How to kill everything and start over?

[messybun]

Boiling water might kill them. Round up will stay in the ground for a very long time but it might work. Dawn dish soap, alcohol, and veggie oil is a mix that I’ve heard sworn by, but never tried it. I wonder if a borax mix, or anything to flip the ph of your soil would help?
mad far as replanting, I like clover for a lot of reasons but have no clue if it grows where you’re at lol.

 

[Baymule]

I've dumped wood chips all over my place, the grass burs thrive. I've planted clover, bermuda, bahia, rye grass and fescue. The grass burs thrive.

I'm sure not going to poison my property, as hard as I have worked to establish what little grass I have. Round up is not selective on what it kills, nor is that D whatever it is. Wicking to poison taller grasses may work with Johnson grass, but grass burs are about the same height if not lower than the above mentioned grasses. The sheep will graze grass burs until the burs show up, then they avoid it.

A shovel and a wagon with a trip to the burn pile works well. I need to get back on it.

 

[Nao57]

I've dumped wood chips all over my place, the grass burs thrive. I've planted clover, bermuda, bahia, rye grass and fescue. The grass burs thrive.

I'm sure not going to poison my property, as hard as I have worked to establish what little grass I have. Round up is not selective on what it kills, nor is that D whatever it is. Wicking to poison taller grasses may work with Johnson grass, but grass burs are about the same height if not lower than the above mentioned grasses. The sheep will graze grass burs until the burs show up, then they avoid it.

A shovel and a wagon with a trip to the burn pile works well. I need to get back on it.

Nice.

I'm a bit curious about your clover experience. How well would something like clover take care of unwanted grass? And would it typically be there all year round, or only certain seasons? (I think I remember hearing it comes back on its own every year replenishing itself though...and that other people like it for many reasons.)

Does clover grow pretty fast, and replenish itself well if the animals are teeth clipping it all summer?

It sounds interesting to look at its usage.

 

[messybun]

Nice.

I'm a bit curious about your clover experience. How well would something like clover take care of unwanted grass? And would it typically be there all year round, or only certain seasons? (I think I remember hearing it comes back on its own every year replenishing itself though...and that other people like it for many reasons.)

Does clover grow pretty fast, and replenish itself well if the animals are teeth clipping it all summer?

It sounds interesting to look at its usage.

I’ve put clover both where it was barren and where there were annoying weeds. The clover took care of the weeds beautifully, but it took them about two years to fully work their magic. In the barren spots the clover replanted itself for about four years, and this year it wasn’t coming up so I planted a different forage on some parts, and grass grew without me planting anything on the other parts. Clover grows so fast my little mouths couldn’t munch it all, and it spreads really fast and far. It can become a weed, That being said, I’m going to replant it next year. Clover isn’t exactly a winter forage, but it can stay later in the season than other plants do.

 

[Baymule]

Clovers here are an early spring to early summer grazing. The heat kills it off pretty quick.

 

[thistlebloom]

I think physical eradication will have to be your first order of business. I know that is dismal news, but unless you are willing to use an herbicide, physical controls are the most plausible way to be burr free. Or at least burr-less.
Maybe a combination of methods would make it less painful. Weedkiller + smothering + physical removal.
The herbicide would be the first prong and be delivered when the burr plants begin growing to be optimal. Timing is important because many plants will continue to produce seed if they have begun that process, even if a weed killer is applied and the parent plant dies. (Dandelions are one for sure that this happens to.)
If you opt for the herbicide route, don't use glyphosate, it won't give you the best results. use a product containing triclopyr, such as a blackberry herbicide.
That would at least give you a leg up on that years burr producers. Then burying under several inches of mulch. Wood chips work for me, but I do not have evil burrs. Then when they begin to emerge through the mulch again, pull them, or as I prefer, scuffle hoe them.
I have a tool that I love for weeding. I have had good success with perennial weeds by using this.

Gardening | Rogue Hoe Distributing, LLC

roguehoe.com

A very high quality well made tool that will last you for many years.
Yes, it just slices the top of the plants off, leaving the root, but it's fast and you can do it standing up. After several repetitions the plants roots will die if they can't store energy from the tops.

As to unwanted Bermuda... all I can say is I moved 1500 miles to get away from it.

 

[bksmith]

If they’re goatheads, the only way to truly get rid of them is a combination of burning and hand digging. This will take a couple of seasons.

I’m on deep sandwash soil in Northeastern Colorado and sandburrs (aka goatheads) are the bane of my existence but I finally got determined enough to clear all of them off the front 5 acres of the property. The burrs themselves are a tough little seed that will lie dormant for several years, so understand it’s a long haul. I wait for a few days post-rain for the buggers to sprout and then pull them by hand or scorch the plant with a flame weeder. You have to do this before the burrs develop. If you kill with herbicide or scorch the plant, the seeds are often still viable - and even if they aren’t, they’re still present and a darned nuisance for anything with feet. If you pull a plant that has green burrs on it, it needs to go right into a bucket or a trash bag - once those burrs dry up and fall off, that’s a whole new plant you just seeded.

If it were me, I’d torch that whole lot down to the ground (in hopes of destroying any viable seeds.) Then I’d start walking that area the following week and knock out new growth. Rinse and repeat. In a year, you’ll have made an amazing dent and maybe thinned it enough you could do the intensive weeding with geese mentioned above (I haven’t ever had much luck with geese and burrs, but YMMV.)

Best of luck!

 

[RathdrumGal]

I’m in central Texas. I have about 3 acres around my house that is a mess of burrs, some Bermuda grass, and a little clover. Hubby mows down to 2” to try to keep everything suppressed, but the burrs seems to grow back the fastest. The burrs have been taking over and are getting so severe that even my tough LGDs try to avoid anything but well-worn paths. Even my ducks/chickens stop to pull them out of feet. (Context: we’ve lived here 10 years and while always unpleasant, they’ve never been this bad).

I’m wondering if anyone has a suggestion on a product I can apply to just kill everything, then replant (preferably some type of edible ground cover that doesn’t get tall like grass). I know my hay costs will go up while I keep the animals off to let the new growth get established, but it’s worth it if I can get these damned burrs under better control. Yesterday I had to get a burr out of a dog’s eyelid. Very lucky the eye wasn’t scratched/damaged.

Your county agricultural department probably has some sort of noxious weed board that can best advise you given your specific location and weeds. I live in North Idaho and we have a problem with leafy spurge. While I could have have used lots of chemicals, my best solution ended up being irrigating more and feeding my grass. The grass then crowded out the leafy spurge and grass is controlled by grazing and mowing when needed. I now only have to weed whack around fence lines where I do not allow my goats.

 

[Coolbreeze89]

I’ve done some additional research, and came across these two sites:

Regenerative Agriculture Archives

www.noble.org

and

Sandbur or Grassbur Control

I try to avoid using herbicides/pesticides/chemicals as a general rule, but I’m a bit desperate now. I’m leaning toward the imazapic, as there is no grazing restriction and DH would appreciate the potential for the Bermuda to be stunted. Anyone have experience with this?

I’m hoping we get enough frost to kill this year’s bur plants. I will plan to dig up/burn new growth as I see it in the spring. With out frequent burn bans, I don’t think that is an option for clearing (though I love the concept!).

 

[thistlebloom]

That was an informative article you linked to.

I found this one specifically for bermuda grass, just for a little more info. You can see that it is a tough weed to eliminate.

Bermudagrass Management Guidelines--UC IPM

UC home and landscape guidelines for control of Bermudagrass.

ipm.ucanr.edu