FOR THE LOVE OF WEEDS
– WHY WEEDS ARE OUR FRIENDS.
Weed control – natural or otherwise – is the topic about I get asked the most – by a country mile. To find a solution that is most appropriate for your individual situation let’s start at the beginning – what is a weed? A weed is a plant that grows where it is not wanted. It is not a bad plant per se. Nothing in Nature happens without a reason or in a vacuum. There is always an underlying reason why certain plants appear in certain places. Once we understand those reasons the solution usually presents itself.
The majority of our soils are sick and out of balance. Soil tries to heal and rebalance itself constantly – from acidic to more alkaline, from compacted to more cohesive, from bacterial dominant to fungal dominant. And it does so with the help of plants.
All plants that appear are there to support the soil in that healing process. The weeds are the helpers, the symptom, not the problem.
Plants come up in succession to heal the soil by improving its soil biology. While doing so they balance the pH, improve the soil carbon content and repair other ecological cycles. They prepare the soil for the next group of plants and on it goes in an ever-evolving process. Hence the names pioneer, colonising or succession plants instead of weeds.
What is going on above ground is always a reflection of what is going on below ground as plants mirror the state of health of the underlying soil biology. So the root problem is the imbalance and lack of soil biology/soil organic matter – never the plant. The plant is just the symptom – the result of what is going on below ground.
Sunlight is the most potent antibiotic on the planet. When soil is uncovered sunlight kills soil biology within minutes. That is why we aim for 100% soil cover 100% of the time. If we don’t have plant cover mulching is the second best option. The first plants returning after soil disturbance are flatweeds – plants with wide, flat leaves – like dandelion, capeweed or cat’s ears (aka false dandelion or common flatweed).
Flatweeds are the soil’s bandaid to cover itself from the sunlight, its very own sun protection. Initially when flatweeds appear on bare soil they grow in a tight rosette very close to the ground, protecting the soil and young sprouting seedlings from the light.
ONCE THE NEW PLANTS BECOME STRONGER THE FLATWEEDS START LIFTING THEIR LEAVES MAKING ROOM FOR THOSE NEW PLANTS. THEY MIGHT HANG AROUND FOR A BIT LONGER WHILE THEIR TAPROOT IS STILL NEEDED TO BREAK OPEN THE COMPACTED SOIL. ONCE THE SOIL BECOMES MORE FUNGAL DOMINANT AND THE COMPACTION SLOWLY RECEDES THE NUMBER OF FLATWEEDS WILL SLOWLY DECREASE AND THEY BECOME PART OF THE OVERALL BIODIVERSITY.
So imagine those flatweeds get removed in any way. The sunlight will deplete the soil biology even further and the soil will struggle to sustain any ‘wanted’ plants even more. The perfect reason for the soil to grow even more flatweeds to keep protecting itself – and more flatweeds is what you get. The ever vicious cycle of weeds, weed removal, more weeds and more weed removal has started. Imagine they even get sprayed with a chemical herbicide, the soil biology gets depleted even more and the result will be even more flatweeds. How about letting the flatweeds help us and let them do their job to cover the bare ground? We can then improve soil biology from there.
I recently reduced a large area of capeweed and replaced it with a wide variety of herbs and grasses by casting out compost (for soil organic matter and food for soil biology) mixed with some mulch (for sun cover) by hand – once. I did not kill the capeweed, I just removed their ideal growing conditions and reason for them to be there by feeding and strengthening soil biology simply by providing extra soil organic matter and some cover. I never lost my precious ground cover in the process.
The natural soil repair by plants can only ever work if we support those plants by changing our management that caused the unwanted plants – aka weeds – to appear in the first place.
CAPEWEED OFTEN GROWNS IN AREAS OF HIGH DISTURBANCE, FOR EXAMPLE WHERE LIVESTOCK CONGREGATES, LANEWAYS, GATEWAYS AND SHELTERED AREAS. IF WE CANNOT OR DON’T WANT TO PREVENT LIVESTOCK FROM ENTERING THAT AREA WE MIGHT HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THE CAPEWEED. I ALWAYS PREFER CAPEWEED – OR ANY OTHER PLANT FOR THAT MATTER – TO BARE SOIL.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE IS THE FABULOUS THISTLE. I LOVE THISTLES – THEIR WORK IN SOIL IMPROVEMENT IS OUTSTANDING. THISTLES THRIVE ON HARD, COMPACTED AND BARE SOILS THAT LACK MINERALS, ESPECIALLY MAGNESIUM. WITH THEIR TAPROOTS THEY GO DEEP INTO THE GROUND, BREAK UP COMPACTION AND DRAW UP THOSE PRECIOUS MINERALS. The core problem here is the lack of minerals in the upper layer of the soil – the thistle just being the healer and the symptom. If they are removed or even sprayed without taking care of the deficiency, the ground has no choice but to bring up even more thistles next year to compensate for the mineral deficit and the vicious cycle of plant removal, more plants, even more removal resulting in even more plants is on its merry way.
ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION MIGHT LIE IN THE PLANT ITSELF. THE THISTLE CONTAINS THE MINERALS THE SOIL CRAVES. SO HOW ABOUT FEEDING THE PLANT BACK TO THE SOIL? ONE WAY IS TO BRUSH-CUT THEM TO PULP AND LET THAT PESTO DECOMPOSE RIGHT THERE – OR TO CHOP AND DROP. IF DONE SO CONSISTENTLY, THERE WILL BE NOTICEABLY FEWER THISTLES NEXT YEAR.
Thistles, like a lot of other ‘weeds’, thrive on acidic soils. Healthy soil biology will improve the pH and thus remove the ideal growing conditions for thistles, bracken and many others. How about killing them with kindness by strengthening and rebalancing soil biology?
One way to do this could be to spread hay and short-graze, or to spread compost with some mulch. This will turn the soil conditions hostile to acidity-loving plants and will change the plant profile to a more preferred one. The reduction of weeds being a side effect, not the main focus. Regeneration at its best. There is more information about rebalancing soil biology in my article ‘How To Heal Our Soil’.
The lesson here – again – is to understand first what is going on below ground to determine the response. The answer is always to support soil biology rather than fighting what is going on above ground. The solution is soil organic matter, soil organic matter and more soil organic matter – and ground coverage. If there are no plants, mulch is the second best thing.
I quite often get asked: “If the thistles indicate my soil being low in magnesium, why don’t I just spread magnesium – let’s say dolomite?” There are several reasons why that doesn’t work. Firstly, magnesium is there, it just recedes further down into the ground and cannot get absorbed by the plants due to the lack of soil biology. Secondly, we need soil biology – and its habitat soil organic matter – to process what we spread. The soil biology is clearly not sufficient – otherwise the soil would not be so poor that thistles would grow in the first place. So if we don’t have sufficient soil biology to process our input it will wash off and enter our waterways where it wrecks havoc with all aquatic life further downstream.
And before we start looking into feeding soil biology, we first need to stop or at least reduce all activities that are destroying it. One of them is plant removal – chemical or otherwise.
Joel Salatin says that seeds survive in the ground for around 1000 years. It makes sense then that no amount of spraying or mechanical removal can control an outbreak of weeds. Only improvement of soil biology can. The seeds of the thistle will always be there, but they will not develop as long as the soil is fungal dominant, aka healthy. Establishing soil conditions where weeds and their healing properties are not required makes sense. Ultimately improving soil biology and providing it with ample habitat – soil organic matter – is the best weed control. Healing the root cause, not tinkering with the symptoms.
Hippocrates said – let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Herbaceous plants don’t only have medicinal effects on the soil but also on the animals grazing them.
Animals lack the same nutrients as the soil on which they are grazing. Therefore, if the plant is beneficial for the soil it is generally beneficial for the animals, too. We all have seen animals chewing on wood which is a sign for mineral deficiency. The older the plant, the more mineral-rich the sap becomes. Any perennial plant with woody stems is richer in minerals than annual grass species. Animals chew on wood to top up their mineral levels. You find an entire chapter about minerals in my book ‘Radical Soil Care’.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES HOW HERBS – SOME MIGHT STILL CALL WEEDS – IMRPOVE THE NUTRIENT PROFILE OF PASTURE. SELF-HEAL OR ALL-HEAL, BOTANICAL NAME PRUNELLA VULGARIS, CONTAINS HIGH LEVELS OF ALL B VITAMINS, PLUS VITAMIN C AND K. IT IS AN ANTIOXIDANT AND HAS ANTISEPTIC PROPERTIES. Plantain contains high levels of minerals like potassium, magnesium and trace elements like selenium, silica, sulphur and zinc. Combine those plants with some chicory, again with many vitamins and minerals, which also have some ani-inflammatory properties, add some dandelion with all B vitamins and again vitamin C and boron and zinc. Plus add a bit of purslane – pigweed – providing the highest bioavailable omega 3 content in the plant world. Such a diverse paddock provides your livestock a with a wide range of nutrients, offering an entire pharmacy for soil and animals, giving the animals the opportunity to self-medicate.
THEN THERE IS WHAT MANY PERCEIVE TO BE THE CURSE OF HORSE PADDOCKS – THE DOCK. WHAT A FABULOUS PLANT!!!! DOCKLEAVES, WHICH ARE HIGHLY PALATABLE WHEN YOUNG, HAVE AN ANTI-INFALMMATORY EFFECT. THEY ALSO CONTAIN CHEMICALS THAT KILL PARASITES, BACTERIA AND FUNGI IN THE GUT. Dock breaks open compacted soil and it grows when some minerals, especially magnesium, potassium, sulphur and iron are very high, often high salinity is present, too. This is often caused by past use of super phosphate, dewormers and other medications plus additives in highly processed horsefeed. The use of mineral blocks with ingredients that are not bioavailable also contribute to the problem. When it is not good for the soil it cannot be good for the animal. Ever. More information about minerals can be found in my article ‘Minerals Every Day Keep The Doctor Away’ or in my book ‘Radical Soil Care’.
I recently visited a beautiful horse property where there was a large patch of water-repellent, very salty soil. “What happened here?” I asked the owner. “Oh, this is where I pulled out all the dock because I don’t like the look of it.” Ooookkaaaayy…
Ultimately improving soil health is the best weed control. Ideally we have a small amount of any plant as part of our biodiversity on our paddocks. My grandfather said that healthy pasture contains at least 70 plant species. How about using our animals to renovate our pasture and ecosystem? The by far superior way to improve soil health and reduce ‘weeds’ is renovating our pasture with grazing management – find more details in my article ‘Renovating Soil And Pasture With Grazing Management’.