Do be careful using Kurtail.

If I understand correctly, it contains Agent Orange, which was used in the Vietnam war and is VERY nastly indeed.

Just reading the directions frightened me to death.

I was having an interesting chat the other day with somebody who sprays crops for a living with weedkiller. He mentioned black grass as being a particular problom in many fields of cereals; unchecked it could reduce yields by up to 50% and therefore has to be controlled. I was not familar with the n...

It sounds a daft questions, but what is the exact role that ditches play? The most obvious observation is that they are meant to collect water. But from where? Is it run off from fields? If so, why wouldn't a farmer want to keep the water in the field itself; after all, crops need moisture. In winte...

I want to come back to this topic after watching an episode of Beechgrove Garden last week. The presenters were discussing problems with John Innes seed compost, suggesting there was a problem with it to such an extent that they are experimenting with a new mix on the programme to get better results...

Yes, there was a blight warning here in Kent, too. Interesting. The weather was perfect for it, so I rushed down to the plot in the rain and earthed everything up that I could. There has always been a reference to "early blight" as if this is different to normal blight. Is there any differ...

Hi Johnboy, A friend of mine, who had done an OU science degree suggested it. Compost activators are something of a nuclear option, though; they kill all plant matter that is sprayed and make it impossible to use the land for around three months. The good news is that they are not toxic in any way a...

Robo,

I had a look at the Agrigem webpage and had a look at Pearl.

I can't work out the dilution rates, but AS is cheaper, at 200g per litre dilution.

Pearl also needs multiple applications according to the notes; AS kills everything and then becomes fertiliser!

http://mistralni.co.uk/collections/fron ... sulphamate

Perhaps with normal weedkiller, but a compost activator is simply absorbed by spraying on to a normal plant surface. Why?

Normal weedkiller tends not to kill marestail, apparently because marestail is coated in silicon, which prevents the weedkiller being absorbed through the plant's surface area. However, if you spray marestail with a compost activator, such as ammonium sulfamate, you spray the outside of the plant, s...

It's horse, isn't it? What gave it away was the furry nature of the material that I keep finding in the multi-purpose compost. It must be horse tail, or possibly donkey. The reason why hooved animals are probably inside the bag is because they have tried sneaking ungulates in meat products and that ...

Where do Lidl buy their pears? Pears, as most of you know, are generally picked and sold slightly under ripe, but then ripen, usually when our backs are turned, so that when we return, they are over ripe. But when you catch them just right, they are delicious. So what is Lidl doing to its pears? I b...

Hi Westi, I have lots of creativity, I'm just not very good at DIY. However, because I am not time constrained this year, I can experiement a bit with my fruit cage. Behind it, I am going to build a brassica pen. It won't be walk in, but will be better than the crawl in example I had at my old plot....

Hi Westi, Jersey Royals being the obvious best example. I wonder how many of the spuds available in supermarkets are actually grown in the sands of Egypt. A lot I suspect. They import seed potatoes and fertiliser and then use the sand as a clean growing medium. Sadly, while the spuds look great, the...

I'm all over the place since leaving my last house and allotment. Nothing is in the right place and doing anything takes twice as long, since I am having to think about it I don't have a green house, so my whole sowing and planting chain has gone to pot (excuse pun). In former years, I would now hav...

At my new house, I don't have a greenhouse, something which is causing me a headache. I have ordered a coldframe, which should arrive this week, but I am having a rotten time trying to harden off certain plants, which at my previous house would have either been sown indoors or in the greenhouse, the...