CobraHead vs. Bluegrass
Dan Keil is the President of the Stephen Decatur Rose Society in Decatur, Illinois. He has let us know several times that he really likes the Cobrahead Weeder and Cultivator for weeding and maintaining his 460 roses.
I’m not a rosarian, but I’ve learned that keeping grass from taking over is a major issue. That’s not much different than for just about anything that’s cultivated, but grasses really mess up roses and Dan does not want to use chemicals, mainly because the roses don’t like them.
Dan sent over these pictures. Here are some of his comments:
“Hi Noel, I thought I would send you some pictures of how I use my CobraHead tool. I use it to remove the bluegrass from my rose beds, it gets all the underground runners and tillers. I have to be careful that I don’t pull the rose out of the ground. The CobraHead is the best weeding tool I’ve ever had. You’re free to use these photos any way you want!
Bluegrass is extremely hard to control. Using Roundup will damage the plants. There are some grass herbicides, but they are expensive. I’d be afraid they would hurt the plants.
My garden is mainly to produce show roses. So that is why I use the CobraHead Tool. I just dig in on any edge and start ripping it out of the ground. I use the small hand model because my back is real bad and it’s hard to get up and down. Also I can see what’s going on with the minis and minifloras.
Grass in Baldo Villegas Rose
Baldo Villegas Rose After CobraHead
I used to use a gasket scraper to work close to the plants until I got my CobraHead. You can see the before and after picture of that rose. The rose roots run deeper than the bluegrass so I don’t have to worry about pulling the rose out of the ground. I get bluegrass coming into my rose garden and the CobraHead tool takes it out real easy. It’s great to get out thick patches of crabgrass too! It is good to loosen hard soil. I use it to work in fertilizer. I also use it to grub out the Ash seedlings. It works great.
Garden Edge Before
Garden Edge After
My back is so bad that I have to sit and work that way. The hand tool works great. Weeds don’t stand a chance. It is the only weed removal tool I use now. I won’t trade my CobraHead Tool for anything! I’m a horticulturist and I’ve used a lot of tools to remove weeds in the past 35 years. The Cobra Head Tool is the best tool I’ve ever used!
I am a Master Gardner with the Cooperative Extension Service/ University Of Illinois, I am also a Master Rosarian thru the American Rose Society. I am the President of the Stephen Decatur Rose Society, and the Illinois-Indiana District Consulting Rosarian Chairman. I grow 460 roses.”
All we can say is, thank you, Dan!!