Since childhood, each of us has been familiar with such a burning and unpleasant weed as nettle. It mainly grows in empty areas, but often settles in a garden, a vegetable garden among cultivated plants or under fences. How to get rid of nettles in the country forever? It is very difficult to do this, and this process is quite lengthy.
Is it necessary to delete?
People do not like nettle for its very burning nature, and sometimes forget that this plant can be very useful. It has healing properties.
- Nettle is rich in vitamins A, C, K, it contains a lot of potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus.
- This is a great pet food.
- From nettle make fertilizer beds.
- Its extract can often be found in cosmetics and medicines.
- Nettle make a very effective mask for hair loss.
When wondering how to get rid of nettles on a site, you should first familiarize yourself with its useful properties and methods of application.
Food use
In hungry times, when it was difficult to find even the usual potatoes, people ate various wild plants, including nettle.
And what is most interesting - the generation of the 30-40s was much healthier than their descendants.
Before adding nettle to various dishes, it must be properly prepared.
Old shoots are not suitable for food, because they are too hard and have a bitter taste. Torn young leaves must first be scalded with boiling water or, wearing gloves, wash well under running water to remove burning hairs.
Nettle contains more carotene than carrots, and four times more vitamin C than citrus fruits.
You can cook cabbage soup and soups from the leaves prepared in this way, add them to salads, cereals, omelets, prepare fillings for pancakes and pies, and also brew tasty and healthy tea.
In salads, nettle leaves go well with green onions, boiled eggs, carrots, nuts. These salads are seasoned with vegetable oil or sour cream.
How to get rid of nettles in the country forever?
There are 2 ways to get rid of burning weed: mechanical and chemical.
The mechanical method is more suitable for small household plots. How to get rid of nettles in the country forever in this way? A number of activities will be required:
- the soil is carefully dug up;
- the aboveground parts of weeds are removed (they can be folded into a compost pit - suitable as fertilizer);
- roots are destroyed.
How to get rid of nettles in the garden using weeding? Let's consider some recommendations:
- weeds are better than weeds while they are still young;
- it is advisable to clean the nettle before it has matured and given birth to young offspring;
- weeding is easier after rain, so roots are easier to extract from the soil;
- pick weeds from the soil.
Some time after digging, young sprouts will appear again. This is a signal that this procedure must be repeated. It is not recommended to dig the soil with a shovel, as part of the plants can remain and sprout again. After weeding, the soil can be covered with slate or black plastic wrap so that new shoots cannot break through.
Also, sawdust, mowed grass or autumn foliage can be used as a barrier to weed growth. They fall asleep under the wall of the house or a fence with a layer of 10 cm. Chemical methods will help to get rid of nettles forever on large areas.
The use of chemicals
If you do not know how to get rid of nettle thickets, then the easiest way to use chemicals is herbicides. They are used to exterminate weed grass over large areas and are soil and ground.
- soil herbicides act through the aerial parts of the plant (stem, leaves);
- soil remedies act through the roots.
Depending on the effect on plants, herbicides are divided into three types:
- Preparations having contact action. These products only affect weeds in the place where the chemical got, cause burns and then death of plants. The disadvantage of such drugs is that if the product does not reach any part of the plant, the weed can grow back.
- Systemic remedies that affect the entire plant.
- Herbicides that affect the root system and seeds.
Herbicides are non-selective and selective spectrum of action. Non-selective agents destroy all weeds. Selective or, in other words, selective drugs affect certain types of plants, and for the rest they are safe.
Nettle Herbicides
We examined how to get rid of nettles in the country forever by chemical means. Consider now the most common tools.
One of the herbicides tested by many gardeners is the drug “Roundup”, which poses virtually no danger to humans, does not accumulate in the soil and very effectively removes weeds, including nettles. The analogues of this chemical are systemic anti-weed preparations: Zero, Fosulen, Utal, Gosorg, Tornado, and Hurricane. Spraying is most effective in warm weather, when there is no wind and rain, with air humidity not exceeding 50%.
Traditional methods of combating nettle
Consider how to get rid of nettles in the country with the help of folk methods.
- Alcoholic way. This method was first applied in the 30s. The soil a month before sowing is treated with a 6% solution of ethyl alcohol. You can also use 150 ml of vodka per 10 liters of water. Under the influence of ethanol, the germination of weeds is accelerated, which are then carefully weeded. The method is valid for the season.
- Fiery method. After sowing the cultivated plants, before their emergence, the soil is calcined using a sliding flame of a blowtorch. This procedure should be carried out very quickly so as not to damage the seeds sown, but to destroy only weeds. Then for cooling the earth is watered.
- The method of substitution. If there is no vegetation on the site, then it very soon begins to overgrow with weeds. Therefore, it is advisable to plant cultivated plants on free beds, or resort to mulching the land.
- Treatment with a 30% potassium salt solution. This method is most often used in greenhouses among cultivated plants, where it is impossible to weed, and chemicals will harm other crops. This method will relieve nettle, but not for long. The method is harmless and quite applicable as a temporary measure.
- Use boiling water. It is considered not the most effective method, especially for large land plots. Boiling water is poured onto the soil where nettle and other weeds grow. It is advisable to mulch the earth after this procedure. The effect of this method is short-lived.
Mistakes by gardeners to get rid of weeds
One of the biggest mistakes is incorrect treatment of nettle with herbicides. When sprayed, the chemical also falls on the cultivated plant, after which it dies. Nettle or other weeds should not be watered with a watering can, as this is too large a dosage. Spraying should be carried out from a spray bottle, but with a large spray hole.
Spraying is not recommended in windy weather, since the herbicide can get not only on nettles, but also on cultivated plants.
One of the most common mistakes is poor plant protection against chemicals against weeds. When processing herbicides, planting should be covered with plastic wrap or a screen.
Preventative measures
Prevention is the best way to get rid of burning weed. Favorite habitats of this weed plant are places near fences. To destroy them at a distance of 0.3-0.5 m from the fence, put a film, boards or roofing felt.
Also, weeds that appear must be regularly mowed with a trimmer. For the winter period, the site is sprinkled with sawdust or covered with fallen leaves.
So, we looked at how to get rid of nettles in the garden forever. Before you begin to fight weeds, it is advisable to study all the methods described in this article. These methods are tested and are considered the most optimal and in demand when removing weed grass from the site.
Depending on the degree of neglect of the land, choose one or another method, or even better combine several.