Possible stinging nettle?

How can I be sure some plants are stinging nettle before I rip them out? Last fall I had this big plant which was out of place, so I thought I'd pull it out! Was that ever a mistake! The numbness in my hand! I thought it was some type of stroke I had, and it did go away after 2 days. I mentioned it to my son and he laughed and told me what it was. Now I see there is a ring of similar plants coming up around where the one I pulled up was located. How can I tell what these plants are without touching them. Can't find a picture. Otherwise they are going to be dug out and put out for garbage pickup today! Doris

Doris - there are some good pics on the google search
http://images.google.com/images?q=stinging+nettle&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search

Wear gloves! ;)

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME... I heard that stinging nettle will ease arthritis pain. It's sopposed to send endorphins to the brain to counteract pain center. BUT. if it does it's because it hurts so much worse than the arthritis that you no longer feel the pain of arthritis, and the nettle sting last a long time. nothing will take the sting out, not even cold soapy water,which I usually use in ant bites. I have learned by getting into it... what it looks like, and I try and avoid it,but just the smallest bit will make you sit up and take notice.I go barefoot so it does a job on my feet:(

Hi Poppy, thanks for the link! Yep, thats what mine are, about 5 of them coming up! Its drizzling out right now, but I'll get out there later when it stops. Thanks so much for letting me know as I've put a lot of perennials out in the fall and I can't tell what are weeds, but these little green plants in a circle around a bulb looked familiar. Thanks also Tink! I think I'll just live with my arthritis. I can just picture stepping on one of those barefoot! I'll make sure I have gloves on when I dig them up. Thanks again, Doris

Tink: To take the sting out, try a fresh dock leaf, mint, rosemary, or sage rubbed into the effected area. That should take care of it.

Doris: Don't get rid of those young nettles. Use them. They are the preeminent spring tonic and blood cleanser, high in chlorophyll, calcium and potassium. Used as a spring tonic stinging nettles bolster the entire body, and improve resistance to allegens---including environmental pollutants.

To use, either make a tea of the aerial parts of the plant, or use the entire plant to make a tincture.

BTW, the use of stinging nettles as a remedy for arthritis is via flagellation. You whip the plant against the affected joints. It doesn't work for everybody, but for those it does work what you get is an immediate endorphin rush, followed by two to three pain-free days.

My experience with stinging nettles...
E'gads! :-)
Wear gloves.

I have to giggle here just a bit. We have those nice nettles here too. Just so happens I have a hubby with degenerative and rheumatoid arthritis. I keep offering to smack him with a plant and would you believe he says no??? He let a doctor drain fluid off his knee and inject it with cortizone, but won't let me smack him with a plant. Hmph! I am thinking the plant would be a whole lot more pleasant than the needles. Hope I NEVER get arthritis. I can dream. :)

THANKS BROOK, I'LL HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT NEXT TIME I GET MY FEET IN IT. I WILL JUST GO AND RUB THEM IN THE MANY DOCK PLANTS THAT ARE ALSO EVERYWHERE! BAD SEED... DON'T BLAME YOUR dh FOR NOT WANTING TO BE TORTURED WITH THE NETTLE. I'VE HAD TO HAVE MY KNEES DRAINED A LOT WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. THEN I HAD A JOINT REPLACEENT ON ONE KNEE.SURE MADE A DIFFERENCE.AND ONE NEEDLE PRICK IS BETTER THAN A THOUSAND AND IT FEELS LIKE A THOUSAND TOO! i WOULD PUT OFF GETTING MY KNEE DRAINED UNTIL IT FINALY WENT AWAY ON IT'S OWN OR UNTIL I COULDN'T STAND IT ANY MORE. I'VE HAD RA ABOUT 50 YEARS SO I HAVE TRIED ALL THE REMEDIES. i AM SO GLAD THAT I NEVER BECAME ADDICTED TO ANY OF THE PAIN MEDS.NOTHING HELPS MUCH ANYWAY.SO I TRY TO KEEP BUSY TO DISTRACT THE PAIN. USUALLY OVER-DO THEN PAY FOR IT LATER.

Stinging Nettle is also in the PDB.

The roots will still be in the soil, they are a very tenacious plant and will need constant pulling. Some people grow it as a buttefly food plant but my garden isn't big enough to allow for that, besides there are numerous Nettles just a few hundred yards away.

Baa, Thanks, I hadn't realized the PDB would have anything like that on it. I'll check it out. Wouldn't the butterflies be stung to bits by these horrible plants?

I just checked the PDB, It was quite interesting. I hadn't realized how useful they were (or are), but the fact remains, they must go. I feeling guilty about tossing them in the garbage now. If anyone wants them for postage, let me know.

This message was edited Monday, Apr 22nd 7:10 PM

The butterflies and catapillers have a defence against the chemical which causes the sting.

I've included a couple of seemingly nonsense plants to the PDB. I think it's worth recording how the plants were/are used regardless of what they look like.

As you have pulled them up how about mixing them with comfrey leaves to make a liquid fertilizer you can dialute for the garden!

Haven't dug them up yet. Had drizzle and some rain today and was only in the 40s,so stayed inside. What is comfry? Is it something I can buy? I could make a mix like that to fertilize but wouldn't the ground not be safe to touch once the mix was poured on it?

Comfrey is a tall plant (Symphytum officinale or uplandicum (Russian Comfrey)) these can also be a little invasive although you can grow them in deep pots. These are in the PDB too.

If you find someone with this plant in their garden they might give you a bundle of leaves to chop up (careful as the bristles are also a bit prickly but don't sting like the nettle). Allow the Comfrey and Nettle leaves to wilt for a couple of days and then steep in water. (If you pour boiling water on the nettles the stings will go). Leave for two weeks until it turns a muddy brown colour and stinks, then dialute well 1-20 parts water and feed your plants. Once the ground, after feding, is dry the soil will be safe to touch. Completely organic and one of the best fertilizers I've ever used.

We don't steep the leaves, we press then with a bucket of water on top but either way is good.

Baa, thanks for the info. I'll check at the nursery and see what they have in the way of comfrey. Doris

Doris,

A case can be made, too, that comfrey is the second most important medicinal herb for the home gardener. It's uses as a healing agent are legion.

You won't likely find it at a nursery. It was never commonly carried, and, since the studies that indicated it might be hepotoxic (that is, it could attack the liver when taken internally), few garden places carry it.

If you can't find it, let me know, and I'll send you a root section. One thing about comfrey---you can't kill it. As little as an inch of root grows a new plant.

Baa is correct with the fertilizer use of nettles. Another use for the mixture; if sprayed on the plants, it keeps them free from both green- and black-fly.

All the best

Wintermoor

Oooh, don't harm the nettles. Pick them when they are young and cook them like spinach, except that they are much tastier. Soo good! In Nebraska they were one of the early spring vegetables.

If you can grab the plant with the insides of your fingers, there will be no sting. The sting comes when an irritant goes down into a hair follicle, and inside your fingers there are no hair follicles. But one tiny contact with nettle to the back of your fingers or other areas with hair will set you stinging. The plant is high in vitamins A and C, protein and minerals. For vegetarians who wish to find a suitable milk coagulant, the stinging nettle cooking juice can be used. It can also be used as a beer ingredient.

Stinging nettles grew at my grandmothers and when we got into them accidentaly, she always made a poltice of mud and rubbed on it. The stinging went away immediately. Grandma was a Cherokee Indian and knew a lot of medecinal plants and I'm thinking nettles were one of the things she used in her "spring tonic'.