Weed control

[cod 121]

Instead of posting in the Implement section as it may not apply, I thought I'd ask here. Living in Maryland' we have a real problem with a ground ivy known to the locals as Creeping Charlie. I'm wondering if anyone has found that de-thatching helps to control it. I've tried Weed Be Gone but it always reappears so I'm wondering if any of you have had any luck getting rid of it. I've seen some good posts on thatch removal but I really don't know if it helps with stubborn weeds.

 

[adsm08 3,338]

Vinegar and salt mix to the root.

[SylvanLakeWH 28,589]

I use a Harbor Freight propane roofing torch... works for a whole season... kills everything including the seeds...

 

Of course, I use this on my slate patio gaos and gravel area only...

 

[8ntruck 7,877]

Ah, good old Creeping Charlie.  Thatching is a temporary solution.  It slows it down, but it will be back.  Every time a runner is cut or broken, it generally takes root, producing 2 more plants.  Thatching seems to cut as many runners as it rakes out.

 

About 25 years ago, I got some ivy killer to go after English ivy.  Turns out that it did a reasonably good job on Charlie as well.  Unfortunately, I don't  remember what it was called.  The landscaping shop where I purchased it closed a long time ago as well.

[EB-80/8inPA 1,872]

Is this stuff the same plant as that 5-leaved menace known as “Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)?”

Not my favorite brand of ivy.

It hates me and I hate it right back.

 

Edited July 16 by EB-80/8inPA

[kpinnc 14,712]

Ewwww. Poison Ivy...

 

My neighbor can hit a patch with his mower and I'll be eaten up the next day. My nearest neighbor is several hundred feet away too. 

 

Whatever it takes to kill it is my response. Some may not agree, but weed killer is warranted in my yard. I have over a mile of combined fence line here. 

 

Ortho Ground Clear works well. It actually lasts all summer if you spray it properly. Outstanding for fence lines and driveways. Spraying the ground is more important than spraying the plant. 

 

Just don't spray near the roots of anything you don't want to kill. It leeches into the ground and will kill a 50 foot tree just as quickly as the weeds beneath it. Shrubs and bushes will die if you aren't careful. It is called total vegetation killer for a reason. 

 

Roundup only kills when it touches the leaves, but it doesn't last very long. 

 

 

[Handy Don 14,129]

Those persistent weeds didn’t become persistent by being weak at reproducing, right?

[rmaynard 16,372]

We had a problem here in Maryland with Virginia Creeper (not to be confused with poison ivy), and it grows not only on the ground but up the trunks of trees.

I cut it at the base of the stem and pull it out of the trees. On the ground, I spray with Round-up (with glyphosate) as soon as the leaves appear in the spring. After about 5 years of treatment, I have completely eliminated it from my property. Lucky for me it did not spread into the lawn. I do the same treatment with poison ivy, however, I use some PPE when handling it because it is highly allergenic

 

Virginia Creeper

 

Poison Ivy

Edited July 16 by rmaynard

[Wayne0 1,221]

1 hour ago, rmaynard said:

We had a problem here in Maryland with Virginia Creeper (not to be confused with poison ivy), and it grows not only on the ground but up the trunks of trees.

I cut it at the base of the stem and pull it out of the trees. On the ground, I spray with Round-up (with glyphosate) as soon as the leaves appear in the spring. After about 5 years of treatment, I have completely eliminated it from my property. Lucky for me it did not spread into the lawn. I do the same treatment with poison ivy, however, I use some PPE when handling it because it is highly allergenic

 

Virginia Creeper

 

Poison Ivy

I have Virginia Creeper all over my side yard. I hate the stuff.

[davem1111 2,170]

2 hours ago, rmaynard said:

We had a problem here in Maryland with Virginia Creeper (not to be confused with poison ivy), and it grows not only on the ground but up the trunks of trees.

I cut it at the base of the stem and pull it out of the trees. On the ground, I spray with Round-up (with glyphosate) as soon as the leaves appear in the spring. After about 5 years of treatment, I have completely eliminated it from my property. Lucky for me it did not spread into the lawn. I do the same treatment with poison ivy, however, I use some PPE when handling it because it is highly allergenic

 

Virginia Creeper

 

Poison Ivy

 

 

I have both of these intermingled, all over the place, all over the back of my garage, beside my front gate on the pines, on the back side of the lake...   I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't get poison ivy but my wife gets it really bad so I wear a full tyvek suit, gloves & booties when dealing with the stuff, throw it all away and get right in the shower when done.     I'm mostly against spraying chemicals though, and my wife is strongly against it, so we don't do that.

[8ntruck 7,877]

Just for reference, don't burn poison ivy, as the smoke contains the same irritant as the oils in the plant.  It is possible to get a case of poison ivy in your lungs by breathing the smoke.

[HyperPete 873]

4 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

Just for reference, don't burn poison ivy, as the smoke contains the same irritant as the oils in the plant.  It is possible to get a case of poison ivy in your lungs by breathing the smoke.

 

That apparently happened to my brother when I was a toddler.  He got it in his throat & lungs & had to be hospitalized.

[Handy Don 14,129]

32 minutes ago, davem1111 said:

I'm mostly against spraying chemicals

I concur, but in the ongoing war against poison ivy, it is the only way to get the upper hand without putting oneself in harms way. More than once I thought I had vanquished it but it would be back in the same place two years later. Now, after five+ years of agressive treatment, I only see occasional sprouts and I get on them STAT. 

Edited July 16 by Handy Don

[lynnmor 7,858]

22 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

Just for reference, don't burn poison ivy, as the smoke contains the same irritant as the oils in the plant.  It is possible to get a case of poison ivy in your lungs by breathing the smoke.

When I cleared the lot to build my house it was a jungle with poison ivy vines everywhere.  I would heap the debris into enormous piles and burn it.  One Sunday in church a neighbor, that lived just over the hill, came in and was red all over, he asked me what I was burning.    

[Wayne0 1,221]

Another bane of my existence has been Japanese Knot Weed!

There was a good sized patch next to my frog pond when I bought the house.

Judicious applications of Roundup finally conquered it after several years.

[rmaynard 16,372]

17 minutes ago, Wayne0 said:

Another bane of my existence has been Japanese Knot Weed!

 

Is that anything like Japanese Stilt Grass? If so, mine never dies, but can be controlled for a couple of years with Round-up.

So invasive.

 

 

[Handy Don 14,129]

23 minutes ago, Wayne0 said:

...Japanese Knot Weed! ...applications of Roundup finally conquered it...

I watched a landscaper address a bad infestation on a property in MA. He cut it off down to 3 or 4 inches high, carefully collected ALL the clippings for incineration, and then had his newest worker go through with a syringe putting a squirt of Roundup into each and every hollow stem. It took hours of pure tedious work. Next year, no knot weed. 

[Beap52 1,479]

This topic is of great interest to me.  

 

On the family farm, we spent a good pile of money clearing brush and junk trees from waterways. (Crop production was down and we were  loosing plant-

able land.)  I hasn't been maintained since dad died 29 years ago.  I've been talking with my brother about keeping the brush at bay that we had removed and is now sprouting.  He's mowing what can be reached but other places will need to be sprayed.  He said the "good stuff" that kills unwanted brush requires a license.  (The stuff I have been using requires respraying pretty often--I guess it's "watered down" to make it safe for the general population.)  We are thinking about looking into hiring a drone to come in and spot spray the farm. 

 

I learned that spraying between 60 and 80 degrees works best.  Apparently, plants have a built-in mechanism that in hot weather, their cells close or something that helps prevent evaporation and absorbing of the chemicals we spray on them!

 

My neighbor, after being unsuccessful, with chemicals bought a torch to burn weeds in driveway.  He didn't keep the heat on the weeds and his driveway is once again green.  Unlike me a few years ago when I attempted to spray my yard to get rid of unwanted plants.  I discovered after I finished I was using kills all.  That stuff really worked  and it was three years before I got a good stand of grass again. 

[Handy Don 14,129]

The plot of knot weed measured, I’d guess, 50’ x 75’ so feasible with moderately-priced labor to attack it individually. Any bigger and you’d have to scrape the soil down several inches and replace it (or run it through a soil incinerator). 

As I’ve noted earlier, perennial plants have adapted quite well for their own survival--even the ones we can’t stand! Respect Mother Nature.