Scorched earth

[DulwichGnome]

I am clearing an allotment site at the moment ready to put some bees there in the spring. Thing is that it has been used for keeping bees before and while I've cleared and burnt the old boxes, there was a lot of old fames on the ground. Is there a way of sterilising the ground or do I just turn it over and hope for the best. There were not any bees on the site and no evidence of disease just old boxes and moth eaten frames. Thanks.

Mike.

 

[RoofTops]

AFB spores can last decades so in theory the old frames could be source of disease. I suspect there is nothing you can do to sterilise the ground which isn't going to cause other major problems such as contaminating ground water and killing off the plants on nearby plots.

I would simply remove any visible frames and sow grass but an alternative would be to cover the whole area with a permeable sheet or old carpet.

 

[rowbow]

Hi the scorched earth sounds aboute rite, go too a hire shop and get a roofers blow lamp scortch the earth that will kill any weeds seeds or spores, rotavate and do it again, then cover with weed matting gravel on top, or slabs.
Regards
John

 

[MuswellMetro]

i would put a barrier material done to supress weeds and cover it is gravel, whther you can use something like jeyes fluid depends on your allotmnet assocaiations views,

my allotments doesn't even allow carpet due to breakdown of the backing on cheap carpet ,the dye leaching out and non bio dregrableable plastics used in most new carpets

 

[blackbrood]

scorching the earth in my opinion is a waste of time. It only scorches the top and any thing more than a millimetre or two deep is not touched. I know when I have a bonfire in my garden in the spring, it can burn for hours and the soil is black but then the seeds start to germinate that have been in their years and soon there is more grass and weeds appears as if there had never been a fire at all. The very nature of seeds growing disturbs the soil as they germinate

As for poisoning the ground in some way, well what ever you put in there could do more harm to the bees than what ever you believe might be in the soil now.

imo, burning the old equipment is all you can do.

 

[grahambee]

Maybe a good idea to get in contact with the local bee inspector to see if they have any records of any problems with diseases on the allotments.

 

[psafloyd]

scorching the earth in my opinion is a waste of time. It only scorches the top and any thing more than a millimetre or two deep is not touched. I know when I have a bonfire in my garden in the spring, it can burn for hours and the soil is black but then the seeds start to germinate that have been in their years and soon there is more grass and weeds appears as if there had never been a fire at all. The very nature of seeds growing disturbs the soil as they germinate

As for poisoning the ground in some way, well what ever you put in there could do more harm to the bees than what ever you believe might be in the soil now.

imo, burning the old equipment is all you can do.

Jeyes Fluid used to be used by gardeners against certain things such as white rot, so could a dilute solution kill of AFB?

Of course, if you're looking to use the rest of the plot (which i am with mine) it won't be considered organic, but if not, does anyone know if it is worth a try?

 

[SixFooter]

Hi the scorched earth sounds aboute rite, go too a hire shop and get a roofers blow lamp scortch the earth that will kill any weeds seeds or spores, rotavate and do it again, then cover with weed matting gravel on top, or slabs.
Regards
John

Or a Sheen Flame Gun (X300). These are designed for burning off weeds and are a boon on the allotment.

 

[hedgerow pete]

personaly i would not be to concerned my self.

If you think that if he was a good beek before you then there should be not to many issues, but the frames outside does make me wonder why??

decide where you want to put your bees and get it set up , the weed barrier matting or carpet is a great start, with nice solid stands as well, sounds like you have very sorted out

 

[DulwichGnome]

A job for Time Team

The allotment is taking a bit longer than I thought, work and bees keep getting in the way!! Talking to others plot holders one of the things that the last beek had problems with was damp in that corner of the allotment. As I had found multi layers of carpet when I put in the shed, I thought I'd dig down and see what else was there only to find 4 layers of the stuff. Then found a large slab of concrete under that!! I think that might have to stay.....

 

[barratt_sab]

A job for Time Team...

let's hope it's Time Team rather than the Met Police Evidence Recovery Unit!