I admit that I have not read every thread in this forum but I am getting a headache from it so I hope someone can tell me the answer. When you have a plant that you think is invasive and dig as deep as you can to rip it out of the ground would it make sence to put the round-up or any other weed killer right on the roots at each end of the break? If it grows from the roots and if you put somethig on the end of that root, would that make it idfficult for the plant grow further ? All so, would the plant Lily of the Valley be concidered invasive?
invastive plants
There's more than one thing that gets called lily of the valley, but Convallaria majalis, sometimes "european lily of the valley" is non native to the americas and generally spreads pretty prolifically.
Different people have different opinions about roundup and other chemical biocides, but yeah, poison on the root kills things. (Just be sure you have the right root!) If it's a tree or woody shrub or vine, you'd want a woody plant poison. If you can narrow it down to a more specific poison you'll have better luck not killing other things around. Lots of folks use a paintbrush to make sure they're just getting the chemical on the one root.
anybody know anything about tansy ????
Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) is listed as an invasive in several States. Also, it can be toxic to humans and some animals. Here's a link: http://www.invasive.org/weedcd/pdfs/wow/common-tansy.pdf
There is a native tansy, Lake Huron Tansy or Tanacetum huronense, which is different from the invasive Tansy.
One thing to know about herbicides is that sometimes they have to be sprayed on a leaf which is actively growing and not stressed in order to work. Glyphosate is one such (Round up for example). It has to pass through the leaf and into the root to work. Others poison the ground and do their work that way. It is necessary to read thoroughly the information on the package to know for sure how to use it. Yes I know that sounds exhausting but if we're going to use these things it might be good to understand them. In the northwest my concern is products leaching into the ground waters. That seems like way too much impact for little ol' me to rationalize. After some research I found out that glyphosate is one of the only herbicides that doesn't travel in the soil. It becomes bound up. So I was told by a University of Ohio ag professor.
Thank you patti47 for the info
You're welcome mableruth, I'm glad to pass on the only thing I know about chemicals for gardeners LOL
Round-up is a *contact only* chemical. We use it here on the farm fields to kill alfalfa that needs to be out of the crop rotation and the field planted to another crop. Spray it on, and in a couple of days you could theoretically go in and plant your corn. But, it is better to spray in the fall and let the foliage die. So, don't worry about it contaminating your soil for other plants. Just make sure you don't make "contact" with something you DON'T want dead.