Gardeners Question Time

[Smokin Joe]

What is this crap, and how do i get rid of it?

Looking for a pet safe chemical if such a thing exists, something organic or home brewed. I've cut it back but the roots are b'stads.

Perhaps @mudsticks can help?

 

[Dolorous Edd]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q

 

[Beebo]

Is it coming from under the fence?
If it is then you’re going to struggle. I have similar problems with plants coming from next door.

 

[PeteXXX]

Are they bobbles of bulbs when you pull it up?

If so, could be montbretia if it has orange flowers.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Is it coming from under the fence?
If it is then you’re going to struggle. I have similar problems with plants coming from next door.

They're overspill from a couple of plant troughs Mrs SJ thought would look good in the garden a few years ago - against my advice, but then what do I know? They have rooted between the paving cracks and under the fence.

 

[mudsticks]

What is this crap, and how do i get rid of it?

View attachment 610563

Looking for a pet safe chemical if such a thing exists, something organic or home brewed. I've cut it back but the roots are b'stads.

Perhaps @mudsticks can help?

It looks like a form of sedge.
Does it have sharp edges to the leaf??

You could be very naughty and use glyphosate..

Let it grow back first so there is some leaf to absorb it.

If there's nothing growing near it that will be affected you could just try a good covering of salt.

Or completely cover it with black plastic..eg a doubled over compost sack, that will starve it of light and kill it.

Or at least that will weaken the roots enough to get it out more easily.

Don't let it self seed itself around the garden.

 

[mudsticks]

Are they bobbles of bulbs when you pull it up?

If so, could be montbretia if it has orange flowers.

Could be that too.

Hard to tell from just the trashed leaves.

But they're not so often sold as 'trough plants'

does / did it have flowers @Smokin Joe ??

 

[PeteXXX]

Could be that too.

Hard to tell from just the trashed leaves.

But they're not so often sold as 'trough plants'

does / did it have flowers @Smokin Joe ??

I'm only looking at it on a phone screen so it's hard to see it properly.

 

[Chief Broom]

Looks like pampas, think i would dig it out even if its quite an excavation and then keep going back to check for any regrowth.

 

[Gillstay]

Cover it up so it has no light as mudsticks says. Easy, labour free and environmentally sound.

 

[rvw]

I have a load of this too, and it seeds about very much too readily. I will have to check but I think it might be carex pendulosa (common name, as @mudsticks suggests, is sedge). Did it have feathery, grass-like heads? Montbretia (which has now been renamed crocosmia) is pretty shallow rooted so doesn't fit the description.

I've dug out a couple of clumps and didn't find that too bad. Even if you do nuke it with chemicals you'll still have to dig it up to be able to use the space, so you might as well just do it! But do get rid of the seed heads, and any little seedlings, as thoroughly as you can.

 

[mudsticks]

Cover it up so it has no light as mudsticks says. Easy, labour free and environmentally sound.

I have a load of this too, and it seeds about very much too readily. I will have to check but I think it might be carex pendulosa (common name, as @mudsticks suggests, is sedge). Did it have feathery, grass-like heads? Montbretia (which has now been renamed crocosmia) is pretty shallow rooted so doesn't fit the description.

I've dug out a couple of clumps and didn't find that too bad. Even if you do nuke it with chemicals you'll still have to dig it up to be able to use the space, so you might as well just do it! But do get rid of the seed heads, and any little seedlings, as thoroughly as you can.

if it is sedge as we suspect then yes dig as much as you can be bothered to do now,
cover it over the winter - weigh the black plastic down with bricks or something so it weakens and rots down a bit

Then dig up the rest in the spring.

Keep an eye out for any of its children coming up in cracks in the paving - they will look like little bits of spikey grass

 

[Smokin Joe]

Mrs SJ planted the seeds and she reckons it was something the attracts butterflies and bees, with a bit of lavender thrown in. That's as technical as I can get, plants aren't my thing.

It was planted in tubs and what the picture shows is overspill that has taken root.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Looks like sedge to me. Horrible stuff, seeds everywhere. Although it looks like it's coming through the fence, it has probably just seeded close to it, it gets into tiny crevices. Dig it out as best you can (not easy, it's tough and sharp edges to the leaves), but it'll b a job well done. It has no benefit to bees and butterflies as far as I'm aware, and even if it did, unusually for me, I'd still say take it out.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I have it in my plot. Came from next door originally. I tend to just pull it up (easy when it's small and young) but it does seed all over so don't let it seed.