Creeping buttercup - help!

[Monika]

We have used the last few days of good weather to cut back, strim and mow our "wild garden", a large patch of insect-friendly plants like michaelmas daisies, field scabious, joe pye weed, evening primrose and many others, and found that the creeping buttercups (which have always been there in small numbers), have really spread and are creeping everywhere. Last spring I tried to dig them out and thought I had got rid of most of them (jolly hard work it was, too), but I obviously didn't and they are back with a vengeance.

What would be the best way to get rid of them? I would use glyphosate on individual plants in, say, late March, but by that time all the other plants will be well up and I think I would kill quite a few other plants as well. Is there a "touch weeder" of sorts which I could use earlier on the individual plants (100s of them!!)? Boiling water? Salt? Digging them out obviously doesn't work. Help, please!

[Geoff]

You have my sympathy, I have areas where I can't get rid. Early weeding before the roots are too active does seem to limit it. I await somebody coming up with a silver bullet (sorry just completed crossword with that as an answer, "Magical remedy for somewhat sick part of speech from the right — let us know about it")

[Primrose]

I don't know whether spot watering with diluted Jeyes Fluid would have any impact. I once accidentally spilt a bucket of it which I was using to clear moss off a tarmac drive onto our lawn and noticed that the creeping yarrow that was growing in the grass looked decided sickly afterwards.

They can be a real problem, I know, and I've always thought that digging out the roots when the plants were at their least vigorous in the winter was probably the best way of limiting their spread, but like many other weeks, they can be very difficult to remove. I suspect that like many other roots, if a small section is left in the ground, it just regenerates itself.

[Stephen]

Monika
You have my sympathy. They are a constant bind on my allotment and are certainly flourishing at the moment. I, too, have been attacking them for years...

[Monika]

We've had a good look at the buttercup menace today (after the snow had gone!) - we are going to start by slicing them off with a very sharp hoe all around the edges and will then try to tackle the others with trowel, a family effort. If all fails, we might try the Jeyes Fluid, Primrose, or even glyphosate.

[Parsons Jack]

We've got a load of creeping buttercup in the wildlife garden at the allotment site. I've found that just dragging a mattock over the surface pulls them out quite easily. You don't need to chop them out, the weight of the mattock does the job

[sincerity]

On our allotment site, a number of members had large areas of creeping buttercup appear. The plants are also referred to as 'white root' by some of the older members. Each 'plant' is like a single rosette, easily pulled out -roots intact- from moist ground. The roots are strong - like onion root, they rarely break as can happen with other weeds. On our site, we found that the weed came from a supply of manure; supplied by a local horse-owner. Our attempts to rid sites of the weed were futile as we were continually adding more manure ( and plants) thus perpetuating the problem. Having realised the link, the problem is now under control. As a by the way, I find the herbicide 'Deep Root'(Growing Success) - an ammonium sulphamate base, works brilliantly on general weeds: nettles, briars, grass, dock etc.

[alan refail]

Morning Sincerity

I'm not a great weedkiller man myself, but looking up the product you mention I find that it is not based on ammonium sulphamate - that was withdrawn from the market in 2007/2008 - http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/garden.asp?id=1997

It is now based on glyphosate http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/deep-ro ... -6379.html

[sincerity]

@ Alan Refail.
Thank you for correcting the information in my post. I can now see that the Deep Root product is based on ammonium salt of glyphosate as you have said. It has been a while since I have used this chemical, but I would often recommend it as a cheaper - but effective - alternative to the highly priced rivals such as Glyphosate or Round-Up. The product used to be recommended for clearing areas of ground which had been neglected. I personally, am an organic gardener and choose to pull these weeds, one area at a time, by hand. Sad though it may sound, I actually enjoy weeding; I find it quite therapeutic and satisfying. (Although my Marestail/ horsetail does test me!)
@ Parsons Jack: I love that picture of your dog in the sea! I love this breed of dog, they are so full of character and spirit.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I successfully cleared them from a steep banking by covering them with black plastic for several months. If light and water are excluded they die easily. You only need to look out for seedlings coming up over the next few months and can get rid of them altogether.

My main problem is another area where they are growing through other plants I don't want to kill, and the most effective thing is to dig them up every time you see one and not to let any go to seed. I know how difficult this is as I took several bin bags full out one year then left it for a year and they are back again this year but not quite so bad. I just dig a few up at a time when I'm on a weeding session and have stopped bothering about them.

My favourite tool for getting them up is one of those daisy grubbers with a v notched end and a curved piece of metal underneath - a nice deep curved piece gives good leverage so don't get one of the lower ones. I find this tool puts less strain on my wrist than using a trowel.