keeping goatweed / goutweed / Bishop's weed out of compost

Apr 11, 2017 10:52:36

I made a compost pile. Foolishly, I located it on top of an area infested with Aegopodium Podagraria. The rhizomes shot through the compost quickly and I had to just toss it into the infested area, for fear of spreading this weed if I used the compost elsewhere.

All the best locations for a compost pile in my yard have this weed in them. Is there a way to locate the pile there safely (by putting a barrier of some sort down) or should I give up and locate the compost in a less-ideal but non-infested area?

Apr 12, 2017 17:08:23

You have my sympathy. I will follow this.
The only thing that seems to help is eating and weeding it. Personally i don't eat it because of its smell. I battled it for years at my parents place. Any plant originating there is checked vigorously for hitchhiking goatweed.

Apr 21, 2017 13:48:53

hau Steven, indeed goat weed, Aegopodium podagraria is a rhizome reproducer and that does make it tough to get rid of.

Some things to do for building a compost heap in an area this stuff is present in;
Do put down a cover between the soil and the composting materials, old, discarded carpet works very well for this and you can use more than one layer if you need to.
Make sure the heap gets hot, the hotter the better, this is easiest done with green materials in the center of a lot of browns. (browns are carbon, greens are nitrogen)
If you have or can get spent coffee grounds, they are a good source of nitrogen.
Keep close watch on the moisture content of the heap, monitor the internal temperature, turn the heap once the internal temp starts to go below 140 f.

The option would be to dig the space where you want to build a compost heap first to remove as much of the root and the rhizomes as possible first.
In this case, don't worry, you will be providing new bacteria and fungi via the compost heap to the soil you disturbed.

Redhawk

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