Permanently remove grass and weeds under new hedges?

kaisersose77

I planted bare root beech hedges at the end of last year but grass and weeds shot up when i placed chicken manure pallets under them. I have since manually removed the grass and weeds but is there anything that can be sprayed that would permanently remove the grass and weeds under the hedges without damaging the hedges or leaves in any way?

Outkast_IRE

kaisersose77 wrote: »

I planted bare root beech hedges at the end of last year but grass and weeds shot up when i placed chicken manure pallets under them. I have since manually removed the grass and weeds but is there anything that can be sprayed that would permanently remove the grass and weeds under the hedges without damaging the hedges or leaves in any way?

Not without damaging the other plants no. is it an option to put a bark mulch or similar around the base and this would supress the weeds and grass.

elperello

This recent thread might be useful to you.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058190430

corelokttikka

Mypex agri ground cover. Let’s rain in and stops weeds growing.

macraignil

Once you keep the weeds clear for the first year or so the hedge plants should be established enough to outgrow most weed plants. You will still get some but they will gradually be shaded out by the hedge which will be tall enough to still get light and have roots established enough to find water deeper than the weed plants can reach. Installing mypex into a hedge that is already planted a year is not practical. Here is a video clip showing a hedge of hornbeam and white thorn that I stopped weeding after about a year where all I did when trimming the side growth was clip down some of the doc leaves and nettles to help the hedge a bit but clearing all of the weeds after that time would have caused too much root damage to the hedge so was not worthwhile.

blackbox

You could very carefully spray around the base with weedkiller, but it won't be permanent.

JPup

I think you should just leave it be and the hedge will eventually dominate the weeds. You can always manually extract any stragglers that you don't like. I'd be very reluctant to spray poison around the place, which is bad for plants and animals alike.

Hocus Focus

Apply weedkiller to the grass and weeds using a sponge, to prevent overspray damaging the plants, then mulch repeatedly with grass cuttings. It worked for me.

standardg60

Spraying during the winter when the hedge is not in leaf is another option