"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 17/03/2012 22:27, Spider wrote:
On 17/03/2012 20:43, Eames wrote:
whilst working i cleared an area of weeds and anything else then came
back 2 weeks later to find a carpet of this plant. does it have any
value or should i take it all out


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Looks like Ground Elder, a very invasive weed. Just a tiny fragment of
root left in the ground will lead to reinfestation. You need to take it
all out.

But hit it with glyphosate first and leave for two weeks before digging it
out. That way the roots will be weakened a bit and less inclined to
regrow. Every tiny bit you miss will be a new plant. Then every time you
have weedkiller going dose anything new that comes up for a season.

You have to use both chemical and physical methods to get a permanent kill
or if you are Organic(TM) sieve the soil to remove every last piece of
root no matter how small. It will regrow from a 6mm piece maybe less.

I do like to be organic and I did it the hard way. I dug every little
piece out and now I have none.
My aunt threatened to move when she had ground elder, but her neighbour was
so fond of her that he said if she would stay he would get rid of the ground
elder for her..he did by digging every little piece out.
Its nasty stuff, although you can eat it apparently. It has a smell that I
suspect will transfer to the cooked veg and I do not like the smell.
If you can tolerate eating it, it's a good idea to eat it every day, too
much for it to keep coming up.
Other than that, dig and dig and dig every little root.
That worked for me. I have no ground elder now.