Weeds

[Trevor Ellis]

some years ago, sometime between mid 1970's & 1985, I borrowed a book from a library on the subject of weeds. The general gist of the book was about knowing what each weed adds to soil when it is present i.e. via it's roots etc. One of the premises of the book being that a weed will only grow if there is a soil deficiency of the particular mineral or whatever that they themselves output, and that by occurring in a location, they will balance out that deficiency. If, instead of applying weedkiller, or spending hours with hoe or aching back, one applies what is deficient, this will significantly reduce a particular weed problem because there is no need for it's existence in that location. By knowing what each weed adds, one also therefore knows the nature of the soil where certain weeds grow. I seem to remember that it was called just 'Weeds' but I may be wrong. Nor can I remember the author or publisher. A couple of years or so ago I contacted the library where I borrowed the books from but they had no record of it. Does anyone know of the book?

[ideasguy]

What an interesting theory!
I hope we manage to track that book down

[NightHawk]

Well that certainly adds a new twist to the weeding problem.

I hope you can track down that book Trevor, it sounds like a very valuable resource.

Laurie.

[Palustris]

Remember reading something like that myself, but like Trevor, the actual name escapes me. Nor, sadly, is it on my list of books I have. How very frustrating. I did Google Weeds+book i and found a fair number of publications though
EG John Walker, Weeds: an earth-friendly guide to the identification, use and control, Cassell Illustrated, 2-4 Heron Quays, London E14 4JP, 2003 £12.99, 144pp.

[3fren]

there is one interesting book, Weeds - Guardian of the Soil.  You
can get in in Amazon.com

Another book, which I like very much is "Secrets of the Soil " very good read indeed.