In the small park across the street, which is widely used as a dumping ground for garden refuse, two large patches of false lamium (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) are gradually growing and smothering everything in their path. What are my options for eradicating this plant? Are there sprayed herbicides that would take it out? One patch is behind a fence keeping people away from a dangerous cliff path...I can't get to it any way but spraying through the fence. Regards, Janet added June 02, 2008 I tried spraying with Roundup and it was totally ineffective!
What a pest, eh? GVIPC has good information: http://gvipc.ca/most_wanted_article.php?id=6 Whose park is it (Municipal, Metroparks, Rotary or ??) anyway? Many organizations have bans or restrictions on pesticides. Community Mapping Network provides this information: http://www.shim.bc.ca/invasivespecies/_private/yellowarchangel.htm I know that manual removal has been used with the assistance of volunteer organizations in Metroparks. Inaccessibility might just be an extra challenge for some young people. I still see this stuff in hanging baskets & planters...go figure. Have you got any pictures of the problem? Is any of this a help? gb
RoundUp being totally ineffective, I have begun spending an hour every day or two in the park, grubbing up this nasty stuff by hand. There are probably 5-7 large patches (I found number three today and a passer-by told me there are several more). I find it takes about an hour to clear a 6' x 6' area thoroughly. It isn't too hard to pull out, but you have to be sure you get all the little plantlets. That takes time, and you are crawling around in brambles half the time. Of course all this False Lamium is here because people bring their garden trimmings and refuse and dump it in the park. It isn't all biodegradable, folks! There is plenty of English Ivy to pull out as well. I seem to have found myself a way to serve my community!! I plan to put together laminated signs and post them at the park entrances to inform users and hope this will discourage further dumps of ivy and false lamium...meanwhile, I have to be sure the stuff I pull and bag does not end up anywhere that it can regrow and establish. It should really be incinerated. The one reference I found to chemical control was for this substance: Triclopyr amine - Commonly used herbicide products that contain triclopyr amine are Garlon 3A, Brush-B-Gon, and Brush Killer (Table 1). Garlon 3A is a concentrated product (3 lb triclopyr per gal), packaged only in large volume (2.5 gal or larger), and available only at farm supply stores. Brush-B-Gon and Brush Killer are more dilute than Garlon 3A, are packaged in small containers (quart containers), and can be purchased at retail garden supply centers. They are readily available and convenient for the small property owner to use. Interestingly, vinegar (citric acid) is listed as an environmentally friendly herbicide. I will test it on a patch of False Lamium and see if it works. I put up a quick GooglePage: http://westernwilson.googlepages.com/falselamium
RE: inaccessibility as a challenge We live on the edge of a large cliff, and at one end of our subdivision, there was a steep but navigable trail down the escarpment face. From that trail, you could see that many of the local homeowners had tipped old flowerbaskets off the edge, resulting in large False Lamium patches up and down the slope. Several of these are on ground that slopes sharply to a 50' cliff. There is no safe way to hand-weed those areas.
