Despite the fact that nettle is characterized by beneficial properties, this plant is a weed and causes trouble if it grows on the site. Everything is complicated by the fact that it is difficult to remove, as we all remember from childhood how nettle burns the skin if you touch the stems or leaves with your bare hands. And even if the plant can be pulled out, it grows again next summer. Let's figure out how you can get rid of nettles in the garden in a short time.
Should I delete it?
Nettle has beneficial properties. It is used to make animal feed and fertilizer. The plant can be eaten. Young leaves are suitable for making tasty and healthy soup, they are added to salads, porridges, and tea is made from them.
Nettle is suitable for creating fertilizer for garden beds. The crushed weed is filled with water in the proportion of ten liters of water per kilogram of nettle. It turns out to be an effective free fertilizer for fruit crops.
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the question of the need to destroy nettles in a summer cottage is not as clear-cut as it seems at first glance.
A suitable solution would be to remove weeds where they clearly interfere and harm, while leaving them in places where they do not interfere with other crops, so that they can be used beneficially later.
Why does she appear on the site?
The weed loves to grow in uncultivated soil. Nettles are attracted to fertile soil that is exposed to moisture. The very fact that nettle has taken root in the soil is a signal that other crops will take root here.
Often the plant appears together with clover and bindweed, this indicates low acidity of the soil. If hops or quinoa appear along with nettles, this indicates the nitrogen content of the soil.
How to get rid of nettles in the garden?
Although the appearance of nettles on the site signals the fertility of the soil, the growth of the weed itself should be stopped in time, otherwise it will grow throughout the summer cottage.
Weeds, as a rule, are tenacious, so regular pulling out here will be ineffective, since the plant will appear again and again.
You need to find the mother plant from which the remaining shoots grow, and direct efforts to fight it.
Mechanical impact
In order to easily and effectively eliminate nettles in a small area, it will be enough to apply mechanical force. Dig up the soil several times where the weed grows. Then remove all shoots and remove the roots from the soil. These steps will be enough to clear a small garden plot of weeds.
Chemicals
Chemicals specifically designed for weed control will help you get rid of nettles in your garden forever. The use of chemicals is the fastest and least labor-intensive method. When dealing with large thickets of plants in large areas, there is no way to do without the use of chemicals.
Weed killers belong to the class of herbicides and are divided, in turn, into soil-based, which act on the weed through the stem and leaves, and root-based, which primarily affects the roots of the harmful plant.
Herbicides for nettles
One of the most popular products used when treating a nettle area is Roundup. This product quickly eliminates weeds without accumulating in the soil, and is absolutely harmless to the human body. It has many equally effective analogues, for example, Tornado and Zero.
To treat weeds, you need to wait for dry and warm weather. Spray the chemicals evenly on the plants. In just a few days, the weeds will die off, and it will be possible to plant fruit crops in the ground.
Folk methods of struggle
To combat nettles on your property, there are many effective folk methods. Weeding the soil helps to get rid of weeds, but this is a rather labor-intensive process, and it is not suitable for a large area with overgrown weeds.After weeding, the soil should be covered with material that does not transmit light.
You can treat the soil about a month before sowing with alcohol. Then the weeds will germinate faster, and they can be weeded before sowing the area with plant seeds.
In a greenhouse where it is difficult to weed the soil, the soil treatment method is often used using a thirty percent solution of potassium salt. However, it should be remembered that this method has a limited validity period.
How to use weed for good
As mentioned above, nettle contains a large amount of useful substances and is edible after processing. In addition to soups and nettle tea, you can make healthy infusions that will help with hair loss and oily hair. Decoctions are also used to treat swelling and various inflammations, as well as bleeding gums.
Possible mistakes gardeners make
In the process of anti-weed treatment of a plot, many gardeners make mistakes that can harm vegetable crops. In particular, this is the incorrect and careless treatment of weeds with chemicals, during which chemicals fall on crop plants. Such carelessness can harm the culture and cause its death.
You need to correctly calculate the amount of chemical and spray harmful plants using a spray bottle. Do not water plants with a chemical solution from a watering can.
The most important thing is that all treatments should be carried out only in dry, warm weather. Gusts of wind will carry chemicals throughout the area, and they will inevitably, one way or another, fall on fruit crops.
Preventive actions
In order to prevent the appearance of weeds on the site, weeding of the soil is used. It should be done several times per season.Depending on the size of the area, you may need a hoe or chopper. When weeding, keep in mind that the roots of the weed are intertwined with each other; you need to pull out the plants with force. Removed nettles should be burned after treating the area.
