Birch seedling problems

Hi

My small front lawn has an overwhelming number of little seedlings growing through it. From the leaves I'm pretty sure it is from a birch and we do have catkins falling on our garden regularly so this seems to be what it is. The problem - how do I reclaim the space for lawn rather than trees? Just pulling them up doesn't seem to work as they snap and re-grow.

All ideas welcome!

thanks
Gavin.

 

Although birch does seed easily, its never been a problem to me.
Birch seedlings are very small and not usually a problem.

If you mow it regularly the seedlings will die.

 

Thanks - I've been mowing them for some time and they just grow back and more so I'll abandon the simple route and go for some digging!

regards
Gavin.

 

Hi - I've started clearing and thought I'd check my assumption these are birch seedlings by posting this photo. The difficult thing is there is such a root network underpinning these and I thought, maybe naively, that each seedling came from a catkin and would have little short roots and be independent of the others. Now I'm digging it's fine in bare flowerbed but when I get near plants how do I get the intertangled and many roots out without ruining the plants? Also it seems I'll have to sacrifice the grass on the lawn where they are to get the roots out. Not that the lawn is that great, but still!

Could someone kindly check the photo for me and advise?

many thanks
Gavin.

 

Sorry...

Hi Gavin, right you are, it's not birch. (It's a pity, otherwise you could have had a lovely little birch forest in 30 years time...

Here is the bad news: Ground-elder - recognition and treatment

Good luck! I had loads in the previous house but actually found it quite satisfying ant therapeutic to dig and pull it out.

 

Ah, glad I asked then! Thanks for pointing me the right way. So I'm off now to completely scour the flower beds and it sounds as if I'll have to sacrifice a plant or two to get to all the roots out.

The article in the link says it may not survive frequent mowings so I'm not sure whether to sacrifice the lawn area by digging it up or to try mowing frequently first. Has anyone here tried this themselves? Is it best for me to give up the grass now or try to save it?

regards
Gavin.

 

Ground Elder won't survive frequent mowing. The key word here is frequent, keep cutting the grass little and often and the Ground Elder will eventually give up. If the grass is only cut say, every 3 or 4 weeks or so, this will give it time to establish a strong root network capable of producing more leaf growth in between each mowing.
Also, bear in mind that if any area next to the grass is full of Ground Elder, the roots will keep trying to spread into the grass from there.

 

Brilliant - thanks for this. I've cleared the flower bed so now I'll get the mower to work!