Lloyd, It's good of you to venture out into this. We have far more money than I can think of things to do...$2200. The Weed Supervisor made a deal with someone in Priest River, another town in this county, who has a hydroseeder and he says they will come and hydroseed this road for free.
Lloyd, no one on this road thinks the knapweed, tansy, hawkweed and thistle are a big problem. We have a goodly amount of these plants which grow easily in a brittle environment. Knapweed is 18-24"tall, has a central tap root and makes lots and lots of seeds that have at least a 10-year viability in the soil. It has pretty pink/purple flowers that make good honey. It is allelopathic and will take over a pasture. That's why it's on the noxious weed list. Common tansy is tall with a 4" whorl of yellow buttonflowers and a woody root that you have to chop out if you let the plant go for awhile. The flowers are used in flower arranging. They have an acid smell and can be used to repel ants. I think they're poisonous to animals. Hawkweed has yellow and orange flowers and goes through its lifecycle three or four times in a summer getting more and more flowers on the stem with each cycle. It has very shallow roots that entwine with sod and it spreads by seed and by rhyzome each cycle. It's very pretty, but more invasive than even knapweed, but not poisonous. Thistle must be universal. It has a very deep root that can't be pulled after the first year. Few of the native broadleaf plants can compete with these strong invasive plants. They come to overgrazed, dry poor land. Our soil is glacial till--sandy with rocks. The seeds come in on vehicle tires starting at the head of the road and then spread up into the mountains. There is no chance to ever get rid of them, but the ag chemical industry finances the ag department at the universities and they declare a new noxious weed often. It's an unending cycle. The herbicide makes the soil worse and the weeds are perpetuated. If we were proactive about the soil and the environment and came at this problem from that perspective, we could keep them under control, maybe, but we react to the symptoms, not the problem. I love the road the way it is. I would just like to spray the preps and the peppers and mow and weed whack the seedheads every year and call it a day, but the Weed Board, who support the chemical industrial agriculture model, require eradication, whether it's a myth or not. Our roads are sprayed every third year and they think they haven't done their job if they don't spray. They allow individual families to declare their right-of-way "NO SPRAY", but we are the first road every to ask for no spray on the whole road. It threatens their paradigm--their whole way of life. This state is heavily behind GWB. Herbicide and chemical fertilizer are part of a whole religio-political system. I wish I could back out of my Weed Committee post and get away from these people. It's anti-life and attracts people with anal personalities...just the opposite of mine. I feel that herbicide is ruining the earth. That's why I signed on to this. The EPA is overrun with former ag chemical lobbyists. We are in deep do-do! They mean to have this country their way, like Mao in China. Right now, I'm dreading the Weed meeting tomorow night. I'm riding a tiger. Steve Driver who is on this list is a Researcher/Writer for ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas) and has written a handout "Principles of Sustainable Weed Management for Croplands" and has also a wonderful handout on "Biodynamics" which explains a lot of things I didn't know. You can see them on pdf files on their website www.attra.ncat.org and order them. Thanks again for the support. Merla . Lloyd Charles wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Merla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: BD Now <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Deidre Allen > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 5:03 PM > Subject: Merla's Road Project Plan--Questions > > Hi Merla > Have you had a look at the dollar cost of your project yet? - you mention > hydroseeding -does the cost of this come out of your grant money - this is > an expensive operation and will use up your grant money very fast !! In > Australia hydroseeding is only used to stabilise steep embankments and areas > that have been bare cut in major roadbuilding projects, our local council > (county) roadworks would not be able to afford this. > > Is this new idea of the allelopathic plants too drastic? Is there > > anyone who knows about rye, oats, barley and vetch ? > > "I have this beautiful western wooded country road, but it has "noxious" > weeds on it" > > Tell us how bad the weed problem is - what grows where - are they all over > or just growing in certain areas - and what is the soil like - is there a > problem with low calcium / acid soil. How much ground cover is there in > normal growing seasons?? > > > so now we are going to hydroseed cereal rye, oats, barley, vetch mix to > > possibly dominate the situation and crowd out the weeds, but I don't > > know anything about these plants. Is this the right thing to do? Will > > I also get rid of the native grass that's there now? > > > > What happens when the cereal plants all get big and go to seed? I can't > > plow them under because I don't want to disturb the ground and bring up > > seeds lurking there. Do we cut them and make mulch or do we cut them > > and compost them with BC or compost tea? The oats and barley will go > > away, but the rye is supposed to reseed. Will there be enough minerals > > and microscopic babies in the soil to grow them at all if I use just the > > energy from the field spray, 500, 501, BC, 508 with a radionic device? > > Is the energy enough? Should I just sprinkle the rye in the worst > > places? We have been offered a straw shredding, blowing, mulching > > machine. How thick do we spread the straw? I can't even find straw > > that doesn't have chemicals on it because of the certified hay law. > > > > We have a custom reclamation mix waiting in the wings for fall--How will > > we plant this--in the stubble? Should I put more BC or compost tea on > > to compost the stubble? What is the best timeline for all this? Will > > we be moving too fast? Should we take a couple of years getting rid of > > the weeds and then seed the grass and native wildflowers? If I do that, > > will I get another cost-share grant next year or the year after? > Try to keep your approach simple so that you can go forward rather than > round in circles Cheers > Lloyd Charles > > > >
