Alkanet again

bouicca21

glyphosate got rid of the worst of my alkanet and nothing has reappeared in its place so I’m confident that that area at least I got the roots.  Glyphosate was less successful on the very small, bit bigger than a seedling plants and they are now reappearing.  What’s the best way to keep it under control?  I can keep on digging them out but even tiny plants have long tap roots and I never get it all out.  I assume I’m at least weakening the blighters. Throughout the summer I removed their flowers so they wouldn’t set seed.

alkanet is a problem all over this area so I’m never going to be totally successful, but is there anything else I can do to prevent them taking over?   It’s too wet now to use glyphosate.  Should I let them grow bigger and attack them with Glyphosate in the spring?   Or just keep digging them up whenever I see them?

[Deleted User]

What is alkanet ?

bouicca21

Think yourself lucky that you don’t know.  I didn’t until I moved here.  It’s a brute, sets seed easily, has deep tap roots that are difficult to get out and regenerates if a bit of root is left in the ground. 

twopenny

You could make money from it.

The root when powdered is sold for £25 for less than 8oz. It's got lots of uses.

It's said that it won't grow in acid soil so you can apply all sorts but not sure how that will affect any other plants around it.

Otherwise your original suggestions were the answer.

bouicca21

Ah! the soil round here is pretty well neutral, maybe that's why the stuff flourishes. 

Falafels

bouicca21 said:

glyphosate got rid of the worst of my alkanet and nothing has reappeared in its place so I’m confident that that area at least I got the roots.  Glyphosate was less successful on the very small, bit bigger than a seedling plants and they are now reappearing.  What’s the best way to keep it under control?  I can keep on digging them out but even tiny plants have long tap roots and I never get it all out.  I assume I’m at least weakening the blighters. Throughout the summer I removed their flowers so they wouldn’t set seed.

alkanet is a problem all over this area so I’m never going to be totally successful, but is there anything else I can do to prevent them taking over?   It’s too wet now to use glyphosate.  Should I let them grow bigger and attack them with Glyphosate in the spring?   Or just keep digging them up whenever I see them?

As the name would suggest, it thrives in alkaline soil... and I'd have tons of the stuff if I let it! My front garden is mostly a very large raised bed. The property was rented out for four years, and tenants let alkanet take root in it. When I came back, I realised the only thing to do was dig it out as far as possible - and some of those underground cables were as thick as my wrist.

The little seedlings keep appearing, though, and will continue to do so while there's still so much in the neighbourhood. I just pull them up the moment that I see them. Sometimes there might be a small one which is sprouting off an old rhizome left in the ground, so if they don't come up easily I follow the root down and down until I get it all.

I don't like using glyphosate because there are so many small birds in the garden, who peck at plants, and I just don't think it would do them any good. So I go on alkanet patrol every week or so during the growing season, and just pull them out. I've yet to come up with a better way.

At least the underground rhizomes don't shatter into tiny pieces the way convulvulus roots do!

[Deleted User]

Ohhhhkay - we're talking about Pentaglottis.
Yes, very difficult if you don't want it in the garden, it's not something i've had in any of mine and i've been on neutral soil all my life.
Leycesteria, Hypericums and Cordylines self seed in mine 😣