# Removing weeds by hand



## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

I haven't posted in long time. Some of you may remember that I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in December. I am doing well. The drugs have reduced the cancer so it is not detachable on a recent bone marrow biopsy. I will be having a stem cell transplant probably in late September, which hopefully will put me in remission for a long while (no cure for this kind of cancer yet).

I let the lawn go. My husband was questioning my use of herbicides and the drugs lowerd my immune system (after the transplant it will be destroyed and take months, maybe even a year, for it to recover and I will have many restrictions, including no yard work, at least for 3 months). In late June either brown patch or hot weather killed some of the grass and weeds invaded. The doctor said my blood counts are good enough so I can do yard work now. It's yard repair time and I just have to plant some grass.

I am removing weeds by hand. They weren't many in the front yard and I got grass planted on Wednesday. In the back there are huge patches of violets, clover, and spurge. The picture shows a violet invasion (and also where I have cleared some). These are running violets connected by root strings just under the surface. I decided to do it by hand because whatever tttf I have has proved to be strong and resilient. Using Weedbgon CCO would mean waiting weeks to plant. Using glyphosate would mean killing the strong surviving grass. And my husband doesn't want me using herbicides. I had to do something about the weeds just to have space for the grass seed to land on the ground. If I had used herbidices, I would still have the problem of dead weeds covering the ground. So that's why I'm doing it by hand.

It's really rather pleasant. The ground is soft because of a lot of rain this summer and the weeds pull up easily. I sit down with a trowel and bucket. I run the trowel just under some violets to get a clump of strings and then roll backward or forward. The rolling brings up a large amount of violets and leaves my fescue mostly alone. I'm doing this either early morning or in the shade with gloves and mask on.

I used Tenacity on the front yard when I planted seed and will use it when I plant in the back. I suited up well, with gloves and mask and avoided walking where I had sprayed. I still have my immune system now. I think in the spring I will get someone to put down preemergent and if there are remaining violets and clovers I will get them to use Weedbgon CCO in late spring.

I welcome any comments or suggestions. Are these running violets different from clumping violets? It didn't take long for them to take over the yard.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Becky! I'm glad to hear things are improving and lets pray for your continue recovery.

It will take some time to remove the weeds by hand. It looks like wild violet but it could also be  Ivyleaf Speedwell. I cant zoom in enough to see.

An option is to treat it with tenacity + NIS now prior to seed down. Or remove as much as you can, drop seed, rake to ensure the seeds get to the soil and then spray tenacity + NIS. It should kill the weed + provide some mulch cover to the seeds. This way you only apply tenacity once.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

I have been thinking about you.
I'm so glad to see a post from you!


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

@Virginiagal Glad to hear you're doing better. If you're trying to avoid all herbicides for now I think hand pulling might be the only option. @jonthepain is a warm season guy but runs an organic lawn care business. He may have some suggestions. Hope to see you posting!!


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Thanks for the replies. Here is a closer picture of the violets. I looked up ivy speedwell and it's not that. And here too is a picture of some of my spurge area, with some cleared out. I'm not trying for a complete kill, just enough that the grass seeds have some space to grow. Tenacity should help hold back weeds enough so the grass has a head start. In the front yard I had mainly oxalis here and there and it was cleared quickly. In the back weeds took over whole areas. In just two months! I had almost no crabgrass and I pulled the few plants that sprouted before they took hold. I guess several years of crabgrass preemergent helped tremendously even though I didn't use it this year.


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

@Virginiagal glad your back and doing well.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

I got rid of the duplicate for ya @Virginiagal :thumbup:


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## Cjames1603 (Jul 25, 2018)

@Virginiagal Im in Alabama but if I was near you guys I'd for sure do your pre emergent treatment for you. Im guessing someone in your area on here feels the same way and will speak up. Glad things are going better and sounds like the pulling of weeds is therapy for your soul. Keep on pulling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Where in VA are you located?


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

I'm in Richmond VA, near Malvern and Grove. There are lawn services all around and handymen and I ought to be able to find someone nearby who could spray Prodiamine for me in March and WeedBGon CCO later in the spring. I have the stuff on hand.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Sorry. A bit far for me. Perhaps someone closer can lend a hand.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Thanks, Jungle Life. I'm sure I can find someone nearby.

I have finished my weed pulling. Here is a picture of the backyard ready to be seeded tomorrow. And a picture of my weed pile. I will spray Tenacity to hopefully act post-emergently on the left over violets and clover and to act pre-emergently on new weeds. Tenacity apparently doesn't kill spurge but I got the big mats up and it should die at frost.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Dang @Virginiagal You've been hard at work! Looks nice and ready for some seed!


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

Wow, really nice work @Virginiagal !

Please keep us all posted on how your seeding goes! Glad you are feeling better!


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Wow. That's a serious pile of weeds! What do you do with it?


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

I was thinking of just letting the pile of weeds sit there for a couple of years and rot. It's in an out of the way spot, with the camellia on the left shielding it from the yard. On the right is a row of crepe myrtles that go the length of the yard and are mulched. The fenced in area there was once a place to let a little dog out. There is a lot of nice dirt attached to the roots and the weeds would be wonderful organic matter, once the weed seeds aren't viable. Hate to throw it away. Do you think two years of sitting in a pile would reduce the seeds? If I had just used herbicide, all the weed seeds would still be on the ground, so maybe I'm overthinking the weed seed issue.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Virginiagal said:


> I was thinking of just letting the pile of weeds sit there for a couple of years and rot. It's in an out of the way spot, with the camellia on the left shielding it from the yard. On the right is a row of crepe myrtles that go the length of the yard and are mulched. The fenced in area there was once a place to let a little dog out. There is a lot of nice dirt attached to the roots and the weeds would be wonderful organic matter, once the weed seeds aren't viable. Hate to throw it away. Do you think two years of sitting in a pile would reduce the seeds? If I had just used herbicide, all the weed seeds would still be on the ground, so maybe I'm overthinking the weed seed issue.


If the pile heats up, then it's supposed to take care of the weed seeds. My compost pile is mostly leaves and doesn't seem to heat up. Not sure if that means I'm just spreading weeds everywhere though. I imagine over time, if the seeds were viable, they would grow out of the compost pile. I do see that sometimes.


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