Posted on 05/17/2011 3:09:57 AM PDT by freejohn
Well, that is comparing apples to oranges.
Privet, an old popular hedge material, does get out of hand
and hard to get rid of.
See my post 39, last line...That is the devil of all plants.
“Yes. I goofed. Meant for the post to go to rightly_dividing.”
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We all get confused at times on FR ;)
Also consider other ways to control the erosion. Such as terracing, using timbers, rocks/boulders, diversions, etc.
I had good luck with a Bluegrass/ creeping red fescue grass mix underneath a large elm tree (in heavy clay soil) when I lived in central Oklahoma. Bermuda in the remainder of the lawn. Bermuda absolutely will not grow (satisfactorily) in heavy shade. The soil beneath a canopy never benefits much from rainfall so you have to be prepared to keep the area irrigated. At least the clay soil helps you out some with that!
You might also look into some of the liriopes ('Monkey grasses' as they're sometimes called.) They are quite hardy in zone 6 (Oklahoma), drought tolerant, semi-evergreen, will hold the soil well when they're established and do well in shade. Another plus is that you can set the mower to a high setting & mow them off to make fall leaf collection easier.
Yeah, I used to mountain bike along an old logging road where there was an overgrowth of kudzu. I swear after a rain you could hear that stuff growing. Kudzu has about 82% sugar content. I’m surprised no one has come up with a way to farm it and make ethanol or cattle feed out of it. Seems like it would be way more lucrative than switch grass or corn ethanol, given how fast it grows.
“My problem is being on a hill. Erosion has taken dirt from under the trees”
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Be careful on adding dirt to any long exposed roots.
You may invite disease that could kill the tree.
It might be better to just block the erosion path and add
fast growing ground covers.
Consult an arborist before covering any exposed roots.
“Seems like it would be way more lucrative than switch grass or corn ethanol, given how fast it grows.”
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Yea, one would think, but it is so fast and prolific, I do not know how one would control the growth, much less harvest it.
I once had a patch invade my farm at the entrance.
It was impossible to control, and harvesting it
would be a nightmare.
I think the fiber density would be quite low, making
it a fuel crop very impractical, but I could be wrong.
I have not seen it growing on a flat open field, which would be necessary for harvesting.
Oh, yeah, it'll grow on flat fields. It's all over south Georgia. Ain't no mountains or hillsides down there......
Our lawn was St. Augustine when we bought the house. I've thought about going with native buffalo. There are several patches of it on the edge of my lot. It can look dead as ever, get a one inch rain and be green within a few days.
Thanks, I was suspecting that covering roots may be a problem.
Its all relative. Depends on the region of the country. Down here in FL, St. Augustine is considered the grass of choice, up north its a weed. All depends on what, overall, grows best in your area.
Thanks, I appreciate all help. It is terraced already in trouble areas. The dirt areas below the trees are a source of erosion and an eyesore. I like the trees but don’t like the exposed roots because there is just enough grass to require mowing, and mowing and roots are not very compatable. We had monkey grass in our hometown home. Boy it would spread if allowed to, but that may be an idea, plant monkey grass between the roots. There is a plant called cast iron plant that does well under tress and spreads which also may help.
You can only try to smoke it if you are a Libertarian in the Bermuda triangle.
Nothing. Weathers nice, scenery too. Great place to stash your older brother if he runs off with a Nazi sympathizing trollop and you need him out of Europe until the wars over.
We call it a weed because it spreads like mad and crowds out the better grasses that we prefer. I’ve played lots of golf in the South, and I certainly don’t mind playing on Bermuda grass. It makes for a different game, and variety is always good. When I see it on the bent grass fairways at my home club, however, I start to growl. We ask members at our club who have second homes in Florida to have dedicated “Florida golf shoes” that stay in Florida and are never worn on our home course.
Thank you for the info.
Anyway: isn't gypsum itself acidic and will contribute to acidity in the soil?
I put gypsum in my clay soil and it is not conducive to low-acid tolerant plants, like Lantana.
I highly recommend the Lariopes for dealing with hillside erosion. Our house in Annapolis sits on a hill with a severe slope about 10 feet down to the water. The trees along that hillside are having the same problem — soil eroding out from below and roots exposed. We have embarked on a major hillside stabilization project, adding dirt around the trees and using Lariope to control the erosion. It works. The hillside is much more stable than it was a few years ago. I don’t know the type of Lariope we use (Frau Blau would know that), but it only grows to about 6 or 7 inches, and, for a border off the lawn, that is fine, so no cutting is necessary. The Lariope is also highly tolerant of shade.
Thank you for that suggestion. I have been looking online at them and it looks like that may help us out. I hope that we can find a local source for them. I emailed my wife and she said that may be the plants that she has been seeing near her job that she likes.
Exactly right. It has gotten into my herb garden and is a pain in the neck figuratively and literally to get rid of.
They are used a lot to delineate the boundaries of planted areas on office campuses and are often planted in clumps in shady spots.
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