Citizen complaint of the day: East Boston weeds need whacking, just not at 6:45 a.m.
There's an outburst of weed-whacking complaints in East Boston this morning. One concerned resident filed a 311 complaint about the weeds in Putnam Square on Trenton Street and urgently requested the city send over a crew with a weed whacker and a lawn mower before the plants eat the kid.
Over at Lawn Avenue (yes, Lawn Avenue) and Leverett Avenue near Belle Isle Marsh, though, several vexed citizens filed 311 complaints about DCR weed whacking at frickin' 6:45 a.m. today.
One citizen grumpily filed a 311 complaint:
It's 645am and DCR is out weed whacking...at 645am along lawn ave, waking the entire street. I understand it's a weekday but some people work nights too and use mornings to sleep. Some people work late mornings and 645am is extremely inconsiderate of DCR to do this.
Another asked:
Please DCR don't start landscaping before 7am. My entire apartment is now awake and many of us have long work days ahead. Using chainsaws to cut branches can be done any other time than before 7am when people have work.
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Comments
Are those weeds or natives?
The birds and pollinators probably need them. Let them grow.
Keep the neighborhood free from unnecessary noise.
Bittersweet
You can see the bittersweet (a noxious invasive) poking out of the top of the 2nd picture. Sadly, weed-whacking bittersweet is not going to kill it. It's harder to see what's going on in the other picture, though.
But how to kill them?
I'm not even going to pretend I'm asking for a friend. Those things have been the bane of my gardening life. Pulling the root up doesn't even seem to help.
Glyphosate
Weeding does work on the smaller ones, but above a certain size you can't pull it out by the root. What you'll want to do is cut it down and then paint some full-strength glyphosate on the stump (or really just along the outer circle of the cut surface, where the cut ends of the cambium are.) Best to not do this in spring, since the sap is still rising strongly. Spraying is dicey because you might hit other plants.
Glyphosate (main ingredient in RoundUp) is a systemic poison that will spread throughout the entire plant, and is absorbed on leaves and thin bark, but not generally through roots. It works on trees as well.
Thank You
I've battled this stupid vine for years. It just keeps coming back every year.. and fast. Neighbor ripped up most of it when we had the backyard re-landscaped but I am seeing pockets of sprouts again.
It got so bad at one point it grew over 75ft .. across our fence (and keeping it propped up) and growing up the house.
Now I know how to battle the bigger parts to finally get rid of it.
Someone needs to tell Cranky Grandma
that the 311 is for City controlled property; the DCR is a State agency.
Sexist and ageist much?
.
As always, be careful what
As always, be careful what you ask for.