New gardener

 
Hi everyone, I've only just recently moved to a property with a garden
and, as such, I'm a complete beginner at everything! My main problem is
that there seem to be weeds coming up in the flower bed which climb up
round the plants. I've tried pulling them out but they just break off
and leave the roots in the soil. Is there a weedkiller that I can use
which won't harm the flowers. I've heard of a substance that you paint
on the leaves of the weeds. Are these any good. Your help much
appreciated.




--
Wikky

 Wikky wrote:

  yes, you can do that, but if it
runs or drips off the leaves of the
weed onto the flowers the flowers
might die back too.

  if you keep removing the new
growth from the weeds eventually
they will give up as the roots
run out of energy.  it may take
several seasons, but it can be
done.

  to speed things up if you can
follow the weed from the stalk
down to the roots then you can
remove as much of the root system
that you can find.  even if it is
only a part of it that is something
the weed will have much less to
come back from and also it has to
recover from the destruction.

  be persistent and patient, if
there is one thing a gardener must
be it is both of those.  ;)


  songbird

 

You are undoubtedly thinking of Glyphosate (Round-Up).

<http://www.i-sis.org.uk/glyphosatePoisonsCrops.php>
Don Huber, recently retired from Purdue University, and co-author G.S.
Johal, at Purdue¹s Dept of Botany and Plant Pathology, stated in a paper
published in the October 2009 issue of European Journal of Agronomy that
the widespread use of glyphosate in the US can ³significantly increase
the severity of various plants diseases, impair plant defense to
pathogens and diseases, and immobilize soil and plant nutrients
rendering them unavailable for plant use.²

Best advice is to dampen soil, and pull weeds before they go to flower
(seeds).
--
- Billy

Mad dog Republicans to the right. Democratic spider webs to the left. True
conservatives, and liberals not to be found anywhere in the phantasmagoria
of the American political landscape.

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
<http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/10/michael-moore
/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/>

 

Sounds like a vine.

If you yank off the top and are persistent, you'll suppress and
eventually kill the vine.  If you follow the vine down to it's roots
and work your fingers or a tool around the root area, then pull
you'll speed up the process.

Vines are tough.  I just got through a short session of pulling an
unknown vine out of a large area of Vinca .  The issue there is Vinca is
pretty vine like itself.  It's a dense ground cover.  I do a little vine
pulling each year and make slow progress.  My attitude is,
if I make progress, I'm happy.  I don't
want a perfect garden right now, plenty of time for that.

I use weed killers on walkways where I want everything dead.
Painting the leaves should work, but be careful to only get the
plant you want to kill.

I recommend getting in there and communing with nature,
wrap your fingers around the offending plants body and yank.
Ignore any imagined screams.

:)

--
Dan Espen

 
Wikky;925870 Wrote:

Hi Wikky, sounds to me that what you have is bindweed ! Its a deep
rooted perennial weed that grows from thick white fleshy roots ! Yes,
your only hope, is to treat each shoot with a systemic weedkiller. Let
the weed grow until its about 12" tall and get a weedkiller with a
chemical in it called 'Glyphosate' (was sold only as 'roundup' but now
available in many forms as the Monsanto licence has expired) mix this up
and as you say, paint it onto each leaf. Now as this chemical is
inactivated on contact with the soil, you wont harm the other plants as
long as you dont touch them ! This is very effective at killing bindweed
but you might find odd bits keep appearing for a while so, just keep
treating those as well and eventually it will disappear.

Lannerman.




--
lannerman