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Creeping buttercup
wakeshine
Posts: 975
Just been told omn here I have a whole patch of Creeping buttercup - how to get rid of it?Roundup or getting out with fork?
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I'd go for getting a fork underneath it and loosening it all up then hand weeding it out. Not usually difficult that way. Just keep an eye open for bits you've missed making a bid for glory. A hand fork and a big of weeding will keep on top of them.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
That damned thing is my nemesis, a couple of hours spent digging it own from a bed left me with tennis elbow for months! I won tho!
Thanks both - used your method just now - big spade and got the lot out hopefully! Some yellow flowers were already there. It actually came out quite easily, but I did get stung by nettle which I thought was a dandelion. I was wearing gloves too! Ouch!
Thank you so much to the forum members who have identified it for me - it looked to me so much like a geranium, had I not asked I would have just left it!
Last edited: 01 June 2017 11:17:04
wakeshine - I was caught out with creeping buttercup as well. Had an old clematis in a pot with a geranium pratense Mrs Kendall Clark. Was a silly combination as I allowed the clematis to get pot bound and it smothered the Kendall Clark.
In March I tipped out the pot, transplanted the clematis and was beside myself with excitement as the 'Kendall Clark' seemed to naturally 'divide' and I promptly stuck what I thought were 6 geranium divisions into the soil and they seemed to 'take' very quickly. The leaves seemed to have grown a bit heavy looking and the foliage hugged the ground - and every day I expected them to spring upwards.
Last week I discovered the folly of my 'oh look at the cleverness of me with all these Kendall Clark divisions' when one yellow flower appeared confirming it was creeping buttercup. All dug up now and I'm looking every day to see if any 'leftovers' appear.
Had to laugh. I was so excited at the prospect of so many lovely Kendall Clark's - which it would seem must have rotted away in the clematis pot without my noticing. Hubris!
Last edited: 02 June 2017 01:50:26
Lol yarrow2 @ your cleverness of me comment! I know exactly what you mean. I thought mine was a variant of Geranium Rozanne or somesuch! Also saw the buttercup flower and rushed to get it all out. Is your clematis alright after being in with it?
I dug out a few clumps in one border after it being identified here too.
Few plants growing in the front lawn, so I assume its lawn weedkiller I need to use here (or should I hack around in the turf and reseed)?
I'm not sure Andy Leeds. How big are they the ones in the laen? Can't you fork it out? I found it came out fairly easily but I don't know from the lawn
If there's not tons of it in lawns, it can be removed with a daisy grubbber or a dandelion grubber if the soil isn't really wet or dry as the fibrous roots will snap and it'll just come back.
Both grubbers have two small prongs so don't make too much of a mess of grass if used carefully but you may still end up with small holes in the lawn as some grass will come up too. A follow up to get any bits that reappear may be needed for a few weeks though.
I'd buy a selective weedkiller and spray the affected area instead... far less hassle. But everyone has ther own way of doing thngs
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Thanks, they aren't very big in the lawn so I might do the daisy grubber approach. That's if I don't get blown off my feet in this wind (my poor alliums and poppies have been battered ?).
I had a friend who carefully cleared all the beds in her new garden, leaving geraniums to grow on until I identified the creeping menace. We had it all over the place in my Belgian garden and spent hours clearing it by hand only to find it creeping back from the field behind or a teeny bit we missed.
Easy enough to shift tho, especially after a spot of rain. I did learn to let it dry before putting it on the compost heap - along wit couch grass roots, nettles and especially bindweed.