Be careful removing cleavers by hand. Last year some wrapped itself round my wrist and I came up in nasty blisters which took weeks to heal and left a dark brown scar all summer.
Yes my cats too spread this around!! It's not too bad if you can keep on top of it by pulling them out before they have seeds. Any one know a failsafe method for killing broadleaf ivy as its creeping over from a neighbours and ruining my expensive fence? thanks in advance.
As you say it is shortlived and mine has almost died away now. It only appeared for the first time last year and hadn't reached the back garden but I saw a few strands this year there. The front was overrun with it and I keep pulling it out but I can't see there is anything else I can do.Thankfully it is the only really difficult weed I have although I bought a load of topsoil which produced little docks and nettles. They are so small that I'm able to pull them out easily but you have to keep your eyes open all the time.
I find it so easy to pull out that I wouldn't bother with weedkillers, just yank it out. Big patches can be pulled out with a rake (the sticky branches work in your favour here!) Firmly rooted bluebells and other plants will be left looking ragged for a while but will survive. (If they do get accidentally raked out of the ground, quickly replant them!)
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
Cleavers give me a nasty rash. I pull them and then leave them to dry on the lawn for a few hours and then they can go on the compost heap. For serious nasties like bindweed and couch grass and creeping buttercup I leave the plants and roots to dry out for a day or so so they're dead before they go on the compost. Horsetail goes into the dustbin, again after drying out first.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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Good to know. I was in two minds about the compost bin.
Yes my cats too spread this around!! It's not too bad if you can keep on top of it by pulling them out before they have seeds. Any one know a failsafe method for killing broadleaf ivy as its creeping over from a neighbours and ruining my expensive fence? thanks in advance.
Fine if you pick it young - once it's flowered and gone to seed it's not pleasant.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Best composted young for me
In the sticks near Peterborough
I have cleavers all over our bluebell wood so cant spray and a bit challenging to do by hand. Any suggestions please. Tragog
I find it so easy to pull out that I wouldn't bother with weedkillers, just yank it out. Big patches can be pulled out with a rake (the sticky branches work in your favour here!) Firmly rooted bluebells and other plants will be left looking ragged for a while but will survive. (If they do get accidentally raked out of the ground, quickly replant them!)
Cleavers give me a nasty rash. I pull them and then leave them to dry on the lawn for a few hours and then they can go on the compost heap. For serious nasties like bindweed and couch grass and creeping buttercup I leave the plants and roots to dry out for a day or so so they're dead before they go on the compost. Horsetail goes into the dustbin, again after drying out first.