Clearing a field of nettles

 


Hi,
Im quite new to owning a garden. I have a field of 40 metres by 20
metres that
is covered in knee high nettles and some thistles. I
basically want to get the
field back to soil with a view to planting an
orchard.
I am considering either brushcutting the lot and then using roundup or
I could
just try using roundup now. After this Im not sure what to do.

What are peoples' suggestions?

Thanks for any help

Ian




--
eebster

 



A goat and a donkey.

I'm serious. Thistles and nettles are very difficult to clear with a
brushcutter - they just come back.

Mary

 


"eebster"  wrote


A brushcutter will only cut down the tops it won't kill the roots.
Roundup only works on green leaves so if you cut at all down first you would
be wasting your weedkiller unless you wait for it all to start growing again
which it probably won't this year. Personally I'd spray with roundup now and
wait for everything to go brown etc before doing anything else.
That said, it's so late in the season to kill the roots thoroughly you would
probably need to spray it again next spring when the new growth comes
through.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

 



Brushcutter (and full coveralls)
3 tonne excavator and skip or grab lorry and take off the top 4-6" of soil.
Rotovate
Turf over new clean topsoil.

 

On Mon, 1 Oct 2007 18:56:12 +0100, R wrote:


And watch the thistles come back within a year or two. That will deal with
the nettles though which are shallow rooted.

--
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail