Land clearing - and keeping it cleared?

[Ray_N]

My site was logged last year,  just the real biggies where taken out.  Trouble is really tough sticker bush types of weeds are growing like mad.  I bought a gallon of weed killer and its not going to go that far.  It does however have a nice sprayer and I was wondering if there are any cheaper home reciepes that I could use.

I also ordered a nice big tarp,  planning on keeping that over the building site.  Thought this would be good for covering the platform and as a temp roof later.  

[Daddymem]

I used to work in the Weed IPM area of the Cranberry Experiment Station.  With a little more description of what you mean by sticker bush, I might be able to suggest some methods of control.

[Amanda_931]

In the long run, there may be a lot better ideas than weed killer.  See what's below the links.

Somebody sent me links the other day that suggested that Round-Up is not as safe as previously thought.  Linked to fewer tadpoles, placenta cell changes, non-Hodgkin's' lymphoma--at low levels.  I think I just glanced at the note, didn't check the links, but here they are.

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/7728/abstract.html  

http://www.esajournals.org/esaonline/?request=get-toc&issn=1051-0761&volume=015&issue=04

I've certainly let my jungle (aka "yard" get away from me this year.  But in general, mowing,  bush-hogging, scything, otherwise cutting before most of the worst of the plants bloom helps a lot.  Planting something else--one of the short prairie grasses, for instance, might be  good solution for the next year.  Possibly a fall cover crop of some sort--oats, buckwheat, clover, etc.  I think I'd avoid crown vetch or lespedeza, they tend to make persistent weeds.  Don't even think about Bermuda grass if you ever want to garden there.

Canadian Thistles will yield to repeated hoeing, just two or three times in the spring (maybe only two per plant, but one never gets them all the first time through).  Even in a perfect environment for them like my uncle's cow pasture.

If someone in your area rented goats, that would work fine for blackberries and honeysuckle and poison ivy.  Unfortunately the goat keeper in my area who would like to get started with this does not have her own portable fencing.  And the solar electric fence systems I see are not listed for goats.  No electricity up there.

Stirring up the soil may just energize growth, though.  (Why people who love tilling their gardens do so)

An organic gardener in the next county swears that the best way to eliminate privet, though, is to pull it up--with tractor and chain if necessary.

De-weeding your paths, and possibly work sites with layers of cardboard or newspapers helps  lot.   The tarp might be a good idea for the work site.

Ruth Stout thought that a foot or so of spoiled hay worked fine for the garden--kept the weeds out, eventually fed the soil.  Something like well-rotted bark from the sawmill might work too.

[hobbiest]

livestock.  Specifically goats and sheep.  Pigs are good for tilling, and for stump removal.  For a natural weed killer, try vinigar.  It is non-selective, so don't spray it on the prized Agapanthas though.