Does anyone here has any idea how to get rid of Aegopodium podagraria? It is a very difficult weed to eradicate. We changed our back garden last year just to get rid of them but saw some again this week. Pls help.
Sorry that you have met with this awful little plant. Gardeners still insist on planting it intentionally and then find, as you have, that it is very difficult to get rid of. As with most invasive plants and aggressive spreaders, there are always two ways to get rid of them. The first is to physically remove every single piece of root in every square inch of soil. If you miss a bit of it, it will resprout. Aegopodium has a brittle root that makes this nearly impossible. The second way is chemical control. By far the most effective and safest method is glyphosphate, sold here in the US as "Roundup". Once applied to the leaves, the plant will absorb it and the poison will bind to the plants nutrient uptake system, causing the entire plant to die. The bad thing about Roundup is that you must be extremely diligent about overspray. The tiniest drop on a nearby desireable plant will cause it to die also. If the Aegopodium is amongst your desireable plants, you can try painting the Roundup on the leaves with a sponge brush rather than spraying. More precise that way. Good luck!
Thanks Ginger Blue. If u happen to visit this thread once more, may I ask how frequent do i need to apply roundup. Thanks again.
Well, ideally, just once. Roundup binds with the plants nutrient uptake system and the plant will die of starvation. If applied at the right time (midday during active growth), and properly, most plants will show signs of wilting and dying within days. Should curl up be dead within a couple weeks. But if any persistant plants remain, you can repeat the process a few weeks later. Sometimes it merely injures the plant and causes leaf yellowing and distortion, and another dose finishes the job. Aegopodium is pretty easy to kill with Roundup. The leaves are the sort that absorbs the poison pretty readily.
I have no idea what this weed looks like, but if it is a broadleave weed then you may have better luck controlling it with 2,4-d, and or mecoprop, or with a highly translocative Amitrol T. Round up is more of a grassy weed killer, and isn't always effective on strong healthy broadleaf weeds. Also, after you spray and kill all these weeds, or weed them all out again, you could look at applying diclobinel, sold in granular form as casoron, this will prevent weed germination for up to 6 months in garden beds around woody stem shrubs only, If you wish to plant flowers b4 the 6 months then you must cultivate 2inches down to realease the gas residual from the casoron. If you are using round up on broadleaf weeds I would suggest a 2 - 2.5% mixture rate, and do not get it on your boots and walk across your lawn. The hebicides I mention above are selective and will not kill grasses. Good luck, Jim.
I am so sry please disregard what I said about mixing round up at 2 - 2.5%, I forgot that this product is sold with different amounts of active ingrediants. If the guarentee on the label says 365 grams per litre of glyphosate, then 2-2.5% is fine, other wise what my point was, is too mix it a bit stonger than the label rates for broadleaf weeds. so sry, Jim.
As a point of note, I find it interesting that Denmark and Norway have banned Dichlobenil and 2,4-D. Denmark has also placed severe restrictions on Mecoprop-P. The Netherlands has no such restrictions, though.
It must have something to do with The Netherlands being educated on the real effects of 2,4-D on Humans. Or even they actually read the studies performed by scientists around the world during the last 60 years, giving 2,4-D a clean bill of health. Unlike most city councillors opting to ban 2,4-D. Bieng that there is no factual proven link that 2,4-D causes cancer in humans. If a person is interested in learning the truth on the hazards to humans from 2,4-D use, they will find these links inside this link very informative. You may want to add cream and sugar to your cup of 2,4-D,, if you were to look up the toxicity of caffine! Now that is toxic. I hope this post doesn't offend anyone, I am only trying to help control weeds for people in the safest manner I can. http://www.24d.org/published.htm Jim
