We have about half an acre of spiny emex (double gee) on our farm, which I have fenced off from stock. I'm looking for eradication methods that also remove the seed from the soil surface. I have heard spraying everythinh with diesel will kill the seed but I was looking for something a bit more environmentally friendly than that. Thanks, Jason
Hi Jason, I'm wondering whether flame weeding prior to setting seed would work: https://flameengineering.com/pages/flame-weeding-101 Since spiny emex is an annual, and this bit: "At the end of the plant's life, the root dries up and pulls the seeds at the base of the stem into the ground." from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emex_spinosa it seems that flaming the plant before the seeds set would work, although it would need to be repeated until the seed bank in the soil was depleted.
Yes flame weeding might work, might even kill the prickles left on the soil surface. But unfortunately that's not an option here during summer due to bushfire risk. It's something i could consider in autumn before sowing a pasture mix in the ashes.
do you have access to equipment like a dozer/plow/backhoe? if so you can figure out the depth to bury the seeds where they won't sprout, dig a deep trench and scrape the topsoil into that and then bury it deep enough. that should remove a lot of it and then reseed with a mix of cover crops and keep a close eye on it for any remaining weeds that try to get going again. of course you want to remove them before they can drop seeds. i'm not sure if you can gather any seeds off the surface by dragging an old cotton sheet or strips/ropes across it and then compost that or bury it deeply enough (using a natural fiber like cotton or hemp ). also perhaps smashing the seeds will make them non-viable and more compostable or putting them in a bucket with some dirt and plenty of water to encourage them to rot... when i was living in Tennessee i used to swim at a reservoir there and the sandy beach was infested with burrs. i spent some time removing those and some other hazards i found there (glass, sharp rocks, metal cans)... i always like to do stuff like this when i have time because i think it important to take care of this place we call home.
It's been reported that buying them a couple inches or deeper results in the prickles being unable to germinate. It's something I'm considering but only as a last resort as the weeds are on a moderate slope and I don't want to encourage erosion. Thanks for the ideas. Jason