Gardening and Horticulture - getting rid of weeds

Hello, I have a row of trees in my yard that I would like to plant flowers under. I have neglected it for 5 years so now the dirt is full of weeds. If I spray weed killer all over will it "wreck"the soil (and trees) for when I plant my flowers?

Hi Red,

I'm sure others will answer you here, but research has shown that many weed killers do migrate through the soil and harm trees. RoundUp can kill trees if you use it when there are leaves on the trees and any spray migrates or drifts on the leaves. Harm to the trees can take a long time to show as trees grow slowly, but the leaves that make contact will be lost. I don't recommend their use.
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/crops/az1051/az10517.html

If you have a very large area I would suggest either digging out what you can, working in sections, or possibly use a radiant heat weeder.
http://www.pesticide.org/radiant.html

There are also flame weeders, but you would need to be VERY careful under trees as dried leaf litter can be very flamable.
http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/pdf/flameweeding.pdf
http://www.flameengineering.com/Flame_Weeding.html

After you pull or kill as many weeds as you can in an area, consider putting down 6 layers of moistened newspaper as a weed barrier that will decompose over time. Be sure to moisten the newspaper as you work or you'll be chashing newspaper all over your yard with the first breeze. Been there... :eek:

Newt