How large of a diameter should the weed/sod free zone should be? I currenly have a 4 foot diameter mulched in with hay. Soon to be wood chips. I weed wacked and scalped the sod another 2 foot diameter and spread out 12-12-12. It rained after I spread out the fertile.
It would be nice if the ground were were sod free and loose but its not. I was thinking I could rototill up a couple inches deep but now I’m thinking a herbicide would better. What would you suggest, if a herbicide which one?
Those are good questions JLC. I read your post here early this morning and decided to take a few pics of my weed free zone on my peaches yesterday with my phone.
So my spray boom for under the trees is about 6’, perhaps a little more. And the sprays fan out a little more than the boom.
Here are a couple rows of peaches. You can tell where I’ve sprayed up the row.
My little spray boom is about 6’ long I believe, but the fan nozzles spray about 7’. So the full spray swath is about 14’ counting both sides.
Here is another photo of some young bush cherries. You can see more clearly the spray swath.
One thing to be cognizant of is that if the ground around your peach tree doesn’t drain well, then wood chip mulch can actually hold more water, exacerbating the problem of soggy roots. I’m a big fan of mulch, but that can be a downside of it.
There are several options for herbicides. Glyphosate can be used as a good kill down. Just make certain you don’t spray the trunk, or get any overspray on the foliage. It’s also best not to use glyphosate later in the summer when the trees are starting to store more energy in the roots.
If you don’t want to use glyphosate, you can use glufosinate (i.e. Liberty) along with a pre-emergent. Some pre-emergents have a lengthy PHI, so check that first. Alion doesn’t have a PHI on apples and stone fruits, but it’s pretty pricey.
Cheaper options are Chateau, and Sinbar, but again check labels for PHIs.
For grasses, you can use Poast or Clethodim. They are very safe to use around fruit trees since they selectively target grasses only. Again check Pre-Harvest Intervals.
Thank You for the comprehensive answer and pictures. I have more studying to do.
