Opinions needed please.

[grannyjanny]

We were fortunate enough to be allocated a full plot last year. We already have bindweed, mares tail & couch grass. Add to this on the new part we also have ground elder. We are winning the battle slowly with the first 3 on the original plot but fear the ground elder is beyond the 'royal us'. The area is roughly 18x25' & is thick with couch & ground elder, the others 2 are breaking through. OH thinks that at almost 71 he can dig it all out. I feel that although I hate the idea of chemicals, the other plot is totally organic, this area is beyond us & if we go the chemical route we won't be abe to use the area for a while. What are others experience with ground elder please?

[grannyjanny]

[Digeroo]

The Mexican marigold tagetes minuta is supposed to have a good effect of clearing ground elder.   I luckily do not have ground elder, I thought I had it and found it was wood avens instead.   Which is also very difficult to shift.

I believe it is edible and is supposed to cure gout hence its other name of goutweed.

I would try courgettes as well they get rid of most weeds.   Rye overwinter does not let much grow around it, and little will germinated where it has been.   Though it is fine for potatoes, or already germinated plants.

I like to be organic as well, but I do not buy organic veg from the supermarket which is probably covered in chemicals so not sure why I am so fussy with what I grow.  But sometimes needs must and I use a bit of round up usually on bind weed.   .

[grannyjanny]

My thoughts too Digeroo that we must consume chemicals in bought food so also wonder why I'm so concerned. I know what I would like to happen but wanted others experiences with the dratted stuff so I could convince YKW.I've bought the tagets but OH doesn't want to use them as they grow up to 8'.

[Ian Pearson]

I've found ground elder to be the easier of those four to remove. If the soil is fairly loose, it can just be carefully forked out. But it's another matter if the ground has been trampled — the roots get cut up and break easily if using a spade. Also easy to mulch out if you don't need the ground immediately.
If it were me, I'd dig out as much as pos., then follow with a crop of potatoes. Any surviving bits can be forked out during the harvest process.
If going the glypho route, it would be possible to just paint it on to some of the leaves. This eliminates the risk of spray drift, or 'dead grass footprints'  (where spray residue on shoes is transferred to nearby lawn) and uses less of the chemical to do the job.

[RenewableCandy]

Our plot is infested with bindweed, we have been covering un-dug patches with water-permeable membrane and then digging the following year. The bindweed's still there a bit, but it's managable now.

For weedkiller, a method I've heard of is to un-wind a bunch of the bindweed from whatever it's strangling, being careful not to break the stems (hah!) get a bin-liner and push the leafy bits right in, then spray inside the bin-liner with poison of choice. Tie up the bag and leave it to get to work.

I'm not sure I'd advise anyone, except perhaps an Olympic champion digger, to tackle the combo of bindweed and couch grass unaided (i.e. with neither weedkiller nor wpm). It's absolutely knackering and when we first got our plot I found I could only dig a few square metres at a time.

[telboy]

The original poster(RC) asked a simple question, and you lot rambled on . Why don't you reply sensibly?
RC considered method was to bunch some of the weed in a closure/spray with Glyphosate(?) and leave to work, nothing wrong with that!

[willsy]

I am ordering some Kurtail for marestail . I believe it is organic. Expensive, but from what other people say that have used it is an excellent product.

[gavinjconway]

I am ordering some Kurtail for marestail . I believe it is organic. Expensive, but from what other people say that have used it is an excellent product.

Kurtail is illegal to use unless you are a professional and licensed to use... I'd not say too much!!

[gavinjconway]

The original poster(RC) asked a simple question, and you lot rambled on . Why don't you reply sensibly?
RC considered method was to bunch some of the weed in a closure/spray with Glyphosate(?) and leave to work, nothing wrong with that!

Mmmmm.. Some good replies were given so I dont see why you commented as you did..  You rambled on about bindweed and the poster asked about ground elder!!

[grannyjanny]

Willsy I don't think kurtail is organic. We have a friend who is a professional gardener who would like to spray our plot for us, we help each other so kurtail wouldn't be a problem. If it was organic we would jump at it.

[SMP1704]

I see many newbies start and then stop because they just can't get ahead of the weeds. Grannyjanny, in your situation a pragmatic approach might be a spray once (maybe twice as it's ground elder) let it do it's thing then give the area a thorough dig. Leave for the rest of the growing season, pouncing on any elder that dares to show its head. Next year and from then on you can be organic but give yourself a fighting chance ;-)

[CDave]

A non organic tip and you wont find this on the instructions that come with weed killer - but its very effective. Mix weed killer with flour or wallpaper paste. Paint the resulting gloop on bindweed leaves. It sticks to them and the weed killer is absorbed. Liquid weed killer tends to run off bindweed leaves as they have a waxy "sheen". Get bindweed to grow up canes or twigs then apply the weed killer gloop. Keeps it off the ground. Using this method with digging I've had excellent results with bindweed.

For mares tail - have a look at this. Interesting, though I cant vouch for effectiveness. http://www.pushingupdandelions.co.uk/2013/05/20/horsetail-more-or-less/

Good luck.

   

[grannyjanny]

Thanks CDave but we can't wait that long to use the ground & certainly wouldn't want to push it on our neighbour at any cost.
Very interesting though.
Thank you SMP1704, that is the way I feel we should go. If we only ate organic food it would be a different matter but OH is concerned about damaging the soil & how long before the glyphosate would be gone & be safe to plant again.