How to destroy the cow parsnip forever

Even 30-40 years ago, breeders were breeding new varieties of hogweed, today many scientific minds are struggling with the problem of exterminating this plant. Why the cow parsnip has become unnecessary and even dangerous, how to destroy the cow parsnip, and what you definitely shouldn’t do – all the answers in this article.

Varieties of hogweed

Today, several varieties of the plant are known, but Sosnovsky’s hogweed is considered the most dangerous for humans. This plant is characterized by a height of up to four meters, huge white inflorescences in the form of umbrellas, sweeping leaves and thick hollow stems.

Everything would be fine, such a giant plant even looks very decorative, but, as it turned out, Sosnovsky’s hogweed is very dangerous for human health. It’s all about the juice of this plant, which causes real chemical burns.

Getting on the skin of a person, the weed juice at first does not manifest itself. But as soon as this area of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe skin is illuminated by the sun, terrible blisters and a strong burning sensation will appear. It turned out that Sosnovsky’s hogweed juice is phototoxic, that is, it becomes aggressive only under the influence of ultraviolet radiation.

In a thick shade or in a dark room, the skin is washed with running water and soapy foam, wiped with alcohol or potassium permanganate. It is better not to go out in the sun for several days, since the juice is active for 72 hours.

Weed Features

The destruction of Sosnovsky’s hogweed is quite justified, because this plant is poisonous and dangerous to humans. But why do people fight on their plots with other types of hogweed, because it is quite decorative and can decorate the dacha no worse than exotic flowers?

Fact is that Initially, the cow parsnip was even selected, they tried to breed different varieties, to enhance the natural qualities of this plant. In Soviet times, it was assumed that the weed could cope with several important tasks at once:

1. Serve as feed for cattle, pigs and goats. The growth rate of the hogweed stem is up to 10 cm per day, which allows you to get tons of green fodder in a very short time.
2. A dense wall of thick stems was supposed to protect roads and major highways from cattle – the cows could not pass through the thickets of the old woody weed, so they did not impede the movement of vehicles.
3. Sosnovsky’s hogweed and all other species of this plant process exhaust gases very efficiently, returning pure oxygen to the atmosphere. Scientists of the Soviet period believed that dense plantings of hogweed along roadsides would be able to neutralize toxic exhaust gases, so the plant was planted along highways simply in huge quantities.
4. Chopped stems and leaves of the weed can become an excellent fertilizer, the quality and composition of which is compared with cow dung. The root system of the plant additionally saturates the earth with nitrogen – after the hogweed on the site, you can grow a bountiful harvest of any crops.

And at first, the plant performed all these tasks very successfully. But phenomenal vitality and just a huge amount of seeds made hogweed so common that other plants simply could not grow – hogweed clogs all plants, both weeds and cultivated.

And there are much fewer cows in the country: now there is no one to regulate the amount of this plant. Given that one plant produces up to 70 thousand seeds per season, and taking into account the exceptional germination of these seeds, it can be argued that it is extremely difficult to deal with hogweed. And a person has to do it.

Strengths and weaknesses of the plant

To learn how to get rid of hogweed on the site, you need to understand its features. So, weed has such strong qualities:

1. Flowers can be pollinated by insects, or they can produce seeds without pollination, since hogweed is a self-pollinating plant.
2. Frosts do not kill the seeds, but make them even stronger, as this plant loves stratification. After severe winter frosts, seed germination increases dramatically.
3. Hogweed is a very strong and fast growing plant – other crops have no chance next to tall and powerful bushes.
4. A weed will grow for as many years as it takes for it to plant its seeds. That is, until the plant continues the genus, it will not die. One bush can grow in one place up to 15 years.
5. Bushes do not propagate from the roots – the plant is an annual. But, if you cut the stem, the basal buds will wake up, and the hogweed will be reborn.
6. Seeds remain viable after five and fifteen years of dormancy.
7. Small seeds are easily transported over vast distances by rivers, wind, birds and animals. The appearance of cow parsnip is possible even in those areas where it has never been before.
8. Hogweed umbrellas, cut even in an unripe state, are able to ripen and produce well-germinated seeds. The only way to destroy seeds at any stage of their development is by fire.

All this complicates the process of getting rid of the dacha from the hogweed. But fortunately the plant has several weak points, such as:

• the plant does not like areas with stagnant water;
• like any plant, it needs sunlight to develop;
• the plant that gave flowers and seeds will certainly die;
• cow parsnip does not reproduce by rhizomes;
• grass roots are at a depth of about 30 cm – they can be reached;
• seeds will not be able to germinate under a 30 cm layer of soil or under thick mulch.

Important! To effectively combat hogweed, you need to use several of its “weaknesses” at once. After all, for example, you can cut the stems of a weed, but buds will immediately blossom on its roots. If you destroy the rhizome, the seeds will definitely remain in the ground. It is necessary to take comprehensive measures to combat.

How to get rid of cow parsnip in the country

To permanently remove this grass from the site, you will have to work hard. It is unlikely that this will be done in one season – you will have to monitor the condition of the site for at least a couple of years.

There are several methods of weed control:

• chemical;
• agrotechnical;
• biological;
• mechanical.

It is necessary to consider each of the methods in more detail.

Chemical control method

In forests and steppes, it is customary to remove hogweed using a substance such as Roundup. The composition is simply drawn into a large syringe and each plant is given an “injection”. In a few days, the cow parsnip will die, but its seeds from previous seasons will remain in the ground. That’s why for a few more years, you need to monitor the site and remove young shoots.

A safe substitute for herbicides is diesel fuel; on its basis, a folk method of weed control has been created. Diesel fuel is drawn into the syringe and “shots” are also made to the hogweed. It must be remembered that the best time for “injections” is May or early June, while the weed stems are young and not stiff. Later, you can try to prick the hogweed into the sepals.

Agrotechnics on a plot with weeds

One of the most effective ways to destroy hogweed in a summer cottage is to mulch the soil. It is best to mulch in early spring when the seeds have not yet emerged. But you can use the mulch later, but first you have to cut or mow the grass at the root.

Ordinary mulch in the form of sawdust or straw is harmless for hogweed – this plant is too strong. In this case, you will have to use a thick and dense black polyethylene film, its thickness must be at least 100 micrometers.

The film is spread over the entire area and additionally pressed with boards, earth or construction waste. If this is not done, the weed stalks will lift the cover and damage it, because they are very strong.

Active weed seeds will still remain in the soil, but young plants are much easier to deal with – they are easily pulled out of the ground along with the root. It is good to sow a cleared area of ​​​​one of the lawn grasses so that they clog the young shoots of the weed.

Mechanical cleaning

This method is the most time consuming, but also quite effective. Hogweed in this case is removed manually or with a shovel – large areas cannot be processed alone.

This tool is reliable, but applicable only to young plants. The roots and stem of a perennial weed are so strong that even an ax will not break them, let alone a shovel.

Young shoots can be pulled out by hand, but the stems are fragile and break easily. Therefore, it is better to remove the weed after rain or after watering the site.

Young shoots must be cut with a shovel, capturing 15-20 cm of the underground part of the plant. So you can remove dormant hogweed buds. But after a couple of weeks, you need to control the process – the cow parsnip can start up new shoots.

If the weed is already blooming, you can try to deceive it. It is known that the main task of the cow parsnip is to give offspring. If you do not completely remove the “heads” of the inflorescences, but only cut off the tops of the umbrellas on which the seeds are located, the plant will “think” that its mission has been completed and will safely die itself.

Cut seeds must be burned.

Results

With how to bring out the cow parsnip, everything is more or less clear – it is quite difficult to do this. It is much easier to take preventive measures: do not import soil from infected areas, do not use river water for irrigation, remove single bushes, preventing their reproduction.

If it turned out that a hogweed plantation bloomed in the spring at the purchased dacha, you will have to throw all your strength into the fight against this weed: at the same time make injections, dig up the roots along with the ground and burn the seeds. If you are unsuccessfully getting rid of weeds in your dacha, watch this video: