Pennywort 22 January 2020 at 3:22PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 7 replies 659 views

frankie

Is there a way of permanently eradicating this nuisance 'weed'. I have diligently hand weeded over past years and it still persists. I am not able to change the growing environment as its in a natural stone wall which is pretty much permanently damp except in summer.

Davesnave

There's a number of different plants with the common name Pennywort, but if you mean Umbilicus rupestris, or Navelwort, then it's a wild plant I'm rather fond of. I have them growing right outside the window to my office and they don't cause any nuisance, like Cleavers and Ground Ivy do.


https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/pennywort/


Why do you want to eradicate it?

frankie

Davesnave wrote: »

Why do you want to eradicate it?

Its smothering areas where I want to cultivate and grow veggies, not only does it grow in the wall it also smothers the ground.

Davesnave

The dearth of info surrounding this wild plant suggests it's not a nuisance for many people. It's just a wild plant or 'weed' that likes your conditions. Everyone has weeds. My own experience is that it doesn't migrate from the shady hedge where it lives, so it's likely that your soil is damper and more shaded than mine.

There will be a reservoir of ungerminated seeds in your soil beside the wall, so even if you spray plants in the wall with glyphosate before they seed, or pull them by hand, you will still have them coming up for some time.

However, on the bright side, the roots of this plant are relatively feeble, so removing it from the areas you want to cultivate will be a regular, but easy task. Eventually the seed reservoir will be depleted and persistence is the key.

Put it another way; I'd swap your Navelwort for my annual meadow grass any time! For a start, that grass can grow and set seed in around a month, whereas Navelwort takes a whole season to seed.

frankie

Thanks Dave. Looks like I will just have to continue hand weeding and put up with it. Like you say there are probably worse problems to have!

twopenny

Wall Pennywort (Umbilicus rupestris) is edible. It can taste like peas or peppery depening on where it's growing and when it's young. Perhaps you could harvest it? :-)
It's nibbled here on Exmoor while out walking.
But check throughly if you think of tasting that that's what it is before you do!

Davesnave

I nibbled some of ours today. It was OK, but nothing special; like other mild salad greens, such as purslane.


P.S. Not far, but not up on Exmoor. Been there, done that.... Brrrr!

unrecordings

I had what I now think is pennywort last year in a potted oak seedling. I pulled it out & binned it not knowing what it was. Will be on the lookout for more of them this year. On the subject of edible weeds (thanks fo the link Dave). I started to get hairy bittercress a couple of years ago, which I found annoying until I tasted it, after which I tried to cultivate it to get larger plants - that didn't work for whatever reason.