Help please ID and how to deal with

I have a lot of this on my plot that I am digging over and reinventing Can anyone help me out and identify this .... Thank you



In the above picture there are two problem weeds I think?

 

I could be wrong, Hairy Bittercress

 

It looks like Cardamine...Probably Cardamine hirsuta.... common name hairy bittercress.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=C...ChMIq4j7vrCayQIVA7QUCh2FZgFF&biw=1600&bih=777

Trouble is once you have it it is virtually impossible to get rid of it.
When really really tiny it can flower, the seeds then spread it.
Only good thing about it is that it is small, low growing.

 

Thank you very much @Silver surfer and @Jiffy, that is it, that's the one!!

I have taken the whole top layer of soil and put it into weed hole in the back wood. I understand that there may be more to come but now I know what I am looking for I can get it out straight away.

I've had s good read up.... All the most exciting weeds are to be found in my garden

 

Hi @JWK, I think you might be right with the forget me not... and to be honest I don't mind this little fellow if it is, I will quarantine a small sector and see what materialises.

As to the hairy bittercress, it was like a carpet so I carefully put the shovel underneath it and scrapped it away and disposed of it carefully. I doubt this will be the end to it and I will be on standby to eradicate any remaining. At least I got it all before it flowered as having seen what it does, quiet amazing really, catapulting its seeds everywhere, I'm sure more will pop up here and there but if I get it in time hopefully I can control its spread. I actually think it has come on some veg I bought last year!!

 

It looks like hairy bittercress if it's a close up picture and that stuff is everywhere just lately, it seems to thrive in damp conditions.

I'd get get rid of it and any more that you find as it may not flower now but in case it does and produces seeds, which it does at an incredible pace, the seed pods explode sending seeds all over the place. In one of my customers gardens he's got a permanently wet border that was filled with 10 of thousands of bittercress seedlings every few days and bark hard to be put down to suppress it.

 

I have added these pics to show just how tiny a plant can be and still produce viable seed. The tiny plants may hid behind a stone, a leaf or twig.
The seeds will stay in the soil and be viable for probably years.
They now regularly come in with new plants bought from nurseries/garden centres.

Once you have it you may as well learn to live with it.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/11713966@N02/22776192117/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/11713966@N02/23144184026/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/11713966@N02/22776144287/in/dateposted-public/

 

Thank you @Mowerman and @Silver surfer, I should have posted it earlier in the year as it cropped up in my veg patch, quite innocently I just got the hoe and treated it as a normal weed, but as I've cleared the veg away obviously I can see now what it is and I agree I think I will just have to live with it and do my best to get rid before it flowers, I've also spotted it on the pathways so I can feel a lot of weedol being used to try and get rid

 

@Silver surfer - that second pic is brilliant. It just shows how a tiny bittercress plant can be so easily overlooked hiding in a small crevice and be a viable, exploding seed producer within a few days.

Gardeners World produced an article a few months ago saying it can go from a seedling to a viable seed producer in as little as 10 days in the right conditions.

It is in my top 5 most hated weeds on the job. Once you've got it, you've got it for a long time but the upside is that it's easy to remove individual plants and isn't a true brute like ground elder, horse tails or creeping cinquefoil. It's still a pain in the backside though.

 

@Apple Blossom

Weedol may not be as effective at this time of year and the life-cycle of the plant can be so short that weedkillers won't kill it off in time before it explodes seeds all over your garden.

It's a very shallow rooted weed (usually) so you may get far better and faster results hoeing or burning it with a weed burner as soon as you see it appear. On your veg patch, a layer of leaf mulch in the spring will suppress it and other weeds.

 

Oh I didn't know that!!! And I agree it is easily lifted as the roots are only very shallow.

The veggie plot has gone and I am turning it into a new seasonal flowering area so at the moment I can see where it is popping it's head up and remove it as I see it.

The conditions I must admit must be great for it at the moment due to the rain and mild weather we have been having.

Thank you for all the advice... between this and the ground elder I'm going to be busy!!

 

@Apple Blossom

You've got ground elder! My sympathies go out to you.

Now that is a brute of all brutes and best of luck getting rid of it. You'll probably need serious chemical warfare to slay such a beast. Best of luck and if you need any help, drop me a PM.

 

Good Evening @Mowerman, thank you for your empathy... yes I have it..... all over the place... I pull it up... it comes back.... I use Roundup on it and think that's got you.... and it comes back.. GC friends told me I could eat my way though it so I checked it out on the internetthingy and found some wonderful recipes...

Starters with hot bread


Main Course and pudding



Still trying to find a home made wine recipe just to wash it all down with

In saying all that its a blinking nuisance and a costly one with all the weed killer I buy to keep it at bay!