Thank you everyone. I was thinking of spraying with masses of roundup leaving two weeks and then dig out. It’ll be the second spray but I only used a small bottle, I’ve bought the 5ltr to swamp the stuff.
Roundup really needs to be used on Ground Elder when the plants are growing strongly, preferably just as they start flowering. If you do it before then, it tends to become a much longer battle, so I wish you luck!
You must also wait a minimum of two weeks but best not to pull anything out until the poison has been translocated to the main 'runner' roots, at which point the foliage will be yellow/brown and crispy, with no green visible. If you pull it up before then, there's a very good chance it will be back.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I did both. Did it by hand - very therapeutic, left it to lie and then sprayed with roundup anything that came up. I left it fallow for a further year and then planted it - and guess what - the blighter was just waiting under the surface for that and up it popped again!! Straight in with the weedkiller now and still fighting the battle.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
I spent weeks last spring pulling out ground elder roots from my flower beds, we bought our house from an elderly couple who had allowed ground elder to thrive.
As others have said, digging up ground elder can be very therapeutic, especially when you manage to find a long juicy root and pull it out in one piece. I'm glad to say that hardly any ground elder has shown up this spring, so looks like my thorough digging did the job last yea. I couldn't use roundup as lots of mature plants were nearby. Good luck, ground elder is such a pain, I'd gladly take ivy and brambles any day!
Just and update for those who helped. We used a mixture of roundup and weeding. It has made a dramatic difference with only the occasional elder popping up which we dig up straight away. We plan no planting on the ground until next year when we can see how successful we have been. Thank you all.
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As others have said, digging up ground elder can be very therapeutic, especially when you manage to find a long juicy root and pull it out in one piece. I'm glad to say that hardly any ground elder has shown up this spring, so looks like my thorough digging did the job last yea. I couldn't use roundup as lots of mature plants were nearby. Good luck, ground elder is such a pain, I'd gladly take ivy and brambles any day!