Weeding the treatments July 2012

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have spent a considerable amount of time weeding half of the treatment areas.   If only weeds were edible!  I have "harvested" over 482 lbs of weeds!  I was unable to weed the all of the treatment areas at one time, so I did it piecemeal and weeded on 6/24, 7/2, 7/7, 7/9 & 7/11.  Between my first weeding session on 6/24 and the next on 7/2 I completely forgot to count the weeds as I went.

Of note is that the treatment using spent brewer's grains yielded weeds of less diversity: mainly Pigweed, Purslane and Crabgrass; with the Pigweed and Purslane being extra large and succulent.  The control area had a much wider range of weed types, including: Pigweed, Purslane, Hairy Galinsoga, Field Pennycress, Chickweed, Henbit, Barren strawberry, & Bittercress.  The treatment area mulched with straw had some Pigweed, Purslane, but mostly Oats grass, which appeared to originate from the straw itself.

Also of note was that I saw lady bug nymphs here and there on the pigweed.  Also in the SBG treatment areas, the pigweed had a lot of wooly aphids...perhaps a result of the high nitrogen content contributing to the outrageous growth.  Insect pressure seemed fairly minimal, until the last session of weeding in the SBG treatment area, where the mosquitos were wild! (Cilantro geranium leaves work great to keep them away, so I rubbed my neck with them and stuck a couple of sprigs behind my ears.)

Weeding the SBG treatment areas really messed up the mulching, and also because the weeds were pretty closely spaced to the onions, the onions were often damaged in the process. This is especially true of the last weeding session on 7/7. Being unable to add more mulch, due to the density of the weeds in the area that will remain unweeded will probably mean that even more weeds will emerge.  I estimate that about 1/2" of SBG was put down in thesen treatment areas, and not the intended 1".  The weeds that are firmly established in these treatment plots that will remain unweeded will impair my ability to add any more to the SBG treatment areas at this time.  Oops!  The rate of weed growth is a consideration I didn't factor in.

I'm in un-chartered territory, so I have to cut myself a break for not thinking that adding mulch as I went would be a problem.