Anyone know a dependable weed puller in SW Portland?

teflon6string · May 31, 2011

This search got a lot more complicated than what I anticipated when I started looking in April - for someone to pull weeds and ivy in my bushy yard 6-12 hours a week through the summer. Can you recommend anybody who already does this in SW Portland (Hillsdale area)?

So far I'm getting a lot of the following, all unusable for various reasons:

- Specialists who charge insane rates for extra skills I don't need (and a trailer sporting every tool and accessory Stihl ever made).

- Tweakers with ZERO personal credentials who bill in advance (and want to know what time I'm leaving/coming back).

- And my favorite, the guy who wants me to pick him up and drop him off because "that last DUI" cost him his license.

I'm not looking for a landscape architect with a commute from Battle Ground or Wilsonville and ads stuffed in my mailbox every 7-10 days. Just someone local you might already know with a pair of gloves who can come and go on his/her own, make a big pile of dead weeds, and tell me what I owe them (in ready cash) once or twice a week. What's the going hourly rate for honest labor these days?

Thanks in advance for whomever you might share!

[email protected]

Redcap · May 31, 2011

Find one of your neighborhood kids that needs money.

Cougfan2 · May 31, 2011

Roundup for the weeds. Crossbow for the Ivy. You can spray the Ivy and pull it in the Summer, but it will just come back; same with Blackberry. Cut it back and pull it during the Summer, but wait until the Fall until the first good freeze to spray it. The Ivy will pull the herbicide back to the roots in the Fall and kill the plant, although this may take a couple of years to permanently eliminate it.

sadiesassy · May 31, 2011

Cougfan is correct. Seems in the fall - I go back through and spray everything beofre the rains hit. Also , alot of the round up sprays are not very effective until it gets about 70 degrees out / ground.

YOU must have one big yard to take 6- 12 hours / week. Either that or on a steep hillside

Nothing works better than gloves, weeding trowel and a few chemicals

Stomper · Jun 1, 2011

One word... NAPALM!

(Be careful though... it sticks to kids!)

marty8587 · Jun 2, 2011

Should be some college kids in the area looling for summer work.

teflon6string · Jun 26, 2011

Yes, it's on a hill. And it's big and jungle like. So several hours weekly would be good for a month, then probably fewer hours once it's under some semblance of control.

I have Crossbow and Roundup, but I want neither near my blueberries, raspberries, rhubarb, tomaters, peppers, etc., or washing down into the soil when it rains.

None of my neighbor kids have responded to ads, and few work as hard as one might hope (at least around here). If I had the time or the inclination, I'd do it myself. But sadly I have neither. Weeding was used as torture for kids in this fertile neighborhood in the 50/60's, and those scars never heal. With all the "forts" I made in the woods as a youngster, my body has finally decided it's allergic to English ivy.

I appreciate the one local lead someone emailed me on the side. Haven't reached him yet. Thanks for any other established contacts you can share if you know someone in SW Portland who's up for earning hard cash daily for pulling weeds.

[email protected]