Clearing weeds in mulched beds

[Brian Runau]

Beds are mulched, but maple seed starts are off the chart this year. Using a hoe works, but makes a mess of the mulch. Really don't want to do this by hand. Anyone weed in mulch with the garden "weasel " tine style tool? Thanks brian

[Jim Koepke]

Too bad you are so far away, Candy would likely be happy to dig those starts up for you and pot them up for herself.

If you catch them young enough something like this might do the job > https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...ars?item=PC920

jtk

[Jim Becker]

Consider trying a white vinegar, epsom salt and Dawn dish soap solution applied directly to the sprouts and see if that takes care of them. Attacking them with a hoe or a "garden weasel" still requires you bend down and remove the plants because they are hardy little buggers. I will be trying this here as I need to do a fence line, so a little bit of application to the Maple tree shoots is worth a shot.

[Brian Runau]

Consider trying a white vinegar, epsom salt and Dawn dish soap solution applied directly to the sprouts and see if that takes care of them. Attacking them with a hoe or a "garden weasel" still requires you bend down and remove the plants because they are hardy little buggers. I will be trying this here as I need to do a fence line, so a little bit of application to the Maple tree shoots is worth a shot.

Yea. I wanted to be safe around my plants, this would probably be safe. Thanks brian

[Jim Becker]

Yes, if one uses a small spray bottle so only the offending shoots are targeted (and you don't soak the bed) your preferred plantings should be fine.

[Rob Luter]

I have the same issue. Apply Preen or other product early in the season to prevent germination of the seeds. Crabgrass preventers work too. If you miss that opportunity, Roundup works great.

[Jim Becker]

While I like Preen for what it's purpose is...I can't use it in my front beds because it affects the naturalization of certain plant species I have in that bed which have been filling it out in a wonderful way for the past three years. I only use it in the back around the patio. Unfortunately, those front beds are the most affected by the Maple onslaught...so there's a lot of "pickin' " throughout the year as the Maple seeds germinate.

[Larry Frank]

In 1977, my wife and I started maple seeds in metal coffee cans. At that time, we had purchased a 2 acre lot to build a house. After we built, we planted about 50 of these Maples along with 50 white pines. A friend came over to help plant and we dug holes with a power post hole digger. It was a battle for several years as the deer like the young trees but enough survived and now we have mature trees. As we had money, we added a number of Pin Oaks and others. We are quite proud of our personal forest and all the inhabitants.

[Edward Weber]

In 1977, my wife and I started maple seeds in metal coffee cans. At that time, we had purchased a 2 acre lot to build a house. After we built, we planted about 50 of these Maples along with 50 white pines. A friend came over to help plant and we dug holes with a power post hole digger. It was a battle for several years as the deer like the young trees but enough survived and now we have mature trees. As we had money, we added a number of Pin Oaks and others. We are quite proud of our personal forest and all the inhabitants.

Nice story, thanks for sharing.
While I don't have any that mature, Once I finally settled, I have been planting trees on my property for 10+ years now and I enjoy them immensely.

[Brian Runau]

I have the same issue. Apply Preen or other product early in the season to prevent germination of the seeds. Crabgrass preventers work too. If you miss that opportunity, Roundup works great.

I always put preen down before mulch. These are after that. Guess I could do before and after. Brian

[roger wiegand]

Something it took us years to figure out (and that other gardeners, particularly in England knew way before us) was to abandon the garden model where individual plants are set like popsicles standing up in a sea of mulch and go to a mass planting strategy where you put the plants you want at a high enough density that very little light gets to the ground, with shrubs and bigger plants above and relatively tough ground cover plants below. Yes, it takes a lot more plants to fill a bed, but if you garden primarily with perennials you can build it up over time. If light is blocked from getting to the ground the number of weeds germinating goes down by an order of magnitude at least. It then becomes relatively easy to hand pull the much small number of weeds that poke up high enough to become visible in your bed. Yes, there will always be weeds, but this strategy really cuts down on the number, lowers watering requirements, and, I think, looks better. We don't use any purchased mulch any more, instead leaving the fall leaves in the beds to serve a similar purpose while greatly improving the pollinator/insect habitat.

[Brian Deakin]

Would a propane weed gun solve the problem

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L5HBZJL...08763b7f3&th=1

[Alan Lightstone]

Would a propane weed gun solve the problem

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L5HBZJL...08763b7f3&th=1

I've been very unimpressed with mine trying to get rid of weeds growing through the pavers on our driveway.

[Brian Tymchak]

Beds are mulched, but maple seed starts are off the chart this year. Using a hoe works, but makes a mess of the mulch. Really don't want to do this by hand. Anyone weed in mulch with the garden "weasel " tine style tool? Thanks brian

Both my maple and birch trees have been prolific seed makers this spring. It looked like snow falling under my birch for a couple days.

I use the weasel, or a knockoff of it, to disturb the thousands of birch starts in my front landscape every early summer. Works pretty well. I probably get 99% in the first pass, and then a second pass about 3-4 weeks later gets any late starts. I like that it is a completely chem-free solution.

[Jim Koepke]

Okay, sometimes my mind goes a wandering.

There are people who grow trees to sell. Some are bigger operations (or would like to be bigger). Someone somewhere might be interested in digging them out carefully to pot up and sell. They may even do it for little or no charge.

The problem is finding one or some of those people.

This person is in Ohio if my memory is working > https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/ < his operation is big enough that he won't come out. But years ago he had a network of people across the country using his program to start a home nursery.

Just looked deeper into his site, looks like he is still a networking nursery kind of guy.

Maybe in todays world someone would want you to box them up and ship them and pay for it instead of coming out and digging them. Maybe if they would pay a buck fifty for properly dug up and packaged seedlings some kids in the neighborhood could make a little summer fun money.

jtk