Your top ten worst weeds.

looksee

We had three cornered leek, but one session of taking out bulbs - and the daffodils they were hiding between - sorted them almost totally. The daffs were replanted and they came back no problem.

looksee

The previous garden owner had planted cultivated blackberries then left them to get on with it. They merged/crossed with the prolific wild ones in the garden and the whole place was just covered in huge mounds of brambles. My daughter patiently cut back the vines - 12 and 15 ft up trees, or in arching impenetrable mounds, and left them in heaps till they dried out and were a fraction of the volume - they were mostly put through the chipper after that. Then we dug up the root balls, dried them out and burned them (yes I know, but they burn like crazy once they are dry). There were not nearly as many root balls as there appeared to be from the top growth. We still get the odd bramble coming up, but I reckon we reclaimed about a quarter of the area of the garden, there are still some in a few wild patches around the perimeter, but they are easy enough to control.

The Continental Op

I'd be OK with Blackberry because I've almost totally got rid of it along our river bank where it was a real pain. Took about 5 years of strimming it twice a year before it was totally under control. It still pops up but never rarely gets more than a couple of foot long before the strimmer is into it again.

dePeatrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283302#Comment_119283302

I’ve never had that problem but I deadhead, is it the bulbils that spread?

Timfy

1) Gunnera

2-10) See 1

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283822#Comment_119283822

Is it difficult to control? Big leaves to absorb chemicals and big fat buds overwinter that would also absorb chemicals would make them easy targets?

I know it can take off, anyone seen the massive stand of it at Kennedy Arboretum (Wexford).

Timfy

Gunnera is absolutely impossible to control, hundreds of thousands of euro have been spent out here in the West and not made any meaningful impact. If you have one this year, you have a hundred next year. It spreads by releasing thousands of spores and the tap root can be over a meter deep, leaving the core of the plant pretty impervious to glyphosates. If you try to dig it up you only serve to spread the spores more quickly and if one tiny piece is left in the ground and it can regrow to being a 10ft tall monster the following year.

Even good old mortone will only knock it back, ready to return next year.

Areas around here have been absolutely blasted with weed killers, leaving nothing but rocks and within a year or so guess what the first greenery to appear was! The technique of weedkilling is painfully slow, cutting them down individually and painting the stump with weed killer. Add to this the fact that the plant is toxic and it's sap, even just brushing a leaf, will cause skin blistering and photosensitivity.

It sours the ground it grows in and when the leaves die back in autumn you have vast piles of black slimy nastiness. Out here we have vast swathes of them, acres of nothing but gunnera, completely obliterating the local flora and making gardening a misery when they decide to visit your property..

Evil bar-stewards

wildwillow

Any and all Euphorbia. I can't be having it. Cannot understand how anyone would cultivate it.

I was once given this advice: Don't accept any plant from a gardener who say it's easy to grow anywhere. Without exception it will become a nuisance and you will struggle to get rid of it.

Cannot vote often enough for horsetail.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283302#Comment_119283302

I've grown them in a couple of spots for almost 40 years and never had them spreading like that - in fact in one area I wish they would.

For me it's cutch or other coarse grasses in the lawn. Everything else is manageable with regular weeding.

jaffa20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119284339#Comment_119284339

I can give you loads of you like. They even grow through cracks of concrete for me 😂

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283813#Comment_119283813

Yes, bulbils everywhere in soil, probably years worth of them. Many of them so young that I don't even get flowers from them yet.

notAMember

Bindweed.

creeping buttercup

ground elder

ash trees and sycamore trees, they reseed everywhere!

bramble

3 cornered leek

And my all time nemesis, buddleja. What a pest of a thing. Comes up in every crack and nook, gutters, drains. My neighbour grows it as an ornamental. I’m not a massive fan of weed killer but would happily knock a bucket of roundup over his wall onto his very annoying buddleja.

The Continental Op

Anyone here know how to set up a poll (PM me) and the maximum number of items you can have in a poll? Might be interesting to list all the suggestions we've had so far and have a vote on the worst ones. Buddleja would have never occurred to me although when working in tree surgery in the UK we did some work on railway embankments and buddleja was the biggest problem weed.

dePeatrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119284681#Comment_119284681

That’s gas, I wanted to grow more of them and hadn’t realised that bulbils firmed from the flowers, thanks for the tip, am trying to grow lilies As well from bulbils and they take time.

looksee

Absolutely agree about sycamore trees. I have a group of about 8 mature trees in one spot and have already taken out two that were too close to my house and next door's house. There is a massive granddaddy tree on the boundary, which is fine, but its offspring have been allowed to grow and the result is a garden full of dratted sycamores that I would much rather replace with something more interesting.

magicbastarder

ash trees and sycamore trees, they reseed everywhere!

maybe enjoy the former while you can...

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119284025#Comment_119284025

That's really interesting, it must be very climate- and/or soil-specific. I had a few groups of it in my garden (east coast) but wife didn't like it so I physically pulled it out wth no care whatsoever and it didn't come back. Same with next door.

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283137#Comment_119283137

Equisetum telmateia, I think.

standardg60

For me one plant well on it's way to becoming the next JK around Dublin anyway is winter heliotrope, seems to be everywhere. (There's also a similar growing plant but with a yellow short-stemmed flower that i've yet to identify.)

Creeping cinquefoil can be a real nuisance if it gets into a bed, likewise vetch, and chickweed is the bane of my life in one garden, seems never-ending.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119285570#Comment_119285570

Hmmmmm ;-) So your Mares/Horse Tail is a meter high?

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119285817#Comment_119285817

I dunno, mostly 80cm. I may have misclassified it. What do you think?

Igotadose

We have (so far) a small, bounded (hopefully) 3 cornered leek bed. We control it by cooking with it from time to time. It's really tasty!

Kind of mix of onion and garlic. But, I will keep a seriously close eye on it. It's in with some globe artichokes that shade out most things so I just want the leek to survive but not get too vigorous.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286214#Comment_119286214

Reminds me, may as well throw Carex pendula into the mix too!

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286300#Comment_119286300

Maybe a viable strategy is to plant all the worst weeds and let them fight to the death.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286214#Comment_119286214

I really only know the 2 I mentioned arvense and palustra + the "ornamental" one hyemale. Equisetum arvense is the most common afaik and supposed to be able to make it to 90 cm but I've never seen it that big.

Found this https://bsbi.org//wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/10_Identifying-horsetails_John-Conaghan.pdf which I'm going to study as its always good to know your enemy ;-)

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119285599#Comment_119285599

Just a guess from the description but is the yellow flowered one you mention coltsfoot?

Agree about winter heliotrope being difficult to deal with and creeping cinqefoil. Have just left the cinquefoil keep its place in one spot in the garden here. It just gets ripped up around the edges to keep it contained and I have a few shrubs and small trees near it that it does not seem to effect. Also have chickweed pops up here from time to time but just pull it out when I see it. I think the ground here is too dry for the mare's tail and winter heliotrope as they don't seem to have settled here but in other gardens I have found digging out the roots persistently can set them back.

Happy gardening!

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286586#Comment_119286586

Thanks macraignil no i'm pretty sure it's not coltsfoot, flower is too yellow. Spotted it by the roadside today while out for a cycle, will take a pic and post next chance i get.

Edit and apologies, it is indeed coltsfoot, thank you.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286681#Comment_119286681

Its also a bit late for coltsfoot I would have thought?

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286716#Comment_119286716

Not sure about when it generally flowers, but in a new build garden i've been working in it arrived in a batch of topsoil, long white roots like bindweed, maple-ish green leaves with silver undersides which sprout like heliotrope, while the flowering stem sprouted separate to the leaves.

I've seen it growing locally, but just can't find it online.

See edit above, was maple-ish from memory, memory fading with age!

A2LUE42

Since we've moved into this house.

Brambles - 2 years of killing and mulching to get under control

Ivy - 3 years of pulling and cutting and using an old electric lawnmower to get the ground cover stuff.

Holly - Combined with the two above that had gone wild and covered and blocked a stream around the outline of the site. Tamed with the brambles and the Ivy.

Marestail - 4 years of trying everything, eventually had to remove all raised beds(100m2) and convert to lawn. Almost under control now after a further 2 years. I had never even heard of it before finding it here.

Leylandii and similar. All 40 years +. 15 gone, only 1 remaining at the furthest end of the garden. 5 of them were 50+ feet tall and within 20 feet of the house.

Tutsan is next on the list to reduce the amount in the garden, seems to spread a lot, so need to stop it from getting too far and becoming an issue.

The Continental Op

We aren't doing bad in no particular order we have about 35 worst weeds so far

Coltsfoot

Winter heliotrope

Horsetail - Equisetum

Carex pendula

Three Cornered Leek

Sycamore - Seedlings

Ash - Seedlings

Buddleja

Bindweed

Creeping buttercup

Ground elder

Bramble

Euphorbia

Gunnera

Soft Rush (Common Rush)

Grape hyacinth, Muscari Armenicanum

Bluebells - when in the wrong place

Fennel

Willowherb

Nettles

Pheasant grass

Dandelion - in lawns

Daisy - in lawns

Yellow Clover - in lawns

Thistles

Bracken

Hairy bittercress

Alchemilla mollis

Hogweed and Common hogweed

Ivy

Cleavers

Hawkbit

Scutch grass

Oxalis

Japanese Knotweed