may start to grow up it and then fall back on themselves?! They then may not needed attending to more than say once a year and you'd have an edge to spary along. | About the Author anna4 Canberra 21st April 2010 4:57pm #UserID: 3631 Posts: 1 View All anna4's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Nichole71 says... Does all this information apply to apples trees also? We have 2 trees and about to rip up our crappy lawn and lay sir Walter. So while we have to excavator here to take up the grass in the yard I'll get him to do around the bottom of the trees also. Do I still dig the trench around the drip line and put a barrier in and is sugar cane mulch ok to use? Thanks in advance | About the Author Nichole71 St georges Basin 24th November 2014 9:54pm #UserID: 10899 Posts: 1 View All Nichole71's Edible Fruit Trees |
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