Is it possible to adopt a “scorched earth policy” for the Farmbot?
My Farmbot has been idle for a few months now and the bed is full of weeds (other than one exotic tree that must have self sown).
I was wondering if there is a sequence that I can schedule that will just kill everything, or weed the whole bed? I thought that now being close to the middle of the Australian winter, it would be a good time to test such a sequence, and have a nice empty bed ready for spring?
I know I could just manually weed the bed, but…
@dmbgo You might want to try “Solarization”. You drench the soil with water and then put a clear plastic or black tarp over the affected area. It has obvious short-term benefits, but it actually will reduce weeds long-term, also.
After long periods of inactivity, the soil will contain thousands of seeds of unwanted weeds. Solarization will kill everything that’s currently growing in the bed, but more importantly, it will help kill off any unwanted seeds that have yet to sprout. I do this every year and have had good luck with it. It’s cheap, long-term, and chemical-free.
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@RickCarlino I have now transplanted the tree that was sprouted in the bed, so solarization sounds like an excellent thing to try.
I’m not in a hurry to plant things, since we are still in the “frost” season. Maximum temperatures at this time of year are in the max 10 - 15 degree Celsius range (50 - 59 Fahrenheit), but they get down to -3 degrees C. Is this warm enough for solarization?
After reading the article you linked to Rick, I can answer my own questions.
I probably won’t plant anything in the Farmbot until September anyway, so it might be beneficial to put plastic down now, to at least warm the soil a bit, and encourage germination of the seeds that are already in there. I can then dispose of them prior to planting, and as an added benefit, the plastic will stop further seeds falling on the bed.
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