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Weeding buttercups

CollareddoveCollareddove Posts: 173
in Problem solving
I have an area of lawn which I did not mow last year, allowing nature to do its own thing.  Unfortunately its own t hing was buttercups which have now seeded extensively.  I am weeding these new and old weeds by hand.  How much basal pl ate/ root shouod I remove to be sure the weed will die?



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Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I have two of those. It's handy to have a spare when I've lost one😏 
    They're great for digging out weeds and jiggling soil.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • CollareddoveCollareddove Posts: 173
    Yes, I have one of those.  My question was really whether it matters leaving a few stray roots, or even bits of the basal plate - can the buttercup regenerate like couch grass and bindweed from just a small piece of root?
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    Not from a small piece of root, but I always remove the baseplate as you call it. I often find that just pulling at the top leafy part leaves the crown intact ( perhaps a survival tactic?) so I follow up by digging the root out.
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    Likewise @Woodgreen , easy to just take the top off and leave the crown of the roots. Problem is they produce lots of runners from roots so even if you get the full root there is a good chance they have already done their dastardly work and sent out new ones elsewhere
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    Tell me about it! @Jellyfire. They exit the grass for the border and unless I get that first intruder there'll be a chain of them, getting progressively smaller....but if any are missed and severed from the chain they don't half grow!

    If I'm pulling them out by hand I loosen them with the hand fork then really dig my fingers in underneath the root plate so that I get it all.

    Nice to keep some in the wilder bits of garden, under hedgerows etc. but hard work to clear an unwanted invasion from a border.
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    I have the garden split in 2, one half is wild and I let the wildflowers run riot, and one side is cultivated, they are divided by a cleft chestnut fence, for some reason the plants, particulalry the buttercups, dont seem to recognise this very strict border  :D
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