Plants in outdoor enclosure

[Trevor Ostrander]

I have an outdoor enclosure that is 8'x8' soon to be double that. When I built this one I dug up all the plants and replanted with tortoise safe plants. However as everyone knows I have plants that I did not plant growing in there. My worse uninvited guest in creeping charlie which I have all through my yard. I know this is not safe for tortoises so I try pulling it up. Unfortunately it grows so fast. My question is what do people do in a large enclosure to prevent unwanted plants?

 

[voodoochild]

Do your tortoises try to eat it? I've had mine for about 5 years. They have my entire yard. I haven't had any of them get sick yet. Any of my ornamental landscape is on the toxic lust but I've never seen them try to eat it. I have a bigger problem with them eating dog poo.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have a garden tool that looks similar to an inverted hoe. It scrapes across the top of the ground. I use that on large areas of unwanted YOUNG plants. I'll go take a picture of it

 

[DawnH]

I have an outdoor enclosure that is 8'x8' soon to be double that. When I built this one I dug up all the plants and replanted with tortoise safe plants. However as everyone knows I have plants that I did not plant growing in there. My worse uninvited guest in creeping charlie which I have all through my yard. I know this is not safe for tortoises so I try pulling it up. Unfortunately it grows so fast. My question is what do people do in a large enclosure to prevent unwanted plants?

Every morning I head out and spend (literally) minutes pulling up the bad/questionable stuff. If you do this daily or at least every other day, it takes just a few minutes.

 

[Yvonne G]

You lay it on the ground out in front of you and push it away from you, trying to get the blade down just barely under the top of the dirt. It effectively cuts off the plants just below the top of the soil, and then the roots die. You can see, I've used mine so much it's worn down about an inch and crooked.



Here's what a new one looks like:

(Dutch hoe or push hoe)

 

[Trevor Ostrander]

Thank you for your replies. I have resorted to pulling them as I see them. Hopefully they will die soon. Yvonne that tool looks great for starting a new enclosure. That would do some damage. I will look for one. Once you have your enclosure planted I'm not sure that would help since the bad/questionable stuff is growing right along with my planted stuff. All great suggestions!