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ID help please

User
11 years ago

These weeds or trees have been growing every summer since we moved in. They are in the lawn and some of the gardens. Roundup doesn't do much good as the leaves are really shiny. The roots are very deep. Repeatedly mowing over them for 10 years hasn't fazed them.

Any ideas on what they are and how to get rid of them? Thank you. Ann

Comments (6)

  • soonergrandmom
    11 years ago

    Does it look like this in the Fall? If there is a way to get rid of it, I haven't found it. I try to pull all of mine before they make seed but it doesn't do any good because the birds eat the seed from the neighbors plants and ...ugh..plant them all over my yard and garden. He never cuts his so they are trees. Soon I will trim them back to his side of the fence, but it doesn't matter much. I still get purple dots all over everything.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pokeweed

  • mulberryknob
    11 years ago

    Carol, not sure what this is but don't think it is poke. My first thought was persimmon sprout. The leaves of persimmon are alternate, oval, entire, 4-6 inches long, dark green and shiny above, paler beneath, accordng to my tree guide. Persimmon leaves turn golden in the fall.
    bloombuddie, are there persimmon trees in the area?

    My next thought is some kind of milkweed.

  • User
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We have have Pokeweed problems too :) The link you sent was fun and interesting. Pokeweed is an attractive plant to me but as you mentioned it sure does spread.
    These weeds in our yard are more like woody trees when they come out of the ground...very tough. I suspect they are growing off of tree roots deep in the ground but we have no trees like these in our yard. Our property adjoins Corps of Engineer Land by Kaw Lake in northcentral OK which has a wide variety of trees. Not sure it would make a difference to know the name of this plant...I guess it would just satisfy my curiosity. Ann

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    11 years ago

    To me it looks more like persimmon than anything else I can think of, but I don't feel like it looks exactly like the persimmon seedlings that pop up near our grove of persimmons. It could just be that yours is in better soil so looks green and healthier than mine do.

    Regardless of its identity, if you don't want it, Ann, and Round-Up doesn't kill it, then you need to step up to a stronger brush killer like Tordon. I would think that Tordon would control it. A word of caution about Tordon and similar products, though. They contain the ingredient, picloram (and/or newer related chemicals in the pyralid family). The issue with this whole class of herbicides is that they have been found, unfortunately, to persist in compost and animal manure for several years. They sometimes persist at high enough levels that using the cow manure or compost, or even grass clippings, hay or straw that were treated with Tordon in your compost pile, can kill vegetable garden plants for several years. So, if you use Tordon and similar products containing pyralids, then vegetation treated with those products shouldn't go into your garden or compost pile in any shape, form or fashion for the next couple of years.

    Roundup also has a gel product that is supposed to stick to foliage that has a waxy cuticle, but I haven't tried it and cannot say if it is more effective than the regular liquid or foam Roundup formulations.

  • User
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Persimmon it must be. We did have a Persimmon tree at one time in this general location. I'll look for some gel Roundup. The Tordon sounds kind of scary...not ready for anything so strong. These "weeds" are just unattractive and persistent but not noxious. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and satisfying my curiosity. Ann

  • soonergrandmom
    11 years ago

    LOL, I should never try to guess because I never get anything right from a picture. I didn't even think about Persimmon. Of course, after reading Dorothy's book, I know that there is some "weed" that she had a little problem identifying when she moved to Oklahoma. I'm sure that was a lesson learned and never to be forgotten. LOL

    Dorothy, both you are Dawn are just walking garden books, then when we throw in Lisa and Susan for flowers and wildflowers, we don't need to read many books. LOL

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