Alkanet

bouicca21

When I cleared the weeds from the bed I thought my problem would be the reappearance of the bramble. Well I do have a few places where the bramble is poking its head up, but the big problem is that I now have a carpet of alkanet.

My experience with trying to control alkanet elsewhere in the garden is that it is swear word difficult to control. Even glyphosphate doesn't work well and trying to dig it out always leaves a bit of root that will grow again.

So any ideas on what to do would be gratefully received. Are baby alkanet plants easier to dig out? Or more receptive to glyphosphate? I need a strategy!

Davesnave

The RHS and other reputable sources recommend R**nd*p or the generic versions.

Other than that, you've only got SBK brushwood killer to fall back on, I think.

You can't be trusted* with the alternatives I use, and you might not like the price either @£60/litre!

Try a bit of washing up liqid in the mix to maybe get more chemical past the hairy leaves, or try painting it on, or both.
*EU rules say so, not me.:p

jrtfan

It says on http://www.wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/A/Alkanet(Green)/Alkanet(Green).htm that it can't grow in acid soils. Could you dig something in to that area to change the soil's pH value?

bouicca21

Well if it hates acidic soil that would explain why it spreads so easily round here. The soil is just a tad on the acidic side of neutral - definitely not sufficiently acidic to grow ericaceous plants.

It's a big area but maybe investing in a couple of ericaceous feeds first and then a glyphosphate follow up might work. And/or would adding manure (I bought a sack of horse manure from B&Q last week) change the acidity in the right direction?

jrtfan

I'm not sure, myself - maybe someone else will be along soon who can give you a definite answer. However, my son's doing Horticulture this term at a specialist College so I will ask him if he could find out from one of the Lecturers there if you wish, and post the answer here once I have it? (Would be around the middle of next week though, don't know if you'd need to know sooner than that?)

jrtfan

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=82
This link has some suggestions on how to acidify soil and which compounds could be used to this effect.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/pdfs/publications/the-garden/2012/January-2012/Garden-practice-soil-conditioners
It suggests on this link that rotted manures are usually alkaline.

bouicca21

So it looks like the strategy is to dig out the babies and hope I get all of the root, get a gel instead of a spray and paint it on the bigger ones, then treat the whole area with flowers of sulphate to deter recurrence.

bouicca21

A few hours weeding out the wretched alkanet seedlings convinces me that it's well worth trying to deter the things by acidifying the soil. It might not work, but it's worth trying.

I see that sulphur chips are available on Amazon. Presumably these would be easier to apply than powder? Are they as effective?