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June 18, 2007
EVIL EVIL WEEDS
Does anyone know how to get rid of these weeds in my backyard?
They're big, stalky plants which grow large flat round leaves and get as big as 7' tall. I've looked for them in online weed encyclopedias and can't figure out what they are.
I've de-weeded my entire garden, pulling up as much of the roots as possible, and also digging up the dirt and sifting it through a screen, but they seem to have these insanely massive root systems from which several plants grow, and which break off easily (so the roots remain intact underground).
I've taken to digging up and sifting dirt through a screen to remove all the bits of root, but they just keep coming back and it's driving me nuts.
All I want to do is plant a garden so I can have a nice back yard but this is seriously getting in the way of things.
Any suggestions?
I'll take a snapshot and post a photo if it helps.
Comments
sounds like Japanese Knotweed. you will most likely find many kindred spirits here. its taproot system makes it the Borg of weeds, it's very difficult to stop if you can't get it all at once.
anyway, i just yanked it up any time i saw it poking through (it's usually red-leafed when it begins). also if you can find some of the bigger roots and break them up (remove them completely, or they'll sprout even when dismembered).
in a way you gotta kind of admire knotweed, it's so industrious!
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at June 18, 2007 12:26 PM
There is this stuff called ROUNDUP, the mother of all herbicides. The ecologically sensitive might be horrified, but it will kill those mothers and make the root system go away so that you can introduce some other vegetable life.
Posted by: anon at June 18, 2007 12:37 PM
sounds similar to what we and our neighbors have - though ours go well over 7 feet. huge leaves. basically a tree since it regrows the leaves each year. we call it the jack and the beanstalk plant. thing is we like it - provides shade, looks interesting, etc. but we're renting so we're not concerned about what it must be doing to the foundation.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 12:39 PM
ROUNDUP is wicked nasty for the environment and pets. Do you have other plants? Covering the ground with plastic will kill everything or you could try the other friendlier methods mentioned above. If all else fails, as 12:37 states, Roundup "will kill those mothers."
Posted by: anon at June 18, 2007 12:51 PM
I also call this weed evil weed. My husband claims if you keep pulling it and its roots out of the ground, it will eventually die. *shrug*. I don't actually believe that but who knows. Also my evil weed is over 20 feet high :) If you figure out a way to kill it please post !!!!!!
Posted by: AnnaBee at June 18, 2007 12:52 PM
OP here. I just looked up Japanese Knotweed and yep that's the stuff. Yuck.
I'm not terribly ecologically sensitive when it comes to these weeds, especially the ones growning near my foundation, but I do want to plant grass seed on the weed-site further from the house and, more importantly, I do want my kid to be able to play in the yard without any neurological damage or other nasty side effects... is ROUNDUP a problem with either of these concerns?
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 12:57 PM
OP here...
A google search turned up this:
http://www.cabi-bioscience.org/html/japanese_knotweed_alliance.htm
The things are so bad, it's illegal to let them grow in the UK.
It sounds like you really need to pull out the big guns to kill this stuff. I wholeheartedly endorse the use of strong chemicals when trying to kill mutant species of plants. It's like Day of the Triffids or something.
I'm not trying to make friends with the things. I want them dead dead dead.
I plan on trying out Roundup and will post my results...
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 1:38 PM
This is what they look like:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Dayofthetriffidsposter.jpg
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 1:40 PM
A recent study by eminent oncologists Dr. Leonard Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of Sweden, has revealed clear links between one of the world’s biggest selling herbicide, glyphosate (commonly known as Roundup, marketed by Monsanto), to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer - NHL. There are even requests for permits for higher residues on genetically engineered foods because they are highly resistant to herbicides, instead of reducing herbicide use, glyphosate resistant crops may result in increased residues. They are already on sale. Farmers knowing that their crop will tolerate or resist being killed off by the herbicides will tend to use them more liberally. There have been no risk/benefit analysis carried out, so the regulatory authorities have failed to implement the precautionary principle with respect to GMOs.
(“Herbicide Tolerance,” New Study Links Monsanto’s Roundup to cancer,” www.biotech-info.net/glyphosate_cancer.html - June 2001)
The Women’s Cancer Resource Center (WCRC) and CHOSE (Coalition for a Healthy Oakland School Environment), showed that chemicals such as Round-Up (glyphosate) can result in reproductive damage as well as damage to the kidney and liver, and some studies show a link between the chemical and cancer.
(Chemical Injury Network, June 2001)
Glyphosate (Roundup) is one of the most toxic herbicides, and is the third most commonly reported cause of pesticide related illness among agricultural workers. Products containing glyphosate also contain other compounds, which can be toxic. Glyphosate is technically extremely difficult to measure in environmental samples, which means that data is often lacking on residue levels in food and the environment, and existent data may not be reliable.
(“Greenpeace Report - Not ready for Roundup: Glyphosate Fact Sheet,” greenpeace.org - April 1997)
Glyphosate is found in weed killers and may cause cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, nerve, and respiratory damage.
(“Special Report: what you need to know about pest control,” Natural Health Magazine, May/June 2001)
Roundup: Label - Keep out of reach of children, harmful if swallowed, avoid contact with eyes or prolonged contact with skin. Remove clothing if contaminated. Spray solutions of this product should be mixed, stored and applied only in stainless steel, aluminum, fiberglass, plastic and plastic-lined steel containers. This product or spray solutions of this product react with such containers and tanks to produce hydrogen gas that may form a highly combustible gas mixture. This gas mixture could flash or explode, causing serious personal injury, if ignited by open flame, spark, welder’s torch, lighted cigarette or other ignition source. Avoid direct applications to any body of water. Do not contaminate water by disposal of waste or cleaning of equipment. Avoid contamination of seed, feed, and foodstuffs. Soak up a small amounts of spill with absorbent clay. Do not reuse container for any other purpose.
Posted by: anon at June 18, 2007 1:54 PM
I had the same weeds and covered my backyard with plastic for 3 months last summer. I did the whole yard and just left it alone. (Poke holes in the plastic where water collects so it will drain). It worked really well. I have almost no weeds so I would recommend it if you can bear it. We had just bought our house so I just focussed on the inside instead of the outside. It was free and environmentally safe!
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 2:10 PM
another thing that helped me was planting grass, the roots make it harder for the knotweed to poke through. of course, that just means it pops up somewhere else, but then it was the neighbor's problem. whoops!
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at June 18, 2007 4:36 PM
If you fill your garden with lots of plants, there's not much room for weeds. I get those once in a while and just pull them up. But my garden is stuffed with flowers.
Posted by: anon at June 18, 2007 4:43 PM
Knot weed has been growing in our neighbors yard for at least 10 years. Every year they dig it up once. Every year it grows back, I have seen them put plastic down and all that PEOPLE it does not work, YOU cannot stop KNOTWEED, Roundup will not work either. IT is USELESS, knot weed will take over the world one day.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 5:17 PM
We've got it, and I've found that what Jimmy Legs and Anna Bee's husband said works - rip those suckers up as soon as they sprout. The red leaves on the sprouts are a clear target. When I moved to my place, the entire yard was a forest. We just kept pulling them up, and now they only sporadically come up, and are immediately yanked. I don't know if the root system is just biding its time, but it seems to have gone elsewhere (my neighbor) where living is easier. Good luck!
Posted by: Brower Park at June 18, 2007 6:11 PM
We have these too! I tried Round Up from Lowes on them and saw very little success. I talked to my father who is a farmer and he said what you can buy in the stores isn't very strong and probably won't do the trick. Our solution so far: we put down sod and black plastic over the flower beds. I pull up any sprout that comes up through the grass (look for the red leaves). Before I put down the plastic, I tried to dig up as much as I could. Make sure to clean up anything you pull up as it can re-sprout from the tiniest piece. If you do want try Round Up, try cutting the stem and placing Round Up directly on the cut. This seems damage the plant more than spraying the leaves. This is definitely an ongoing chore though that you will probably tackle for years to come. My dad recommends to just keep on top of it. If you keep killing the plant off above the surface, eventually the roots will die below the ground. Warning: don't use Round Up near your grass - it kill everything.
Posted by: Carolyn at June 19, 2007 10:10 AM
Copper kills plants. You can use copper oxide, but since you want to plant a garden in the future, that would not work. It would kill everything else. You could try a copper mesh. You may be able to get it at a building supply or art store. Then lay it over a patch. After the plants are deprived of growing for a while the roots should die off. You may even be able to bury it a foot down plant your garden on top.
If it ends up killing your garden too, then leave it there until next spring, and dig it up then.
If you can't find copper mesh lay out some vinyl mess and cover it with pennies. Pick up the mesh in the spring and plant.
Posted by: ryan at June 19, 2007 5:36 PM
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