Jerry Barnes said:
Our Ash tree dumped about a million seeds on the railroad and I think all are germinating! In rocky areas I spray Roundup, but they seem to laugh at it! Just got carried away trimming an elm tree I was trying to keep small, but gave up and cut it down. Then a boxwood tree close to it needed trimming, so I chopped on it. Over behind the car storage building a bush had mostly died, so started on that, accidentaly cut the wire to a light. Decided while I was there to re-stack the green limestone that is a mountain that has been tumbling down for years. Now I am near death! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)Done for the day anyway!
I have used Roundup on rare occasions. It just doesn’t sit well with me as I was exposed to A.O. in country.
Daktah John said:
My neighbors are convinced I have a screw loose…
Gee, your’s too? I don’t care anymore. They can think what they want, because I refuse to grow up.
Today I got out the hedge clippers and trimmed my largest weeds.
Except for the boxwood that is kind of lost near the switch, all of the other trees are weeds. They showed up, I started trimming them, and they behaved, so they got to stay.
David, I call those volunteers, not weeds (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
I have lots of volunteer Hemlock trees and probably a hundred saplings. I let the saplings be and some will survive the winter and after a few years become short trees. After three or 4 years they tend to get too tall and spindly. I’ve tried trimming them, but so far they are not great Bonsai material.
While on my belly weeding the moss beds along Deep Cut I noticed volunteers of two different ground covers that grow over 10 feet away from where the new ones were found. They are the type that will root easily from cuttings, so they probably got blown there last fall when I was clearing leaves. Volunteer Maples and Oaks get pulled up. Their leaves are too big for me.
Marilyn is cultivating a weed she found that has nice small leaves and grows close to the ground. If her transplants do OK they will find a home on the RR. I like Free and naturally occurring plants are easier to keep alive.
John, yes, they could be called volunteers. But, in many folks minds they are weeds. They are trees that most people don’t want, except maybe the maple at the end of the trestle. But when I tell folks I have a 6 foot volunteer, they think maybe the neighbor stopped over. When I say I have a 6 foot tall weed, that elicits a whole different response. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Spent another two sweaty hours out in the layout weeding. Seems to be spurge season now, but the ash and mulberry trees linger on some. Did run a train while weeding, that helped some, off to the showers!
Jerry Barnes said:
Spent another two sweaty hours out in the layout weeding. Seems to be spurge season now, but the ash and mulberry trees linger on some. Did run a train while weeding, that helped some, off to the showers!
Spurge is the “scourge” of the garden railroad. And it has this nasty tendancy to camoflage itself as crusher fines making it very hard to see when it starts out.
Mine needs to be done again, but I’m hiding inside with the AC on. I did do some “weeding” on Friday if spraying weed killer counts (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Gee, I cut back the weeds, and trimmed the large ones, earlier in the week, and have been sweating my … off and running trains. Well, after rounding up the strays, and getting metal wheels and KaDee couplers on them, I had to test them out. Right?
This morning I finally went out to work some large areas of spurge on my railroad…doesn’t matter how much or how little water things get this is the one thing that seems to thrive. I’ll bet it would survive a nuclear blast.
I’ve planted some ground cover but the spurge seems to choke it out…I’d like to do more but just not sure how to eliminate the evil one. I can find the root of each weed but its the runners that are a pain. The plant snaps off leaving the root in the ground so it just comes back…oy!!
We also live by a river lined with Cottonwood trees. Seems that these things emit little fluffy seeds that float through the air…and any moisture they come in contact with upon landing causes them to germinate…I’m constantly pulling little trees out of the garden.
Ok…I’ve cooled off with a cup of coffee. Now its back to get some more weeds pulled.
Richard
I need to start all over again. I’ve been ignoring it again for a month. I had a good excuse for the first 20 days though (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
I hit it again this morning. Some spurge was as big as a dinner plate.
Jerry Barnes said:
I hit it again this morning. Some spurge was as big as a dinner plate.
As long as those are G-scale dinner plates, no problem, it’s prototypical.
“No weed is a weed until it is out of scale.”