Eco-friendly way to get rid of these weeds please?

Dear All,

Finally I am getting a grip of the garden! We had it landscaped a few weeks ago and are now putting plants into new borders.

However, one area had previously been weeds, with a bit of grass and I am now getting these really annoying weeds coming up in droves. I have tried digging down to the roots, but they go down a LONG way and just end up snapping the roots.

I really don't want to use a chemical weed killer because of our cat, garden wildlife and the environment and do have some bark down when I can get rid of these ones (and all the hundreds of little friends!).

Does anyone have any ideas for getting rid of them permanently (well as permanently as you can with weeds I suppose ) in an eco-friendly way as possible please?

Many thanks in advance.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Range-WEED-BURNER-Cannisters-Butane/dp/B008CIT3MS

 

WOW thank you K78 I hadn't even thought about that, what a clever idea!!

 

Hoe,hoe,hoe.

 

Looks like Field Bindweed. Not so much of a problem as Hedge Bindweed.

 

They pop up in Aldi and Lidl now and then for around £10.

 

Burning or hoeing off just the top above ground growth will be even less innefective than digging out less than 100% of the roots.

 

Ha, ha, ha, Palustris, I think you're right!

I have just been doing that, boy this gardening lark is knackering, I have pains in places I had forgotten I had .

But I will definitely keep on top of it now, I don't want to have to do that again in a hurry, lesson learned!

 

Thank you Scrungee, that makes sense.

I managed to get down to a spads depth, but still didn't get to any roots, so ended up having to get what I could out this time. Now I will wait for the little blighters to come up again and try to catch them a bit earlier, hopefully, I'll get to some roots next time.

 

Thank you again Scrungee, that's interesting, I will do some reading about them now

 

I was only being slightly facetious. If you continually take off the growth of any plant, it eventually gets weak enough to die. It just takes a long time for some plants to get the idea.
Just to give you some hope. We have been taking 7 x 2 gallon buckets of Bindweed roots to the recycling yard twice a week for the last three months. We can still fill a bucket every times we weed that particular border.

 

Bindweed is a nightmare. At a previous house we had it getting into the front borders from next door. I hired some guys to sort out the front (which was a mess) and they had the bright idea of rotavating it. So instead of a few larger bindweed plants, I had thousands of smaller ones come up! Not impressed.

My solution was chemical, I'm afraid. But what you can do is put the leaves and stems in a bag (a nappy bag or dog pop bag is fine; anything without holes) and pour some weedkiller in the top. Gaffa up the top, and you're sorted. Then the bindweed absorbs the weedkiller really well, so the roots die; the weedkiller doesn't get out onto anything else; and pussy is safe.

 

Sorry my friend but if you will permit me speaking as a plant pathologist and soil scientist. Siply chopping off or burning of the visible parts of the plant. This is NOT good enough. As with the larger bindweed, the roots have to be destroyd, even the smallest bit of root will rise again. Even Roundup/glysophate so often proves to fail.

Yes many attempts will clear the soil surface but this genus really does go deep, deep down. Even glysophate doesn't go that deep, so the remaining root will once again sprout forth.

 

Sorry to disagree. We had a small problem with that most difficult weed. Mare's tail in a previous garden. Every time (almost every day in fact) I removed all growth. After 12 months or so, the plant gave up and we never saw it again.
Ditto with a patch of Ground elder, constant vigilance saw it disappear eventually. No-one said it was going to be a quick fix.

 

Palustris. No problem. This is one reason for having a forum. Thankfully here on GC, any variations of opinions don't end up becoming abusive and insulting.

I fully understand your situation. Sadly even this forum doesn't allow for full length explanations. May I mention. Weeds/plants.= All vegative growths are plants. Each class of plants have basically, their own root formation. So chemical weedkillers may well kill the plant, eg: the vegative part above the soil, yet the roots present another problem. So. Glysophate is claimed to kill on contact, it instantly goes to work on contact with the plants foliage. Unlike a systematic weedkiller, it becomes neutralized on contact with the soil. It is absorbed through the plant down to the roots. Instant death is expected.
Back up above at soil level, you can straight away sow seeds, thanks to the neutralization. Now down below.

Please come with me. down we go into the bowels of the earth. Looking around, we find ourselves in an arial jungle. All these roots. Here lie many secrets. May i respectfully suggest you, reseach 'plant roots'.

So if you have looked into plant propagation, you will have come across, root propagation.
Here is perhaps where my answer lies. In principle, you say, and I have no reason to doubt you. That over a long period of time, you have battled a war against, mares tail and ground elder. Forgive me, but I picture you and yours out there with the dutch hoe. Please bare with me. This action is likened to mowing the lawn. The grass plant. Yes! each blade of grass making up your lawn is a plant. If you can, please pluck out a single plant. You will see that the leaves taper down to a kind of joint (node, nodule.) Many time you may cut the lawn, reducing the height of the plant. Then one day the cutting blade cuts below that node. Sorry grass plant. Goodnight Vienna. So the plant has gone and the roots remain only to die.

In the case of some plants, the roots go on for ever, and bursting forth from below, no. They don't produce plants, foliage and nodes. Sorry but I could write about this all night.

In short. Your experience has been. You have acted like that lawn mower. OK! you object to using chemicals. Then dig the pesky invaders out. Do your best at removing and root particles. I do hope this is of use to you. Best wishes. Mike.