Twich grass help needed

[samssong]

I have taken over an allotment last year.

The grass was waste high so I covered it with old carpet to kill it off

I have just uncovered it and started to dig the plot but to my dismay the grass roots go about 15 inches down at least ,they are tangled up in a complete underground carpet and it is almost imposable to dig.

The roots do not look as though they have died off.

Am I wasting my time is there any way to get rid of this mess any advice would be appreciated.

[Mayfly182]

Twich grass, or Couch grass as I more often hear it called, is one of the worst weeds around. The roots travel huge distances underground, so it will not die off when covered as some of the same plant is bound to be outside the cover. There are only two options I know of:

- Cut it down and spray the new growth with Glyphosphate - based weedkiller. Don't get it on the leaves of other plants or you'll kill them, and don't get it on yourself or breath the spray in as it's not very good for you.

- Dig it out by hand. Most people end up doing at least some of this as the dratted stuff lurks where you can't get to it and then grows back through your stuff, and you can't spray if other stuff is growing there.

You won't get rid of it entirely either way, not in an allotment where it will lurk in hedges, grass paths or other people's allotments and grow back later. Really all you're doing is managing it.

[gnomi]

I'm afraid the best way is to manually dig up the roots then burn them. I have literally dug up tonnes of roots on out plot and continue to do so every year. To be honest, it's a job I love doing!

[melv]

I had a similar problem with twitch when I took over my allotment 7 years ago. I completely covered it with carpet and left it for a year. Any grass that poked out from the edges were sprayed with round up. I lifted the carpet and all the twitch had gone completely.