Realization

[muffinmon]

After being in my yard for a few hours weeding, I have come to the realization that next year we might have to go all container.
There is so much dog weed. Every time I think I grab the root, another comes up. Stupid tuber weeds.
I'm at the point where I just want to pour chemicals on the whole garden.

Comments

[muffinmon]

Mebbe. I read up on it. Seems like the strongest ones are growing under the fence and by our basement window, under rocks.
I wonder if I can get BF to agree to smothering both yards. One was even growing in the middle of my Alice garden in the front yard.

[_xaipe_]

This was my thought too. I had a rather large weed patch (it sat beneath a few bird feeders) that I decided to rehabilitate so I ripped out what I could, tilled the bejeezus out of the entire lot, and then put a heavy layer of mulch over it. I bordered it with bricks to stop any newcomers and it's been pretty weed-free since.

[bonanzajelybean]

I don't know what dog weed is, but I have morning glory (more properly known as bind weed) and holy F*CK is t ever taking over my garden. It's starting to scare me. My husband looked up how to eradicate it, and he discovered that you should not pull it up by the root, but cut it off at the ground level all summer, and then he figures at the end of summer we should take the tips that are left and dip them in Round Up (which I hate the thought of, but it's worth thinking about) that it might keep things at bay, at least for a while. We have so much of it, though, and it's invaded our entire neighbourhood so unless we get everyone in town on board with this iea, we'll never get rid of it. It's like thick rope everywhere. It's not fair!

[muffinmon]

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/field/news/croptalk/2006/ct_0306a7.htm

Do you live in England? That's what a friend of mine in Merseyside is dealing with.

We need to get our whole area up with the idea of getting rid of it. Walking around, I saw someone razed their lilac bushes and underneath is a field of it.

[bonanzajelybean]

I'm in Canada, west coast. Lots of old neighbourhoods here have morning glory issues, just comes with the territory I suppose. Although it is not dog weed, it has the same type of roots. They are insane. INSANE!!

[bonanzajelybean]

Oh, and it's worked its way into two of my raised veggie beds. I suppose it's only a matter of time before it overtakes my entire yard *sigh*

[rhodielady_47]

Before you go the chemicals route, please try using boiled-down vinegar as a weed killer

[muffinmon]

:(
Last year I went the vinegar route with the ones by the window, under rocks and nothing happened.

Good idea with the gloves & paintbrush

[rhodielady_47]

Ouch! (Oh well, back to the drawing board then!)
Have you a picture of the dog weed to share with us? I'd like to see what it looks like.
Even the chemicals don't work on everything. My neighbor is in the midst of an all-out war on poison ivy and has yet to find a chemical herbicide that does much more than slow it down.
Best of luck!
:}

[virginiadear]

Please: just to be clear, is the vinegar to be boiled down to one-third its original volume, or is it to be reduced by one-third its original volume? In other words, if you start with one gallon of vinegar, how much vinegar should you have after the right amount of boiling down?

And, is this distilled white vinegar? Is rice wine vinegar okay? White wine vinegar? Red wine vinegar? Does it matter?

I'm not trying to be smart with you or give you a hard time, here. I know such things, especially the amount of the reduction (boiling down), make a difference.

Thanks!

[wobblerlorri]

Sometimes chemicals are the only thing to do. I hate it, but I have to use Round-Up every year to kill the grass that sneaks into my garden, even though I cultivate and hoe and hand pull all season long. Every spring, it's back, like the ghosts in Poltergeist.

[plantyhamchuk]

Can you provide the latin or a picture of dog weed? Google image search wasn't helpful...

Edit - once the plant is identified it will be easier to give suggestions for how to manage it.