Stop Press - Weed seeds survive 80 years!!

stilernin

Having just spent a happy hour or so digging Creeping Buttercup out of the border, I've been driven in by the rain, so I thought I'd Google it to see how much might come back.

I might as well give up, check below ... :eek:

"Seed longevity in soil is said to be 5 to 7 years but seed recovered from excavations and dated at 80 years old is reported to have germinated."

This is a second season in this, heavy clay garden, and I hadn't got to this bit yet. The bl**dy stuff is all through the 'lawn' (mostly moss and weeds) too.

annie123

When I moved here 16 years ago I had bindweed, Japanese knot weed and creeping buttercup.
I no longer have bindweed or knot weed but I still have the blo**y creeping buttercup.
Sometimes it tries to liven our relationship up by growing in new areas for a change, or maybe hiding under my perennial geraniums so it is disguised and I dont spot before its got quite big.
Once you have it you have no chance of ever getting rid of it, just have to keep on top of it.

alfred64

A nuisance, perhaps, but buttercup is not the hardest of weeds to keep under control.

Grumpycupple

It does hide amongst geraniums. But 80 years to get rid of it? :eek:Has anyone else dug up clumps of plants and seperated the buttercup rooots from their plants? My neighbours think I am batty. Going to try the hot vinegar trick this week.

£$&*"($£&(

You might get rid of creeping buttercup but it will always be back. It loves short crop grass and bare soil and mainly spreads with stolons rather than seed. After 80 years the viability will be quite minimal. It's a pain in my borders but I don't mind it in the grass. I don't mind many things in the grass. Luckily I mainly have the similar and more beautiful bulbous buttercup but still no meadow buttercup which is the best grassland buttercup.