Storksbill Infestation - Urgent Advice Needed

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and quite new to gardening so please be gentle!

Me and my partner have just moved home, part of the home is a beautiful and large garden in which we both adore.

We've settled in and are tackling looking after it.

Unfortunately in doing so we've discovered that the majority (around 3/4) of the lawn itself is absolutely covered in storksbill.

As I understand it, this is a very invasive weed which can and will spread itself rapidly from April.

I have tried to manually pull the weeds but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle, it has taken me almost half a day to pull around a 1/5th of the total amount I can visibly see within the lawn.

What solutions, if any, do I have to combat it?

I understand herbicide is a possible option but I want to avoid this as best as possible as I want to avoid using something which could potentially cause damage.

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

Have you got a picture.

 

Sure, here's a picture of the weed removed and the weed in the lawn

 

If you got rid of it, would you have much grass left.

 

If I'm being honest, I can't imagine much would be left - we've currently managed to hold around 20m2 free of them but the rest of the lawn appears to have them scattered everywhere

 

Welcome to the forum @RowanGrove

You can declare a full blown war on the storkbills or decide you are after more natural, wildlife friendly look and just live with it. Frequent mowing and improving the soil/ overseeding the grass might give you a balance that is acceptable- and you could focus more on the areas near the house.

Needless to say, personally I'm inclined to laziness eco friendliness but we are all different. We have many lawn experts here in the forum so I'm sure you will get great advise.

 

Would somebody enlighten me as to the proper name of "Storksbill" as I was expecting to see a hardy erodium or geranium of some form.

 

So was I too

 

Found this ! You are right Nigel.

Storksbill | plant, Erodium genus

 

Storksbill, I got the impression it was an American term.
I assumed we were talking about cranesbill.

Not easy to see what it is in the picture.

 

Soak area you intend to work on night before.
I have lots of dasies but like shiney it looks ok from a distance. My 30 yearold mower (like new) deals with it very well.