Pete C wrote:
S Booker wrote:
Hello! I'm new here having moved to a house with a large garden and
being a complete novice I thought it might be wise to get some advice!
I have been in the garden for most of the day today pulling up tiny
sycamore saplings (two leaves on stem) but although I have put in
hours of work I hardly seem to have touched the blanket of them that
covers the lawn and flower beds. Bribing my two small children with
the offer of 1p for every shoot they pull up has proved pointless as
they gave up after about 10 minutes! Can anyone give me an idea of
how to deal with them quickly? Will cutting the grass stop them from
reappearing, or will they just grow back stronger? Am I destined to
spend all spring on my hands and knees pulling the little blighters
up? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I have the same problem. On the grass, between patio slabs etc..........
Mowing sorts the lawn, and weedkiller the rest.

If they've gone beyond the cotyledon stage and you can see the shape and
colour of the leaves, you may want to look and see if there are any yellow,
pink or maybe variegated seedlings in the lot. Sycamores mutate very
easily,
you just might have something interesting to grow on.

If not, as mentioned mowing sorts them, or you can whack or roundup.
They're
extremely sensitive to glyphosate.

I like sycamores and have various kinds, so I watch many thousand every
spring,
but I have yet to get any of the interesting seedlings to grow out.
They tend to be
weak like most mutations.

I've actually got a bunch of cotyledons from the fine yellow
Corstorphinense sycamore
growing this spring. It is apparently rare for this one to set viable
seed. So far they look
like... ordinary sycamores.

-E