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The Wonder Weapon posted:I planted a few trees earlier this spring. I put down fresh top soil, planted the sapling, and covered the whole area with about 2" of mulch. Despite getting out there to pull the more obnoxious weeds out as often as I can (read:not often), it now looks like this: Weed cloth/Landscape fabric can do a lot: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Landscaping-Supplies-Landscape-Fabric/N-5yc1vZbx4q If you're willing to use chemical herbicides Crossbow can also help: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Crossbow-32-oz-Concentrate-Brush-and-Weed-Killer-100509322/203070324
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Sep 26, 2021 21:17
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| # ? May 26, 2024 17:29 |
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I need to plant more trees elsewhere, and I'd like to avoid this outcome. They'll be replacing a very old wood fence and assorted small bushes. What do I need to do when I plant more trees to prevent a weed explosion coming up through the mulch? You can't prevent weeds, not entirely. If there's unoccupied real estate on the ground where the sun shines and it isn't covered in something impenetrable plants are going to show up. If you want no weeds you're going to have to do some weeding now and then (you really want to get weeds out of the ground before they flower and make more of themselves, though if they're in your lawn anyway it matters less). There are things you can do to make it so you have to weed a lot less. One is to make use of the unoccupied space. The only difference between a weed and any other plant is that you don't want it where it is. I don't know where you are in the country but there are a huge variety of groundcovers for a huge variety of conditions that will look nice and give your weeds enough competition to slow them down. Reapplying mulch at the right parts of the year will also help by burying the weed seeds so they don't germinate. Around here I apply mulch in early spring and early summer. If you're getting a lot of summer weeds then fresh mulch in the mid to late spring should slow them down. You'll find people advocating for weed fabric but in my experience it's not a good solution (if it's heavy enough to be effective the first year it's doing unpleasant things to your soil, and it tends to degrade pretty quickly). There's also herbicides but short of truly noxious weeds I wouldn't advocate for using them for this kind of thing unless you're going to spot apply them and at that point you may as well just pull the weeds.
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Sep 26, 2021 22:26
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I spread some dirt (I had some help). Ready for seeding as soon as my sprinkler and timer show up.
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Sep 26, 2021 22:56
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Wallet posted:You can't prevent weeds, not entirely. If there's unoccupied real estate on the ground where the sun shines and it isn't covered in something impenetrable plants are going to show up. If you want no weeds you're going to have to do some weeding now and then (you really want to get weeds out of the ground before they flower and make more of themselves, though if they're in your lawn anyway it matters less). This is all good advice. I have easy-care perennials around my trees, and for me weeding is basically an early spring activity. Once my plants are up, the weeds are squeezed out. Just be careful around the tree roots when you plant. If you do consider herbicides definitely do not use the one linked above.
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Sep 26, 2021 23:22
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Hey, since we're talking about toxic chemicals, how do you get rid of Siberian Elm? Undiluted round-up on a just-cut trunk has been insufficient for me. Is there anyplace online I can mail order napalm?
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Sep 26, 2021 23:42
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I planted a few trees earlier this spring. I put down fresh top soil, planted the sapling, and covered the whole area with about 2" of mulch. Despite getting out there to pull the more obnoxious weeds out as often as I can (read:not often), it now looks like this: Weed block fabric before you put the mulch down?
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Sep 27, 2021 02:26
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I never got a great answer on this but I’m pulling up the awful carpet and putting down click in vinyl. I have lovely pine plank subflooring underneath with a musty mildewy basement under that. There is animal piss on the carpet too, so what should I use to prime that poo poo before laying the vinyl planks? The kilz for odor blocking or kilz for mold killing?
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Sep 27, 2021 03:43
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I ran out of stripper. But look! The original stain!
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Sep 27, 2021 04:12
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Ball Tazeman posted:I never got a great answer on this but I’m pulling up the awful carpet and putting down click in vinyl. I have lovely pine plank subflooring underneath with a musty mildewy basement under that. There is animal piss on the carpet too, so what should I use to prime that poo poo before laying the vinyl planks? The kilz for odor blocking or kilz for mold killing? So you're putting the click vinyl on top of the pine subflooring? And the separate level of the house underneath that is a musty basement? I'd use a few gallons of nature's miracle on the pine and let it dry out before using kilz odor blocking. Nature's miracle is an enzymatic cleaner that works on animal urine. If you have mold on the pine then either bleach it or cut it out and replace it. To stop mold from regrowing you need to deal with the moisture intrusion, which is kind of a different question.
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Sep 27, 2021 04:16
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Putting down weed block fabric is a real Previous Owner move.
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Sep 27, 2021 04:20
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Sous Videodrome posted:So you're putting the click vinyl on top of the pine subflooring? And the separate level of the house underneath that is a musty basement? That first paragraph is correct. As far as I know, there isn’t currently any mold on the subfloor but there is mildew in the basement. We are in the middle of taking care of that issue. We have a heavy duty dehumidifier going at all times.
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Sep 27, 2021 04:30
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ohhyeah posted:Putting down weed block fabric is a real Previous Owner move. lol what?
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Sep 27, 2021 07:10
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he1ixx posted:The majority of the wood ash. We did maple in the laundry room area but ash everywhere else that there is wood. Due to the beetles destroying all of the ash up here it’s in fairly ready and cheap(er) supply. Bona Traffic HD is excellent. Bona Traffic is pretty good but not quite as durable. (They both come in matte).
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Sep 27, 2021 08:47
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nm posted:Bona Traffic HD is excellent. Bona Traffic is pretty good but not quite as durable. (They both come in matte). Awesome, thanks. I've been using Penofin Verde, but that Bona on Ash looks really nice. I'll try that for the next project.
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Sep 27, 2021 12:18
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Sirotan posted:*points to thread title* 9 months after I spent weeks of my life scraping, patching, sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding, painting, texturing, and then patching some more because I wasn't satisfied, my ceiling looks like this again:  also this wall crack just reappeared:  I want to die 
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Sep 27, 2021 14:52
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Sirotan posted:9 months after I spent weeks of my life scraping, patching, sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding, painting, texturing, and then patching some more because I wasn't satisfied, my ceiling looks like this again: Sorry man. Is that settling of the house or what? Can you apply paint with a toothpick or something to just make the crack less visible?
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Sep 27, 2021 15:19
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Inner Light posted:Sorry man. Is that settling of the house or what? Can you apply paint with a toothpick or something to just make the crack less visible? The house is rock solid and I am 99% sure this is from temperature changes in the attic. That crack corresponds directly with where my knee-wall attic space begins and it is poorly insulated, and southern facing. Cement board and plaster ceiling in an 80yo house. I don't think I'll actually be doing anything about either crack at the moment, I suspect it will get smaller in the winter and even if it doesn't the ceiling still looks better than when I moved in. Reinsulating both my attic spaces is on the to-do list and some point in the near future, maybe I will try to fix it up for a second time then. Still makes me very depressed 
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Sep 27, 2021 15:34
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My 1950s house with a vaulted ceiling also breathes, there's a crack along the top beam that opens in the summer and closes in the winter. In other news it's concrete day!!!   We're halfway through truck #3, probably need at least two more.
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Sep 27, 2021 15:45
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Omne posted:Anyone got a good recommendation for a ceiling fan for a guest bedroom? I'm looking for something that either comes with a wall switch with separate controls for the light and the fan, or works with like the Lutron Maestro wall control. Preferably something even an idiot (like me) could install. Most fans that come with a remote still just use a canopy module to do that, and if you don't install the module, there will be the hots for the fan and light, as well as a neutral available to do the thing you want. Look at the manual for fans you are considering and if some sort of module is referenced it's probably going to work for you
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Sep 27, 2021 16:35
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ohhyeah posted:Putting down weed block fabric is a real Previous Owner move. OMG for real. Our POs made extremely questionable decisions at our house, and the one I hate the most currently is what they did to the yard. They covered the entire side yard and half of the backyard with weed block fabric and then a few inches of river rocks/ gravel to make some fakeo lovely looking beach. No we're not near water. It is the wooooooooorst. As soon as we moved in the whole gravel part broke out in weeds as well so we've been fighting those back since. Anyways, our eventual plan is to get rid of that poo poo but arguing about the exact method for how to do so has been a pastime at my house. My husband thinks we can just bury all the rocks under some soil and pop sod on top and call it day. I say it's going to be a PITA and we should rip it out and dig that poo poo up instead of being a total PO about it and causing issues for us since we plan to stay a while. A facebook ad or two for free river rocks come and get 'em might help, but either way I think he's foolish for thinking it can just be covered up. The backyard does need to be regraded as well, as the areas without rocks are sunken down and uneven as hell. Since my husband won't be willing to do the work himself we're going to hire someone and see what they think about it, but if I have any say in the matter weed block fabric will not exist on our property any more.
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Sep 27, 2021 16:36
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Burying literal tons of river rocks under a thin layer of topsoil is a far more dick PO move than putting down a weed barrier by several orders of magnitude. This is spoken by someone who had to dig up, transport, and dispose of literal tons of river rocks, mind you.
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Sep 27, 2021 16:47
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Omne posted:Anyone got a good recommendation for a ceiling fan for a guest bedroom? I'm looking for something that either comes with a wall switch with separate controls for the light and the fan, or works with like the Lutron Maestro wall control. Preferably something even an idiot (like me) could install. generally with any module lights go on as switch flips. I have a generic amazon remote module for fan in my bedroom so I can turn lights of / adjust fan from bed. Ff I turn lights off with the remote lights will go back on when I flip the wall switch goes back to on the wall to on. Example: Lights turned off at night, with room wake up walk out of room and flip switch off. Enter room turn on switch fan is not active but lights will turn on Example2: Lights turned off at night and I forget to turn off switch when I wake up and walk out of room. At night if I flip the switch off then on after a 2 count lights come back on.
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Sep 27, 2021 16:48
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I have a 2-string fan with a single wall power switch which I kinda like. For now I don't want to bother finding a way to connect it with a remote, so I set the fan to what I want and leave the light off when going to bed, and I have a Hue lamp that I turn on and off with Siri. Works well for me.
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Sep 27, 2021 16:51
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Omne posted:Anyone got a good recommendation for a ceiling fan for a guest bedroom? I'm looking for something that either comes with a wall switch with separate controls for the light and the fan, or works with like the Lutron Maestro wall control. Preferably something even an idiot (like me) could install. I have multiple Westinghouse Lighting 7234100 Comet Indoor Ceiling Fan with Light and Maestro switches running for the last 3+ years. Self installed too.
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Sep 27, 2021 17:02
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mutata posted:Burying literal tons of river rocks under a thin layer of topsoil is a far more dick PO move than putting down a weed barrier by several orders of magnitude. This is spoken by someone who had to dig up, transport, and dispose of literal tons of river rocks, mind you. You're lucky they used river rocks. My PO decided that all of the garden beds should be mulched with 1/2-3/4" gravel repeatedly until it was three or four inches deep. It took forever to get most of it out. I'll never be rid of it. They also put in weed fabric in a bunch of beds but never replaced it or dealt with it so all of the pores clogged with dirt. Everything in/on/under it began to rot so all of the beds it was in smelled like literal garbage in the spring.
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Sep 27, 2021 22:18
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Oh no I put down weed fabric in my backyard  ...but it's only under my raised garden beds as a barrier between the clean soil in the bed and the soil in the ground, which is full of juglone and lead and not conducive to growing edible produce. Otherwise I absolutely hate it.
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Sep 27, 2021 22:54
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Speaking of weeds, does anyone have a recommended product that will murder most plants excepting trees? Backyard is a jungle and I'm planning on redoing the whole thing, but I have a nice walnut tree I don't want to poison.
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Sep 27, 2021 23:08
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Weed killers are bad. Buy a blowtorch.
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Sep 27, 2021 23:23
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I was shocked to learn that the reason clover is now considered undesirable in lawns is because broadleaf herbicide kills it. Like, it used to be considered part of a healthy lawn until some company started trying to sell something that they couldn't get to exclude clover.
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Sep 27, 2021 23:39
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SubponticatePoster posted:Speaking of weeds, does anyone have a recommended product that will murder most plants excepting trees? Backyard is a jungle and I'm planning on redoing the whole thing, but I have a nice walnut tree I don't want to poison. Depending on what kind of weeds/whatever you're trying to kill you'd want different selective herbicides. If you go to the gnome shitsquat or whatever they'll list the kinds of plants they kill. Definitely don't spray glyphosate near plants you want to survive. cruft posted:I was shocked to learn that the reason clover is now considered undesirable in lawns is because broadleaf herbicide kills it. White clover is almost certainly one of the main things I'll mix in when I finally talk myself into ripping out my lawn. poo poo is great.
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Sep 27, 2021 23:43
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If you plant a bunch of Japanese knotweed it will take care of all your other weeds.
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Sep 28, 2021 00:07
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Clover loves dog piss so I love Clover. Is there fertilizer made for it?
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Sep 28, 2021 00:21
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SubponticatePoster posted:Speaking of weeds, does anyone have a recommended product that will murder most plants excepting trees? Backyard is a jungle and I'm planning on redoing the whole thing, but I have a nice walnut tree I don't want to poison. Glyphosate (Roundup) will murder anything green and leafy very well, especially if you get it directly on the foliage. Won't hurt a tree (much) if it happens to get on the trunk. Also won't touch anything with a waxy leaf like English ivy and periwinkle. I've never tried it but Tenacity is supposed to be a long lasting herbicide that is turf friendly.
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Sep 28, 2021 01:06
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In the same vein as weed killer, I think it was this topic that period mentioned recs for a pesticide you can spray around the outside of your house, can anyone chime in on that again?
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Sep 28, 2021 01:18
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Ortho Home defense is widely available and fairly benign to people and pets (somebody check me on that). Deals with my spider crickets.
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Sep 28, 2021 01:28
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mutata posted:Burying literal tons of river rocks under a thin layer of topsoil is a far more dick PO move than putting down a weed barrier by several orders of magnitude. This is spoken by someone who had to dig up, transport, and dispose of literal tons of river rocks, mind you. River rocks? Great decorations, shoulda sold them or used them.
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Sep 28, 2021 06:06
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cruft posted:I was shocked to learn that the reason clover is now considered undesirable in lawns is because broadleaf herbicide kills it. Clover is still considered a part of a good lawn here. Americans use too much pesticide it sounds like to me if it's gone that far.
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Sep 28, 2021 06:09
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His Divine Shadow posted:Americans use too much pesticide it sounds like to me if it's gone that far. i agree with friggin rachel carson over here
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Sep 28, 2021 06:13
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His Divine Shadow posted:River rocks? Great decorations, shoulda sold them or used them. Yeah, you're right. What were we thinking.
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Sep 28, 2021 08:21
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| # ? May 26, 2024 17:29 |
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We have a bunch of clover, creeping Charlie, false strawberry, and violets in our yard. They're pretty, feel good on the feet, and don't seem to care if they get too much or too little water or sun. 10/10 would recommend
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Sep 28, 2021 09:20
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