CONTROL WEEDS BIRCH BED

10-3-10
I have choosen the Birch Bed as the area for my Control Weeds assessment. The Birch Bed is quite a large area of approximately 200sqm. It is full of many different types of weeds which include:
Fumitory, Blackberry, Tall Mallow, Buckshorne plantain, Dandeloin, Cats ear, Sow thistle, Sorrel, White clover, Rope twitch, Petty spurge, Cleavers, Wireweed, Shepherds purse and Black nightshade. By far the most invasive weed is the Rope twitch.
Last year the Cert 2 group weeded out approx half of the top end of the Birch Bed. This was done manually with no sprays. Cardboard and mulch was also used to further reduce later infestation. It was intersesting to see that nearly a year later the Rope twitch was as bad as ever but the large area of Black nightshade was mostly gone.
This year weed removal has begun from the top northern end and the plan was to work down to the Southern end. Approx 30sqm at the top end was all Rope twitch. A huge network of under ground rizomes meant this weed was virtually impossible to erradicate completely. The twitch was removed by gently sifting through the soil with a garden fork. This would bring the rizomes to the surface.
22-4-10
Approx 5 weeks later I returned to the area where the Rope twitch was removed. Very little has grown back in that time. I manually pulled out by hand any new Rope twitch. This was very easy and there was no need to use the pitch fork.