BIOLOGICAL WEED CONTROL

Using nature to tackle weeds is a fundamental piece of the Integrated Weed Management puzzle and Biological control is more than just introducing bio-herbicides.

Natural Processes

Weeds are plants that are growing in the wrong place. The most important thing to understand is why a plant has grown where it has. All plants need water, light and nutrients to grow. If we can disrupt any of these then the plant will not be able to survive. Further understanding of natural processes such as the soil cycle and plant lifecycle allows us to plan preventative and remedial work and time them most effectively. In so doing we can greatly reduce the number of treatments required in a year, the cost of treatments and the carbon required for treatments to take place.

Plant Choices

The right plant in the right place is a great ethos for Integrated Weed Management. Weeds will irrupt into bare soil, whether the soil is meant to be there or not. In soft landscapes, we must ensure that we have chosen a desirable plant to fill any bare soil, or we should expect weeds to take their place. On hard surfaces we should ensure there is no soil to populate.

Choosing appropriate species in order to crowd out weeds, while reducing detritus and maintenance operations as much as possible is key to making weed management a cost effective activity.

Bio-Herbicides

Some things in nature, such as certain fungi and bacteria can act as natural pesticides. More and more interest is emerging in this field, providing solutions from nature to help us eradicate certain types of weed by introducing natural predators.

Bio-herbicides can be selectively used to eradicate certain populations of plant in an area while leaving other plants undamaged. These techniques can be used to effectively supplement the other techniques outlined in this document. Of course it is also possible to integrate synthetic herbicides within this strategy too.

For more information, check out our page on Integrated Weed Management for Amenity Page.