Ground Elder

It's a shame that horsetail is such a pain, as I really do like it...............

 

Ammonium sulphamate (sold as a compost accelerator by Dax). Does a better job than Glyphosate IME

 

The Goon Show.

 

Ok people, glyphosate works but it is not the only way to go.

I find the best way to get rid of ground elder is to strim it all to ground level then lay a good layer of already soaked newspaper over the surface, overlapping them well. I then put lawn clippings on top of that a couple of inches thick.

Give that a try, it works well for me.

 

If you want to apply glyphosate directly to leaves and don't have either the old gloop with the brush product which was great, or the new fangled 'deodorant' dispenser you can put on a rubber glove with a cotton glove (or rag) on top of it and saturate the cotton in glyphosate and then just wipe it over the leaves.

 

Yeah, Marestail has that style of surviving :( and Ammonium sulphamate does leave a residue for a while (6 weeks?) - but then breaks down to Ammonum nitrate (from memory). I have a small spray bottle that I use amongst plants - with a piece of card or similar behind - but the rubber glove and "stroke your enemy" would work well

 

Where it was easier to get to I've snipped the stem and dabbed it on quickly there. Should hit the roots quicker?

 

Seent hat technique advertised for a number of things - Marestails (inject into stem), Japanese Knot Wheel (pour into hollow stem), but I think you need to make sure you get enough into the plant - dunno if just what will "stay" on a stem will be enough - but if you keep treating any leaves that return you'll get the job done, and meantime removing any leaves that you can't safely treat will weaken the plant.

Should have said earlier than it took us a full two years to eradicate it (but the garden was infested), so just keep at it and treat leaves whenever you see them, and do't be surprised if, even if apparently dead, it has a go at coming back next year.