JP7530665B2 - Weeding Method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for removing weeds that can be used in a wide range of fields, and more specifically, to a method for removing weeds that occur in, for example, parks, gardens, vacant lots, golf driving ranges, flower beds (and other flower beds where weeds grow) and median strips along roads, land owned by cities or the state, etc.

Conventionally, weeds that have appeared in parks, gardens, vacant lots, etc. have been cut by workers using a lawnmower, but this work is time-consuming and burdensome. Even if the grass is cut, if the roots remain in the ground, new shoots will appear and the weeds will grow again, so it is necessary to cut the grass repeatedly. Furthermore, weeds grow in an instant when it rains.
In view of this, for example, a method for growing ground cover plants and a ground cover plant mat that prevent the growth of weeds have been proposed, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1. Specifically, this is a technology for growing vegetation by laying a shading sheet on the soil to cover it, laying a vegetation net on top of it to cover the soil, and then planting ground cover plants thereon.

JP 2011-10566 A JP 2016-21905 A

However, in the method of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to lay a shading sheet on the soil and then lay a vegetation net on top of it, which makes the work difficult and also requires the preparation of the shading sheet and vegetation net, which is costly.
Furthermore, Patent Document 2 describes the use of herbicides to remove weeds, but problems with herbicides include their short effective period and toxicity.

The present invention was made in consideration of these circumstances, and aims to provide a weed control method that can suppress the growth of weeds in a simple manner and improve the environmental and aesthetic qualities over the long term.

A weeding method according to a first aspect of the present invention that achieves the above object is a weeding method that suppresses the emergence of weeds from soil, comprising the steps of:
A grass-cutting process for cutting weeds that have grown in the soil to a height equal to or less than a predetermined height;
A weeding process in which a liquid herbicide is sprayed when new weed sprouts appear after the mowing process;
a planting step of scattering small pieces A (germinated material A) consisting of one or more of leaves, stems, and roots of a plant of the genus Rosea or a ground cover plant on the soil surface after the weeding step is performed to kill the weeds;
After the planting step, when the plants grown from the small pieces A on the soil surface reach a predetermined height, the plants are cut with a grass cutter and broken into small pieces B (sprouts (germinated bodies) B) to be dispersed, and the small pieces B are allowed to grow further to cover the entire surface of the soil, in a covering step.
Here, it is preferable that the mowing step and the weeding step are repeatedly carried out until the weeds wither.

This weeding method is in accordance with the SDGs.
Conventionally, mowing is done twice a year using a mower or brush cutter, but with this method, for example, mowing (later weeding) is done only once, and from the next year, only weeding is required instead of mowing. In other words, only the work of supporting the reproduction of plants is required. Note that the transition to weeding may take about three years, rather than the next year, depending on the sunlight and weather conditions.
In this way, the weed-free condition can be maintained by simple tasks such as weeding and watering, which could provide work for people with physical disabilities or Down's syndrome, for example.
Moreover, there is no need to use grass cutters or brush cutters that use gasoline and other fuels, as in the past, and there is no need to use blades, making this a method that is perfectly suited to the era of SDGs.
Furthermore, the weeding method requires only application of a herbicide (implementation of a weeding process) once a year, allowing the work to be carried out efficiently.
Even when it is not possible to use herbicides, weeds can be removed with a little effort, as in the weeding method of the second invention described below.

A weeding method according to a second aspect of the present invention that achieves the above object is a weeding method for suppressing the emergence of weeds from soil, comprising the steps of:
A watering step of watering the weeds that have emerged from the soil;
a weeding step in which the water is heated in the sun after the watering step and spread to the roots of the weeds;
a planting step of scattering small pieces A (germinated material A) consisting of one or more of leaves, stems, and roots of a plant of the genus Rosea or a ground cover plant on the soil surface after the weeding step is performed to kill the weeds;
After the planting step, when the plants grown from the small pieces A on the soil surface reach a predetermined height, the plants are cut with a grass cutter and broken into small pieces B (sprouts (germinated bodies) B) to be dispersed, and the small pieces B are allowed to grow further to cover the entire surface of the soil, in a covering step.

The weeding method according to the first invention involves cutting weeds that have emerged from the soil to a predetermined height or below (i.e., after carrying out the mowing process), and then spraying a liquid herbicide when new weed sprouts appear (i.e., carrying out the weeding process).Therefore, for example, it is possible to kill weeds efficiently with good workability without having to spray the liquid herbicide excessively multiple times.
In addition, the weeding method according to the second invention, instead of using a herbicide (performing the grass-cutting step and the weeding step), sprays water on weeds that have emerged from the soil (after performing the watering step), and then heats the sprayed water in the sun to hot water, which then reaches the roots of the weeds (performing the weeding step), thereby making it possible to kill weeds while reducing the impact on the environment.
In the weeding methods of the first and second inventions, after killing weeds by the above-mentioned method, pieces A consisting of one or more of the leaves, stems, and roots of a plant of the genus Romanophyte or a ground cover plant are scattered on the soil surface (the planting step is carried out), and when the plants that grow from these pieces A reach a predetermined height, the plants are cut with a grass cutter to break them into small pieces, and the pieces B are dispersed, and the plants are allowed to grow further until they cover the entire surface of the soil (the covering step is carried out), so that the soil surface can be covered with plants (ground cover) efficiently and with good workability.
As a result, plants grow densely on the soil surface with no gaps between them, making it difficult for sunlight to reach the soil surface. Even if weed seeds or the like are present on the soil surface, the growth of weeds can be suppressed.
Therefore, it is possible to suppress the growth of weeds in a simple manner, and to improve the environmental and aesthetic qualities over the long term.

1A to 1F are explanatory diagrams of a weeding method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Next, with reference to the attached drawings, an embodiment of the present invention will be described for understanding the present invention.
As shown in Figures 1 (A) to (F), the weeding method according to one embodiment of the present invention is a method for suppressing the emergence of weeds 11 from soil 10, and is a method for improving the environmental friendliness and scenery over the long term by sequentially carrying out a mowing step, a weeding step, a planting step, and a covering step, and tightly covering the entire surface 13 of the soil 10 with plants 12.
The following provides a detailed explanation.

(Grass cutting process)
The mowing process is a process in which weeds 11 that have emerged from soil 10 shown in FIG. 1(A) are cut to a predetermined height or below using, for example, a mower or a sickle, as shown in FIG. 1(B).
The location of the soil 10 may be, for example, a park, a garden, a vacant lot, etc., and is not particularly limited as long as it is a place where weeds 11 grow, and may be flat ground or a slope.
If the weeds 11 emerging from this soil 10 are left overgrown without being mowed, as shown in Fig. 1(A), and a liquid herbicide is sprayed in the weeding process described below, only the upper parts of the weeds 11 that have been sprayed with the herbicide will wither, leaving the other parts to remain. Therefore, in order to kill all of the weeds 11, it is necessary to spray the herbicide multiple times at intervals, which is both inefficient and economical.

Therefore, in the present invention, the weeds 11 are cut to a predetermined height or less, as shown in FIG. 1(B).
Here, the predetermined height may be any height that allows the liquid herbicide sprayed in the weeding step described below to be evenly distributed over each weed, and is, for example, 10 cm or less, preferably 5 cm or less, and more preferably 3 cm or less. By this mowing, the mowed weeds are brought into a state where they protrude from the soil surface to a predetermined height or less, but they do not have to protrude from the soil surface (they may be unavoidably pulled out of the soil during mowing).
Moreover, trimming does not necessarily mean that all the weeds that are cut are the same height, but rather it is sufficient that they are below a predetermined height (within the above-mentioned range of the predetermined height).

(Weeding process)
The weeding process is a process in which, after the above-mentioned mowing process, a liquid herbicide is sprayed among the weeds that have been cut to a predetermined height or less when new weed sprouts appear.
Weed sprouts appear, for example, when rain falls on the soil 10 after the above-mentioned mowing step, but they may also be generated by watering.
Specifically, liquid herbicides to be sprayed on weeds are foliage treatment agents (not soil treatment agents), and include glyphosate-based and glufosinate-based herbicides, but glyphosate-based herbicides are preferable because they are absorbed and translocated (to the foliage), and therefore have the effect of killing not only the leaves but also the underground stems and roots of weeds that they come into contact with, which is why they are effective. In other words, it is not enough to just spray herbicides; they are only effective if they are sprayed directly on the new shoots of weeds.

In addition, since the herbicide is a liquid, if it rains it will run off and will not be able to kill the weeds. Therefore, it is preferable to spray the herbicide only after checking, for example, the weather forecast to make sure that the weather will be fine (without rain) for at least 2 to 3 days (preferably 1 week) after spraying the herbicide.
After the herbicide is sprayed, it is left for a preset period of time.
Here, the preset period refers to a period for obtaining the effect of the herbicide, for example, the period until the roots wither (until weeds no longer grow from the soil). Specifically, it may be about 1 to 2 months, but is not particularly limited because it depends on the type of herbicide, for example.
It is preferable that the temperature during weeding be 24° C. or below. Plants such as rose hips that are used in the next process (planting process) grow well when the temperature is 24° C. or above, so weeding should be completed in autumn or winter when the temperature is below 24° C.

This allows the weeds in the soil 10 to die from the roots, and as shown in Fig. 1(C), the soil 10 can be left in a state where no weeds are growing. Here, the dead weeds should not be pulled out from the soil 10. For example, it is preferable to wait until they disappear from the soil 10 naturally (by wind, etc.).
After the above-mentioned mowing and weeding steps are carried out in sequence, the planting step described below is carried out, but if the weeds are not dead (weeds grow), it is preferable to repeat the mowing and weeding steps in sequence (two or more times) as necessary until the weeds die. This ensures that the weeds in the soil 10 die from the roots.
In addition, since the above-mentioned mowing step and weeding step are effectively carried out during the season when weeds grow thick, they may be carried out, for example, between April and October, preferably between June and October, and more preferably between June and July or between September and October.

(Planting process)
The planting step is a step of scattering plants of the genus Ganoderma or ground cover plants on the surface of the soil 10 after the weeding step described above has been carried out to kill the weeds.
Here, the term "Sedum" refers to a succulent plant also known as Sedum, which has about 300 species worldwide, is drought-resistant and cold-resistant, is resistant to salt damage, is extremely hardy, has vigorous reproductive ability, requires little water and fertilizer, and can grow in poor soil or thin soil for three months without watering under rough management, and is used as a greening material.
Specific examples include Japanese laurel, Japanese laurel, Japanese unzen, Japanese titmouse, Mexican laurel, and Japanese laurel, but there is no particular limitation, and any creeping variety whose roots grow laterally can be used.

Ground cover plants (also called "ground cover plants") are a general term for plants that grow to cover the ground surface, and primarily refer to low-growing perennial plants.
Examples of such grass include turfgrass, ajuga, turfgrass, ivy, sweet alyssum, verbena, lantana membranacea, ivy, etc. Turfgrass can be divided into warm-climate and cold-climate types, and warm-climate types include wild grass, Korean grass, Korean grass, Tifton, Tif dwarf, St. Augustine grass, centipede grass, etc., while cold-climate types include bentgrass, bluegrass, fescue, ryegrass, etc.
Furthermore, when Kurapia or Lippia (Lippia) are used as ground cover plants, the coverage density of the soil surface can be increased, further suppressing the invasion of weeds.In addition, even in poor soil environments, the entire planting surface can be quickly greened, which can be more effective in strengthening surface protection and preventing freezing and thawing in winter.

The plant to be sown on the surface 13 of the soil 10 is a small piece A consisting of one or more of leaves, stems, and roots (germinated matter (sprout) A: hereinafter referred to as leaves, etc.), but may also be a seed.
Since the above-mentioned plants have strong reproductive power and can be easily propagated, for example, a previously obtained plant is disassembled to a reproducible extent, and the disassembled leaves, etc. (i.e., small pieces A) are scattered on the surface 13 of the soil 10 shown in Fig. 1 (C). Note that the leaves, etc. may be scattered evenly over the entire surface 13 of the soil 10, and it is not necessary to scatter them to the extent that the entire surface 13 of the soil 10 is covered with the leaves, etc. (with no gaps so that the surface 13 of the soil 10 is not exposed). The leaves, etc. may also be scattered together with soil, fertilizer, etc. (with soil or fertilizer attached).
Then, water is sprayed on the leaves and the like scattered on the surface 13 of the soil 10 to promote growth.
It is preferable that the air temperature be 24° C. or higher when scattering the separated leaves, etc. on the surface 13 of the soil 10. When the air temperature is 24° C. or higher, the probability of precipitation is likely to be high (reducing the need for watering work), creating a synergistic effect.

(Coating process)
The covering process is a process in which, after the above-mentioned planting process, when plants 14 growing from leaves, etc. on the surface 13 of the soil 10 reach a predetermined height as shown in FIG. 1(D), the plants 14 are cut with a grass cutter (not shown) and broken into small pieces B (sprouts (sprout bodies) B) as shown in FIG. 1(E), and the pieces are allowed to grow further, so that the entire surface 13 of the soil 10 is covered with plants 12 growing from the small pieces A and B as shown in FIG. 1(F).
The plant 14 that grows from the leaves is short, and is about 10 cm or less, or even 5 cm or less, at most. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1(D), the plant 14 that has grown to a height of about 10 cm or even 5 cm, or to a height position lower than this (a predetermined height), is cut with a grass cutter.

When the plant 14 is cut with a grass cutter, the leaves, stems, etc., while still growing in the soil 10, are crushed into small pieces B that can be regenerated.
As described above, since the grass cutter is for finely breaking down plants 14 and not for cutting the weeds described above, it is preferable to use a mower equipped with, for example, nylon rotary blades and cords rather than metal rotary blades.
As a result, the leaves, stems, etc. of the finely crushed plants 14 are dispersed (scattered) and spread over the surface 13 of the exposed soil 10 where no plants 14 exist (as shown in Fig. 1(D)) as shown in Fig. 1(E). Then, by spraying water on the surface 13 of the soil 10, roots emerge from the leaves, stems, etc. and grow to become plants 12, and the remaining parts of the plants 14 after harvesting also regenerate to become plants 12.

As a result, the entire surface 13 of the soil 10 is covered with plants 14, as shown in FIG.
In addition, if, for example, a partially exposed area or an area not densely covered with vegetation occurs on the surface 13 of the soil 10, it is preferable to repeat the above-mentioned mowing and watering until the entire surface 13 of the soil 10 is covered with vegetation 14.
By the above method, the plants 14 grow densely on the surface 13 of the soil 10 with no gaps between them, making it difficult for sunlight to reach the surface 13 of the soil 10, and even if weed seeds or the like are present on the surface 13 of the soil 10, the growth of weeds can be suppressed.
Therefore, it is possible to suppress the growth of weeds in a simple manner, and to improve the environment and scenery for a long period of time. Furthermore, depending on the type of plant, small flowers may bloom (cute yellow flowers may bloom) or cute green leaves may grow, further improving the scenery and making it a tourist spot.

Instead of the above-mentioned grass-cutting step and weeding step, the weeds can be killed by successively carrying out a watering step of watering the weeds that have emerged from the soil, and a weeding step of heating the water that has been sprayed in the sun to hot water and allowing it to reach the roots of the weeds.
In this case, since the water sprinkled on the weeds needs to be heated, the watering process and the weeding process are preferably carried out in the summer (for example, between June and October, preferably between June and July or between September and October). In particular, it is suitable when the temperature is 28° C. or higher, and further preferably 30° C. or higher.
This eliminates the need for herbicides, reducing the burden on the environment while suppressing the growth of weeds, and improving the environment and landscape for the long term.

After the plants 14 cover the surface 13 of the soil 10, the weed-free state can be maintained by, for example, having a worker pull out highly reproductive weeds from the surface 13 of the soil 10, thereby enabling efficient work.
In this case, when using Romania as the plant, the height of Romania is about 3 to 5 cm and it will be overtaken by fast-growing weeds, so assistance from workers such as in the mowing and weeding processes described above is required.
However, once the entire soil surface is covered with rose grass, there is almost no grass that can compete with it. This is because the rose grass that covers the entire soil surface prevents the seeds that have flown there from reaching the soil surface, and even if they do reach the soil surface, the rose grass blocks sunlight from reaching the soil surface, causing the seeds to wither.
As mentioned above, since the height of the Japanese laurel is about 3-5 cm, it improves visibility (leading to a reduction in traffic accidents, for example). In particular, changing the grass in flower beds on roadways to Japanese laurel improves visibility while driving, making it possible to see (visually see) cats or small children running out into the road.
Also, since cute yellow flowers bloom several times a year, it has the potential to become a tourist attraction (a major tourist spot).
Furthermore, rose hips can be used efficiently even on larger premises.
Furthermore, by spreading the Japanese laurel over the entire soil surface and planting flowers such as hydrangeas, it is possible to express welcome letters or pictures of local mascots. In other words, the Japanese laurel acts as a substitute for a green canvas.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above embodiments, and includes other embodiments and modifications that are conceivable within the scope of the claims. For example, the weeding method of the present invention may be configured by combining a part or all of the above-mentioned embodiments and modifications, which are also included in the scope of the present invention.
In the above embodiment, a liquid herbicide is sprayed when new weed sprouts appear in the weeding process, but after repeatedly performing the work of causing new weed sprouts to appear and then mowing the weeds (after performing the mowing process two or more times), a liquid herbicide may be sprayed when new weed sprouts appear. This makes it possible to prevent nutrients from accumulating underground in the weeds, making it more difficult for the weeds to grow.

10: soil, 11: weeds, 12: plants, 13: surface, 14: plants

Claims (3)

A weed control method for suppressing the emergence of weeds from soil, comprising:
A grass-cutting process for cutting weeds that have grown in the soil to a height equal to or less than a predetermined height;
A weeding process in which a liquid herbicide is sprayed when new weed sprouts appear after the weeding process is performed;
a planting step of scattering pieces A of one or more of leaves, stems, and roots of a plant of the genus Germplasm or a ground cover plant on the soil surface after the weeding step is performed to kill the weeds;
This weeding method is characterized by having a covering step in which, after the planting step, when the plants growing from the small pieces A on the soil surface reach a predetermined height, the plants are cut and broken into small pieces by a grass cutter, the small pieces are dispersed, and the small pieces are allowed to grow further to cover the entire surface of the soil. The weeding method according to claim 1, characterized in that the mowing step and the weeding step are repeated until the weeds wither. A weed control method for suppressing the emergence of weeds from soil, comprising:
A watering step of watering the weeds that have emerged from the soil;
a weeding step in which the water is heated in the sun after the watering step and spread to the roots of the weeds;
a planting step of scattering pieces A of one or more of leaves, stems, and roots of a plant of the genus Germplasm or a ground cover plant on the soil surface after the weeding step is performed to kill the weeds;
This weeding method is characterized by having a covering step in which, after the planting step, when the plants growing from the small pieces A on the soil surface reach a predetermined height, the plants are cut and broken into small pieces by a grass cutter, the small pieces are dispersed, and the small pieces are allowed to grow further to cover the entire surface of the soil.

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