City blocks river access with weeds

 

I have a dog named Sage who is a son of a Lab, so he likes to swim.  We usually go to the river access below the Wastewater Treatment plant, just East of where the river trail climbs to Spruce Street and drops closer to the river.  Lately we have been unable to go down there because the city has not cut its weeds sufficiently to be safe for dogs and people. 

This year, the city cut the cheat grass, foxtails and star thistle only a few feet off the paved river trail and cut the foxtails narrowly on the branched paths to the river to a height that would put seeds into shoes and socks.  Sage rolled in the cut foxtails above these two trails last week and got seeds into his harness and fur that I had to remove.   A star thistle is head high on me, right below the fork in the path upstream.   Tall cheat grass bow gracefully over said path, dangling their sticker seeds and blocking it.

            This is a place along the river where people could, until this summer, safely take kids and dogs to wade.  Fisherman used the concrete block and the shingle along the shore to fish.  The current is out about 20 feet and the water is shallow and calm upstream and downstream of the fishing block, protected by rocky bars upstream and the block.

 The next river access downstream has strong current very close to the bank and is not as suitable for swimming.  Sage got swept downstream and thereafter waded close to the bank.  The sticker grasses are not so bad, but it is not a good place for kids or dogs. 

The City has cut off river access to the public with poor weed control, including blackberries along the banks.  Cheat grass is head-high along the river trail above the blackberry banks, tall, yellow and screaming “Fire hazard!” for those with eyes to see.

I know that the city kills noxious sticker weeds in some places, because I looked at weeds West of the pedestrian bridge to the end of the park, which are at least soft and pretty and have no sticker seeds above the river trail, and few below it in the rough.  Blackberries above the trail appear to be cut frequently, having no flowers or old canes.

Please get rid of noxious weeds on city property instead of breeding them!  Reopen our river access and get serious about killing noxious weeds on all city property. 

Speech to the Grants Pass City Council, 7-6-2022

 published at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com and shared on Facebook.

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 Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040           rycke@gardener.com

The Weekly Weeder: Natural Weed Control

Notice the old leaves under the rose, and the 4 x 8 sand paths.

            Weeds are taking over neglected portions of our cities and countryside, making them ugly, disorderly and unsafe.  Flowering weeds are often ugly, always disorderly, and once they dry out, they are a fire hazard.  If not killed before going to seed, they spread themselves around; they are a nuisance that multiplies.  Whole city subdivisions have burned in recent decades, and some small towns as well. When weed codes are well enforced and properties are watered, cities don’t burn. 

          The most dangerous weeds are annuals and biennials that seed and dry out in a season.  They make many seeds, some of which can last for years in soil before they sprout or rot.  But their roots don’t need to be pulled to kill them.  All their top growth comes from their crowns, the part of the plant between the roots and the stems.  Cut them under their crowns or pull them when they are flowering before they go to seed and they are gone, but it can take years to control the seeds already in the ground

          You can cut them under their crowns with scissors or a knife, which is great for going after individual weeds, but is relatively slow.  Still, this is the best way to handle seeded puncture vine, a noxious weed that pops bike tires as well as sticking shoes and bare feet.  Cutting under crowns or pulling are the only ways to take weeds out selectively in lawns, beds and borders.

          You can also beat the crowns out of the soil wholesale with a string trimmer.  This works best when the plants are young and not yet seeded, and the soil is relatively soft.  It has to be repeated to catch newly sprouted annuals and re-growing perennials.  Done often and long enough, it can kill out perennials as well.  It is rather messy.  A hula hoe (AKA scuffle hoe and stirrup hoe) doesn’t throw stuff around.

          You can mulch with leaves, compost, wood chips or bark to smother small plants and stop seeds from sprouting.  Most very small seeds need a touch of sunlight to sprout, and nearly every newly sprouted plant can be easily smothered with 2 inches or more of dense mulch.  Avoid fine bark and bagged bark with fines; bark’s natural preservatives leach downward and kill soil life, but not plants. Larger barks do not kill soil, but ¾” bark and walk-on fir are dense enough at 2” deep.  Walk-on fir bark is most effective at staying put; ¾” floats away on slopes.

          Leaves are the most effective mulch, though some tend to blow around.  Leaves that last for a year, like oak and red maple, are most effective.  They dry quickly on the surface and make a lousy seed bed for whatever falls on them.  Leaves and compost also feed soil life, which makes the soil soft for pulling weeds and provides habitat for good (predator) bugs.

          Perennial weeds like blackberries can also be fire hazards and nuisances.  Cutting under or pulling their crowns is effective, but birds drop seeds in their droppings.  When it comes to weeding, constant vigilance and watering is the key.

 

Revised 12/10/2024.  Published at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com

           

          Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

The Weekly Weeder: Whacking Weeds Can Work

          Whacking annual weeds can kill them, if you whack them low enough—right into the dirt, below the crown.  They have no means to grow without a crown, from which all their growth comes.  (Chickweed is an exception, as it does not have a crown and will keep trying to grow and set seed until it has made enough of it.)

          I saw weed whacking work several years ago, when the city or one of its maintenance contractors eliminated goat heads from the Wastewater Treatment Plant property for several years by repeatedly scalping the dirt where they grew with a string trimmer.  This year, they are blooming and seeding in their old locations near the back fence; apparently the maintenance contract has changed and the city’s institutional memory is short, but goat head seeds can sprout for at least 5 years and will come up all summer until frost.

          This year, I whacked the dense weeds along the irrigation ditch behind my mom’s house into the dirt in May, when they were still green and flowering, but hadn’t set seed yet.  A week later, I pulled a few that had been missed.  The next week, only the false dandelions had come back, and over two months later, that is still the case.

          Last week, I was pulling and cutting crab grass from the backyard below, and looking at the enormous quantity of spotted spurge growing along the same path, but not yet flowering, and asked myself why I didn’t just whack them all, as the annual weeds would be killed out, while the perennial grass and clover would come back from roots.  So I got my battery-powered trimmer out and started beating the dirt, working out which direction to work in order to throw the debris away from my legs and face.  The next week, that area was still quite barren.  This week, some were starting to grow back, and I whacked them again.

          I will have to repeat all summer and reseed clover in the fall, I am sure.  Spring weeds start in the fall and winter, flowering and setting seed around the same time in the spring, allowing one to kill them out for the season with one soil-scalping before they are ripe.  Some summer annuals, like star thistle, start together in spring and can be killed out as they start to bloom in early summer.  Most summer annuals keep sprouting through the hot weather, particularly where they are watered.  Goat heads have a final flush of sprouting as the weather cools in the fall, just as heron’s bill is starting its fall sprouting season.

What does not work to kill weeds, of any sort, is cutting two inches above the ground.  They continue to spread their flowers and ripen seed below the cutting height.  Weed control is seed control, and if the plants are still flowering, they are still violating our city code, which requires that one prevents flowering, seeding and noxious growth by cutting or killing.

                             

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

What does active code enforcement look like? Letter to the City of Grants Pass

Honorable Public Servants,

I will come to the October 17th workshop if I can.  I have to make a living, so I may not be able to.  I will answer Councilor DeYoung's question about how to enforce property maintenance codes now.

What does active property maintenance enforcement look like?  It isn't a matter of "busting" anyone for a single piece of litter that has blown onto one's property--or been dropped by a passer-by.  All property codes are enforced with a 10-day written warning first, followed up on after 10 days have passed.  People generally obey an order from police when it is easy to do so. 

Regarding litter, Everett, Washington started enforcement with businesses in the mid-eighties.  A friend of ours found work cleaning up business properties shortly before I left for Grants Pass.  

In Grants Pass, I would make that businesses and vacant buildings and lots for the first 6 months.  During that period, police should start educating residents when called to their properties, pointing out that, besides violating city code, property neglect invites trespass, vandalism and burglary.  The city will, of course, train its officers on what weeds to notice, and get the Courier to inform people about the new enforcement and education measures, telling residents that they are next.

Old litter, that which is dirty, faded or slug-eaten, is a particular sign that nobody cares about a property.  So are lots of dirty cobwebs on the house and shrubbery, and flowering and seeding weeds.  (More about weeds later) 

So, any sight of litter (old or new), cobwebs or seeding weeds should bring on an oral warning from police: the property neglect lecture.  Once the city starts enforcing on residences, five examples of litter or targetted weeds should bring on a written warning with the 10-day deadline. Police can pass written warnings on to Community Service for follow-up, and enforcement if necessary.  It's pretty easy to clean up 5 things in 10 minutes, much less 10 days, and those people would be sensitized pay attention to their property.  

Large trash, like the dilapidated couch for which I was issued a written warning a few months ago, should be issued a warning on sight as a matter of course, not by complaint.  I wouldn't do away with putting good stuff out for free with a sign, a charming and useful custom I've seen only in Grants Pass, but obviously broken furniture should not be tolerated.

"5.12.060 Weeds and Noxious Growth. No owner or person in charge of any property may permit weeds or other noxious vegetation to grow upon their property. It is the duty of an owner or person in charge of property to cut down or to destroy noxious weeds or other vegetation from becoming unsightly, or from maturing or going to seed, or from becoming a fire hazard. Accumulated waste vegetation shall be disposed of in a manner so as not to create a fire hazard or spread vegetation to other properties.

"A noxious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural authority as one injurious to agriculture or horticulture, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or livestock. They grow aggressively and multiply quickly without natural controls. They displace desirable plants and contribute significantly to the spread of wildfire. The State of Oregon has developed a specific list of plants considered noxious vegetation. (Ord. 2901 §10,1960) (Ord. 15-5641, 2015)"  Grants Pass Municipal Code

What kind of weeds should draw the attention of police?  Our code forbids noxious, ugly and/or fire hazard weeds from being allowed to mature, produce seed, or become a fire hazard.  But I would not dream of trying to enforce against all such weeds at once.  Four kinds stand out for immediate enforcement: fire hazards; sticker seeds and star thistle; windblown seeds; and standing weeds in pavements.  

Fire hazards start with cheat grass, foxtails and heron's bill, all of which also produce sticker seeds.  These should be killed and removed before they make seed.  Other large annual and biennial weeds, when growing en masse, are tinder as well and must at least be cut to 2".  Owners of vacant lots should be encouraged to plant good perennial pasture grasses and clovers, which are far more fire resistant than annual weeds.  These can be cut to 6 inches.

After heron's bill, cheat and foxtails in the spring comes summertime puncture vine: AKA goat head, bull thorn, caltrops, and my favorite, tack vine.  We have a large lot full on M Street at Milhouse, and it drapes over the curb at 1080 M, a warehouse for rent, and on the north side of M just west of the Parkway.  It's all over town, mainly on vacant lots, gravel parking lots, and business properties.  Most residents don't tolerate them on their properties once they know about them, but there is one on the SW corner of I and Alder who does.  He's been told; he's been reported twice to David Reeves, who is the only person I am allowed to complain to; the plants are still draping over the corner as they flower and drop seeds, and smaller plants growing along Alder.

El Nino gave us a break this year, rotting the tack seeds where water stood on the ground, and causing a fungus in the flowers of some plants that slowed seed production in early summer.  

There are weevils that attack the stems and seeds, sold at goatheads.com.  That large lot on M would be a great host property for them to multiply and spread out all over town.  The city should ask the landowner to buy weevils instead of spraying twice a year like they've done for years.  But generally, people need to be told to cut them under the crown, sweep up any seeds that have dropped; and throw plants and seeds into the trash, not yard waste bins or Southern Oregon Compost.  Not that composting wouldn't kill them, but the seeds that get loose on the way to the compost piles could be a pain.

When I lived here in the '80s, star thistle was way out of town on neglected farms.  Now it is all over town and spreading.  It needs to be cut near ground level (not 2-6 inches) to kill it, preferably before its flowers open.  Anything that grows back should be cut again, shorter.  It is an annual; it will die when cut below the crown, where the branching starts.

Windblown seeds make it harder for the neighbors to garden and are unslightly.  People let lawns go dry and die to save on watering and mowing, but a dead or dormant lawn grows windblown weeds that grow tall flowers faster than the watered lawn grew grass.  (This is one reason why we need to reform water rates to encourage irrigation.)  Police should warn about flowering false dandelions, mares tails and wild lettuce, even groundsel in spring, each preferably before their seeds ripen.  This is why our code specifies that weeds must be cut or killed to prevent them "from becoming mature or going to seed."  

Weeds growing in cracks in pavement not only are unsightly, but are addressed separately in 

"5.12.050 Weed, Grass, Snow and Ice Removal  A. No owner or person in charge of property, improved or unimproved, abutting on a public sidewalk or right of way adjacent to a public sidewalk may permit:...C. Weeds or grass from growing or remaining on the sidewalk for a period longer than two weeks or consisting of a length greater than 6 inches."  

Start with the standing weeds.  The next year, include the prostrate ones.  Clean pavements are critical to making a town look good, and to keep our storm water clean.  Yes, the snow and ice portions should also be enforced in their season.

Speaking of which, I discovered a code I hadn't seen before, perhaps because it is not with the other Nuisances: 

"5.36.030 Debris on Streets, Sidewalks or any other Public Way

"A. It shall be prohibited to track, drag, drop, place, cause or allow to be deposited in any manner any mud, dirt, gravel, rock or other such debris upon the surface of any street, sidewalk, public way or into any part of the public storm and surface water system without authorization from the City of Grants Pass.

"B. No material shall be washed or flushed into any part of the storm and surface water system, and any such action shall be an additional violation."

I still don't see anything that requires people to clean leaves off the street in front of their properties., which would complete the job of protecting our river water under the code.

Sincerely yours,

Rycke

The Weekly Weeder: How to kill Star Thistle

          Star thistle is starting to bloom all over our town.  When I lived in Grants Pass in the ‘80s, I knew it only by reputation as a noxious weed.  It was way out in the county on neglected farms, of which there were few.  When I came back in 1999, it had taken over a field at Parkside School.   Now it is on all over vacant lots and neglected portions of business properties around town.  More and more of it grows on residential properties, particularly outside of fences and along streets. 

Cut but still flowering and gathering litter

          Star thistle is a gray-green plant with a distinctive growth habit, about a foot to 18 inches tall that has no spines except on the outside of its flower buds, but those are wicked.  When the yellow, ½ inch puffy flowers go to seed, the very sharp spines fold down around the stems and are no longer dangerous, but as long as they are blooming, they are spiny.  Mowing shortens the plant, but it continues to bloom and make seed under the mower blades if cut above the bottom branches.  The seeds do not fly on the wind, but stick to fur, clothing and mowers with their fluff and thereby spread through the winter.

Growing along a sidewalk on Agnes and N Street, railroad property

          It has very tough stems and roots and does not pull easily, even from wet ground.  It loves dry ground but also germinates and grows in watered ground, despite rumors to the contrary.  But it can easily be killed by cutting under the crown from which the initial rosette of leaves grow, and later, under the branches of flowers after the leaves die off as it flowers.  It will not branch again on the bare stem below the branches. 

          There are biological controls.  The most effective are probably goats, which eat it even when it is showing its spines.  There are also two weevils and two flies which attack the developing seeds, but they can achieve only about 50% control, and using other methods like cutting can interfere with the breeding of the control insects.

          Mowing and cutting works only if one cuts below the branching of the stems after the plant has started to bolt, or below the rosette of leaves before that.  But a sharp pair of scissors and sharp eyes are probably more efficient than using a weed whacker to beat them into submission, considering the toughness of the stems below the branches.

          Glyphosate spray (Roundup, etcetera) kills the plant but fertilizes the ground for broadleaf plants like star thistle and other weeds.  Replanting the ground afterwards with a broadleaf ground cover like clover can suck up that fertilizer and eventually stop star thistle seeds from germinating by covering the soil and out-competing it, particularly if weeded as well.

Tilling before the plants bloom and retilling after each rain can get rid of star thistle after several seasons.  If you don’t want these or other windblown seeds to invade the tilled ground, replant to a strong competitor like tall fescue grass and/or clover in the fall.

                               

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

The Weekly Weeder -- Fox tail and Cheat: Stickery fire hazards

Ripening fox tails

          Cheat and foxtails are drying out and dropping seed, but you can still reduce the number of seeds of these annual grasses infesting your landscape with quick action.  Both of these grasses have seeds that stick into socks and animal fur with barbs that make them hard to pull out the way they went in.  If nothing else, you should cut them and rake up as many seeds as you can, because they are a great fire hazard.

Fox tails dropping seeds into permeable pavement 

        Foxtails are well-known as a hazard to animals with fur, standing up straight up to about 12-15 inches with their tight brush of seeds at the top that fall off the stalk in joined pairs.  They not only stick into fur and socks; they get tracked into the house from the lawn, sticking in carpet. 

Mowed fox tails in Bermuda grass

Mowed foxtails keep growing until they seed out under the mower blades, with at least a dozen seeds per head, about half the size of unmowed foxtail seeds, an unsightly nuisance as they turn blond against the green lawn.  They stick hard into the ground with tough roots even after they dry, but can more easily be pulled out of damp ground, another good reason to water your yard.

Dry "nodding" cheat, a fire hazard next to the sidewalk

Cheat is less obvious, and many people don’t realize the source of the inch-long stickers in their socks or their pet: a tall grass, with a very loose seed head.  There are two varieties of cheat: a tall blond one with the thick stalk that stands a good three feet tall, very straight, that leaves empty shells hanging on the stalk after dropping its seeds, and a shorter, brown “nodding” variety on thin stalks that bend nearly to the ground under the weight of its very sharp seeds, hard to see against the background of other plants, and not leaving any hanging shells when the seeds fall off. 

Mass of tall dry cheat, Westholm Park

The former is the bigger fire hazard; the latter is most likely to grow in forest and to end up in your socks.  Cheat pulls relatively easily once it has begun to bloom, its one saving grace.   When mowed or in very poor soil, it can set as little as a single seed per stalk, keeping its numbers steady.

Green nodding cheat, in dry bitter cress

Foxtails and cheat start growing in fall.  The seeds are large enough to grow through several inches of mulch, but once they sprout, they can be smothered with 2” or more of compost or leaves.  They can also be easily pulled when very young.  Their color is lighter than perennial grasses.  They start blooming in April, showing which kind of grass they are, and should be pulled at that point, before they set seed and dry out.  They pull more easily when blooming than just before it.

A single dry nodding cheat

Weed control is seed control, and our city nuisance code tells up exactly when a weed becomes a nuisance: it forbids allowing weeds to mature or set seed.  Cutting these weeds before they ripen seed can reduce their seed numbers, a lot in the case of cheat; less so with foxtails, but you have to cut them repeatedly until they dry out.  Pulling plants before they drop seed is the better seed control.  It can be done more quickly than you might think. 

But if you have a lot of fox tail or cheat, your best bet may be to cut them; rake up as much as you can, and mulch them over in the fall after they sprout with 2” or more of leaves or compost, pulling any that come up through the mulch later, and plant good perennial grass in the spring, reseeding again in the fall.  It is easy to tell the annual grass from perennial by the light color and wider leaves of the annuals. Be sure to pull them young and later any that show their seed heads.

Goat heads: Trouble on the Ground

Flowering goat head, courtesy of Forrest and Kim Starr

          Goat heads have started sprouting, flowering, and setting seed over the last few weeks in the hotter places in Grants Pass where it has been allowed to grow.  Locally known as puncture vine, it is also called bull head, bull thorn, tack vine, caltrops and other names too numerous to mention.  Its Latin name is Tribulus terrestris, Trouble of the Ground. 

Ripening goat head seeds, Forrest and Kim Starr

Caltrops were weapons of war made to lame horses, from which we get the old game of jacks, and the seeds of this plant will quickly lame your horse, dog or anyone going barefoot, as well as puncturing bike and wheelbarrow tires.  Mowers spread it around on their tires as they are taken from one neglected lot to the next if the mower doesn’t get cleaned off between lots.

Goat head seeds

          It is such a trouble that it is generally not allowed to grow for long on occupied residential property, but is common around here on neglected lots, gravel parking lots, and all over our downtown core in parking medians and along sidewalks, spreading out very flat except where it piles on top of itself.  It will soon be spilling over curbs, scattering its seeds under feet and tires.  It comes up a bit later in cooler lawns and lightly shaded woodland, and grows well in thick healthy grass.

Goat heads growing in brick sidewalk.

          It grows very fast in the hottest, driest places, setting seed as soon as it starts to flatten out and spread.  Those seeds come in clumps of 5, which quickly break apart into very hard, ¼-3/8 inch three-pointed seeds that remind people of horned heads of goats or cattle.  They come from flowers that are bright yellow, ¼ inch wide, with five rounded petals.  The leaves are small and pea-like, about an inch long, divided bilaterally into about 9 leaflets.  It can start making seed at only an inch wide, but can spread out to 3 feet in every direction, with hundreds of seeds on its underside, waiting to be stepped on and carried away.  Its seeds are also spread by runoff.

It puts down a thick taproot that is hard to pull from dry ground, but you don’t have to pull the root; cutting it under its thick crown, from which its branches spread, will kill it.  Like most annual weeds, it stores no food in its root. 

Gardening scissors are best for this job, but a knife will do.  BiMart has long-bladed titanium gardening snips that don’t chip or dent when cutting weeds in gravel.

I throw these weeds in the trash, not my truck, lest I spread its loose seeds around in my travels from one customer to the next.  This is the only weed that I do not take to the composter, though it would be killed by hot composting like any other weed seed.