- CLOSED - Tips and Advice

[PriorityOne]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

What a bugger. I am sure that Handy will recomend glyphosate, but I dont think you can ever be trully free of it.

If you dig it up, you only need a smal peice left in the soil for it to sprout again

That's what she said..... It's taken all the joy out of gardening for her. Such a shame...

[vint1954]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

That's what she said..... It's taken all the joy out of gardening for her. Such a shame...

Is it in a patch with plants close by?

[PriorityOne]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

Is it in a patch with plants close by?

She says it's everywhere! That's the problem....

I s'pose the only alternative is to plant everything in pots and let the garden do what it likes (so to speak). She lives in a cottage (listed building) and the garden is semi-wild anyway but it works well, if you know what I mean.... apart from this intrusive weed

[vint1954]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

She says it's everywhere! That's the problem....

I s'pose the only alternative is to plant everything in pots and let the garden do what it likes (so to speak). She lives in a cottage (listed building) and the garden is semi-wild anyway but it works well, if you know what I mean.... apart from this intrusive weed

There are probably chemicals on the market that can deal with it, but they will kill everything.

This is from the RHS website.

The problem Spreading by rhizomes, ground elder can easily creep in from a neighbouring garden or nearby wasteland. It can also be unknowingly introduced with new plants if pieces of its fleshy, white rhizome are hidden within the compost of the rootball or are tucked away among the roots of the plant.

Control As its rhizomes are close to the surface of the soil, it is possible to reduce infestations of ground elder by removing it carefully with a garden fork. However, eradicating it completely needs vigilance as the smallest portion of root left in the soil will result in a new plant growing.

Non-chemical control
Tackling large infestations of ground elder in a well-planted bed can be difficult. To get rid of it completely requires time and patience. Try the following non-chemical approaches:

Lift cultivated plants and carefully remove and destroy any pieces of ground elder rhizome from around their roots
After you are sure it has all been removed, replant your garden plants in clean soil or pots
The ground elder can now be evicted by digging, or by covering the ground with black polythene to starve the weed of light. It may take several seasons until the ground elder is completely destroyed
In new lawns, ground elder will usually be starved by repeated mowing, and should not persist for long.

Chemical control
Glyphosate
Established ground elder can be controlled by spraying with a weedkiller containing glyphosate (e.g. Roundup, Tumbleweed and Knockdown Systemic)
Protect cultivated plants with sheet polythene or by pegging them out of the way, and take care to avoid spray drift. The gel formulation (Roundup Gel) may be easier to apply in such a situation
Apply the spray in mid-summer when there is lots of leafy growth, then reapply if necessary later in summer
Spraying in the evening will be far more effective than spraying during the day as more of the chemical will be absorbed by the foliage
Residual control
Long Lasting Ground Clear containing glyphosate/flufenacet/metosulam comes in a soluble sachet. It can be applied once a season to natural surfaces where no plants are to be grown, and can also be applied under and around established woody trees and shrubs, including roses. This product kills off existing small green growth and may prevent or check developing growth of ground elder at the base of hedges or other woody plants. Check manufacturer’s recommendations before use to avoid damaging sensitive plants
Download
Weedkillers for gardeners (Adobe Acrobat pdf document outlining weedkillers available to gardeners; see sections 4 and 5)

Ground elder / Royal Horticultural Society

[PriorityOne]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

Thanks Vint, I will forward this on to her.....

It sounds like a horrendous task though. In some ways, I think she'd be better off moving!!

[vint1954]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

Thanks Vint, I will forward this on to her.....

It sounds like a horrendous task though. In some ways, I think she'd be better off moving!!

Now that is a plan.

[vint1954]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

Thanks Vint, I will forward this on to her.....

It sounds like a horrendous task though. In some ways, I think she'd be better off moving!!

You could just blitz it, but you would loose all of the existing plants. It would probably creep back anyhow.

I suffer from deadly nightshade down here.

[PriorityOne]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

I suffer from deadly nightshade down here.

[Handyman]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

Thanks Vint, I will forward this on to her.....

It sounds like a horrendous task though. In some ways, I think she'd be better off moving!!

Thats the old Pro Gardeners standard advice for dealing with Ground Elder, MOVE.

Seriously there is no easy way to get rid of it. Go near it with a spade and the root will fragment into a hundred new plants. The same with Japanese Knotweed, which is Rampant in The Hooray Hall gardens. In the last 3 years it has spread all over because if Lady H sees any she rips and tears at it.

I have had limited success with the Roundup Jell. If you can wait until the Bell flowers develop then place them in a plastic bag with a Glycophosphate weed killer then seal the bag around the stem you will have a decent degree of success.

Ground Elder is best smothered. This means placing a light and waterproof tarpaulin over the affected areas and leaving to die for at least 1 if not more years while it starves.

This season I used a commercial product called Grazon on the Nettles and Docks in the woods. Brilliant results but it does cost £60 per litre But a litre will do a couple of acres.

Nettles are dead in 2 days and docks in a week and it doesn't kill the grass. I will have a look tomorrow and see what it says about Ground Elder. Mind you it is nasty stuff to work with, you have to suit up and use a respirator. But I used in on a clump of nettles that were growing though a large patch of Flag Iris. The nettles went but the Iris survived. Probably as the Nettles were taller little if any of the spray went on the plants below.

I mention this as I have used the same trick to spray Ground Elder.

Regards all, Handy

[vint1954]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

Managed to sort the stump out temporarily.

[vint1954]

Re: Garden Corner: for the green fingered amongst us

And the grapes are plumping nicely. Just need some sun.