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--- garden:cultivate:tasks:weed:loathesome [2014/09/29 22:26] – davidbac
+++ garden:cultivate:tasks:weed:loathesome [2025/08/23 00:53] (current) – [Loathesome weeds] 98.97.42.149
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+===== Loathesome weeds =====
+I call out several weeds as most pernicious and insidious because they have particular characteristics that make them very difficult to control. They are persistent, prolific and cling to life with a preternatural tenacity. They are strongly predisposed to living through their life cycle!
+It doesn't matter what I'm doing, whether planting or harvesting, when I see one of these interlopers I pull, slice or dig till I'm confident that individual doesn't have a chance of a future.
+<note tip>Every weed before its time!</note>
+There are the two most loathsome I encountered in my Fall City gardens:sheep sorrel and perslane.
+==== Sheep sorrel ====
+{{:garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0991bindweedleafdw.jpg?160 |Sheep sorrel leaves}}Lately the most pernicious weed in my garden is sheep sorrel (//Rumex acetosella//, also called field sorrel or red sorrel. These are the plants I have in my garden. The photo at the right shows the leaves of an established plant.\\
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+{{  :garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0975rev.jpg?200|Weed spreading with rhizomes}}The small, tender green leaves sticking up in bunches don't reveal that they are attached and initially fed by an underground root, called a rhizome, from a mother plant. These guys can spread quickly via rhizome extensions and they are difficult to take out. It's necessary not just to pull up the leaves, but to get down to the rhizomes (an inch or more) and dig them out.\\
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+{{:garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0976dw.jpg?200 |Plants connected by a rhizome}}Connected fellows may be more than a foot away, so look around for similar leaves. I've read that the network of rhizomes can extend 40 feet. Imagine what one sprouted seed can do - and that it can do so very rapidly.
+{{  :garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0978dw.jpg?200|Rhizomes can be quite small}}Notice a rhizome can branch out into multiple shoots anywhere along its length. Even a small piece of this rhizome left in the soil can generate a new network of sheep sorrel. Extreme measures are necessary to rid a garden of sheep sorrel. I'm just beginning the battle.\\
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+{{ :garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0989dw.jpg?120|The tap root of an established plant can go way down!}}
+Sheep sorrel has taken the place of perslane as the most insidious weed in my garden. Last year I didn't see any sign of sheep sorrel. This year it's a major problem. The plants abilities to go wide and deep, with rhizomes, deep tap roots, and clouds of minute seeds allow it to spread quickly and establish itself firmly in the soil.
+=== Possible use ===
+Some claim medicinal and culinary uses for sheep sorrel that sound interesting. I've also read of using sorrel in salads. So I wonder how one would have a plot of sorrel and still have other plants. Left to its own intention sorrel can take over a garden.
+Perhaps limiting it to raised beds and removing flowers before the plant spews its minute seeds would keep sorrel in check and allow regular harvest for preparing. I'm not interested right now in trying this because I've seen how rapidly sorrel can spread and how invasive it is. But something to think about....
+==== Purslane ====
+Purslane, formally //portulaca oleracea//, and informally as little hogweed, isn't strictly a weed - some growers cultivate it as a gourmet succulent herb. I've read that purslane contains heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and beta carotene. But I say if you want to grow purslane, you might as well forget growing anything else because it can take over a garden.
+{{ :garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0971rev.jpg?160|}}First, once a purslane seed sprouts and peeks above the soil it has a tenacity of few other weeds. If you pull it up and don't get all of the root, it will send up more leaves. If you leave even a small part of a purslane sprout on moist ground, it will extend roots and continue to grow.
+{{:garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0972rev.jpg?200  |Purslane growing quickly}}Fragments of the succulent purslane plant reroot easily to give rise to new plants, and larger uprooted plants can mature seed even without re-establishing root systems in the soil. The plant is self-pollinated, and flowers can be fertilized even before they open. Seeds are tiny and long-lived. All of these traits make it difficult to keep purslane from propagating itself massively in a single season.
+{{ :garden:cultivate:tasks:img_0986dw.jpg?240|Purslane this size is difficult to kill}}Once a plant gets to this size it is very difficult to pull. If part of the root says in the ground it will send up another plant. I dig down to loosen the soil around the tap root and carefully extract the entire plant from the loosened soil. Then, of course, I put the plant in the yard waste container to be hauled away - no composting of these villains! This isn't to mention the huge number of seeds a plant can generate or the fact that an uprooted plant can mature seed without re-establishing its root system. This isn't unique to purslane, but given the bitter tenacity of even the smallest sprout, this weed can take over a garden in a season.
+<note warning>I don't leave these weeds lying on the ground and I don't put them in a compost pile. The place for these loathsome weeds is in yard waste that is hauled **__far far away__** from the garden.
+</note>
+Larger uprooted plants can mature seed even without re-establishing root systems in the soil. The plant is self-pollinated, and flowers can be fertilized even before they open. Seeds are tiny and long-lived. All of these traits make it difficult to keep purslane from propagating itself in cultivated fields and gardens. So you see that purslane is insidious.
+==== Discovered in Graham ====
+Working on our property in Graham exposed me to even more troublesome plants, each with its own claim to infamy, some so problematic that they should be eradicated. This is easier said than done!
+=== Dock weed ===
+Prolific seeding, invasive and difficult to control. Seeds remain viable up to 60 years.
+=== Plantain ===
+Prolific seeding, invasive and difficult to control. Seeds remain viable up to 20 years.
+=== Canadian thistle ===
+Prolific seeding, invasive and difficult to control. See [[garden:cultivate:tasks:weed:thistles|Canadian Thistles]].
+=== Common Tansy ===
+Toxic to humans and cattle, ?????
+=== Creeping sedge rush ===
+Invasive and difficult to control, can take over a wetland and thrive in wet soil.
+=== Reed canary grass ===
+Invasive and difficult to control. Thrives next to wetland areas.
+<note warning>As with less toxic plants such as sheep sorrel and purslane, I don't leave these especially difficult weeds lying on the ground and I don't put them in a compost pile. The place for these loathsome weeds is in yard waste that is hauled **__far far away__** from the garden.
+</note>