A Weed in my Weed garden!!!!

[Katherine]

Crown Vetch Attack!!

[/IMG] In the past few months the crown vetch population in my yard has spiraled out of control! I have always had it but in small unconcerning quantities. The leopard tortoises adore it, but it is no good for horses and I imagine no good for them either. The problem I am having is how to remove THIS weed without removing ALL the weeds : / any suggestions? I tried my local garden shop but all they could recommend were poisons and they seemed very confused at the concept of a weed in a weed garden. I have pulled it numerous times but like a typical weed it comes back with some fight! Helllllp!

 

[Irwin4530]

Not sure if it will help in this situation but I pour boiling water on the plants that I dont want growing in my yard.
(boiling salt water for in between cracks and in areas where I dont want anything to grow)

 

[Yvonne G]

I doubt it would be harmful to your tortoise. If you can pull it before it flowers and goes to seed (seed pods look like pea pods), you can make it less abundant next year.

 

[Katherine]

Interesting about the boiled water; I am really surprised to hear that actually works. Worth a shot I guess, but I have no idea how to boil THAT much water.

And Yvonne I hope you are right about it not being that bad; I let them eat it. In small quantities it didn't stress me out at all. Now one of my female leopards has such an affinity for it that she wouldn't eat anything else if left to her own devices- and there is enough of it that she could eat it for days! I have never noticed an issue with them taking samplings but am really not interested in turning this into a 'does this have a negative impact on them' experiment. I'd rather just limit or restrict access to things I am not positive about.

I'd really love to hear from anyone else who feeds or has fed crown vetch to tortoises. Some positive personal experience would definitely make me more comfortable letting them munch it occasionally!

 

[yagyujubei]

Once crown vetch is established, it has a very deepoot system.I'd use roundup, personally.

 

[Katherine]

: ( that's what I was afraid of. I hate to use chemicals since I have chickens and rabbits and all the tortoises all of whom graze the yard at their leisure. Any idea how long I will have to block the area off for after spraying?

 

[hondaa]

: ( that's what I was afraid of. I hate to use chemicals since I have chickens and rabbits and all the tortoises all of whom graze the yard at their leisure. Any idea how long I will have to block the area off for after spraying?

why dont you just dig it out and put weed liner down and new soil?

here a link of the stuff come in small or bigg roll's
http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-G...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

 

[JoesMum]

I have loads of vetch in my lawn and Joe just ignores it... He has free run over the entire garden and he prefers other stuff.

 

[Katherine]

I have loads of vetch in my lawn and Joe just ignores it... He has free run over the entire garden and he prefers other stuff.

Jealous... Most the Sulcata's do not bother with it but all of my leopards seem to enjoy it, one in particular. She will pass up huge patches of clover and dandelion just go grab a mouthful : /

[/IMG]

 

[yagyujubei]

I feed my leopards a little crown vetch, but they're not crazy about it.I have been reading up on control. Evidently it is quite a resilient plant. If you're set against glyphosate, what about weed wacking it? You will probably have to do this fairly frequently, and it might take a couple of seasons. Seeds on the ground can remain viable for 10 years. The rhizomes can be up to 10 feet long.