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kestrel_3

Help--I have a huge mess to clean up

kestrel_3
14 years ago

I'm looking for any advice I can get to try to manage the mess on my property.

I live in MN and have between a little less than an acre lot with about half being a woodland area. There are so many issues to deal with and I don't know how to start.

1. Buckthorn--I have been dealing with this already. I've been pulling the little ones and cutting the bigger trees and then spraying the cut stump with Round-up. There is so much though. I actually have dreams at night (nightmares lol) about Buckthorn. Am I doing the right thing to most effectively get rid of this. I can see a difference but I feel like it will still take me forever to get rid of it.

2. Creeping Charlie--not sure what to do. It is all over our grass and it's creeping into our woodland area. Is spraying the only way to deal with it? There is just too much to pull by hand. It is out of control.

3. This year I noticed some other weed?? that is multiplying so quickly. It's in our woodland and yard. I don't know what it is or how to deal with it. Here is a picture...

{{gwi:217785}}

We have lots of bloodroot, jack in the pulpit, trillium and other things that I'm afraid of killing if I spray the weeds--but this weed is growing and moving so quickly it's going to kill them all soon anyway. It's so thick.

Sorry for being long-winded. I'm a little frustrated today.

Comments (4)

  • anitamo
    14 years ago

    My situation was similar to yours about nine years ago. 1/2 acre corner lot with not much green growing but buckthorn!
    The woody area was filled with garlic mustard, buckthorn, different tree logs/branches (previous owners cut down and left), wild blackberries, etc. I now have all of the above gone, even most of the neighbor's buckthorns. I need to speak to neighbor about the remaining one, because I'm constantly weeding out the seedlings. Can't turn your back on them for one second.

    I did use round up on the larger stumps after cutting down, because if you just cut, they will regrow bigger and better. Some I dug out, some pulled out easily, some I kept cutting down, etc. I tried every method. I even hired a crew to get rid of them, but that was a waste of money. It all grew back the next year. Guess they just cut it, but didn't get all the roots. I was gullible back then. LOL. Keep up with it and you will see a difference soon. No easy way, sorry.

    The creeping charlie can be controlled with weed b gone in the lawn if it's that bad, otherwise proper lawn practices and reseeding the grass every fall will help. I don't like to use herbicides, so I do try to be responsible, but when faced with a neglected overrun property, it helps to use some in the beginning. Soon, you will have plenty of time to enjoy all the natives you have growing like the bloodroot and trilliums. Good luck to you.

    Oh, I don't know what that rampant weed is in your photo. Sorry. But if it's that fast growing, I'd be scared. LOL.

  • dbs_illinois_4
    14 years ago

    I believe #3 might be Campanula rapunculoides, Creeping Bellflower. If you google for pics, don't let the pretty flowere fool you--from what I have gathered it is evil. Fortunately, I don't know from personal experience.

    Unfortunately, I DO know Creeping Charlie from personal experience! Although I had sworn I would never use lawn weed killers, I have been reduced to using it to try to get the CC gone. I don't care about lawn weeds, but like you I didn't want it getting into my woodland areas, and I was spending countless hours handpulling it along the edges. The first area I worked on, I sprayed as recommended for CC (twice, two weeks apart). That reduced it to the point I could hand pull any regrowth and seedlings. It's pretty easy to spot, even amongst all my other lawn weeds! After a couple of years of that, it seems to be pretty much eradicated from that area, and I am starting on the rest. Be very careful about any lawn weed killers you use if you go that route. Dicambra, an ingredient in many, moves through the soil and so shouldn't be used near trees. And Creeping Charlie, of course, is a shade-lover!

  • koidom
    14 years ago

    I really like Creeping Bellflower

  • ontnative
    14 years ago

    I agree with the poster that said your pictured weed was Campanula ranunculoides. That's my guess, too. My, how healthy it looks! The flowers are pretty but it crowds out other, more desirable plants, and is especially bad to have in a native woodland. If you try to dig it out, the little pieces of remaining root spread underground and continue growing. You could try to dig out the bigger patches, let it regrow a while and spray or "paint" Round-Up on the shoots that regrow.

    Here is a link that might be useful: weed/ creeping bellflower

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