Invasive vs. Invasives fight to the death

I have some bermuda grass & morning glory that will never go away due to neighbors. Was thinking of maybe using crownvetch or clover in a border attack thinking that clover is liked by bee's and will help with nitrogen fixing or maybe crownvetch to truly compete for space. Or to you all think I am just asking for trouble....trying to get some kind of low maintaince semi quick fix to get me through the summer so I do not get so behind like I did last summer.

I hear trumpet vine is invasive & I would like it for the humming birds but I can not seem to get it established - is there a trick? I have bought established plants many times - should I try by seed?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated
Thanks

I think you are asking for trouble with that game plan. Sadly, there is no such thing as a quick fix. Best for you to consider how to approach removing what is there. Once you begin making progress at eradicating the plants you have identified as being problematic, the going gets a little easier and before you know it you will slip into maintenance mode and be in a position to plant what you want.

There is a member here who goes by the name of BloomsWithaView who is out your way. You might want to contact her as I believe she might be in a position to help you out with plants for Hummingbirds.

Put down a barrier along the border of you property. I'm guessing that neither bermuda grass nor morning glory put roots down deeper than a foot, so some sort of solid plastic, metal, or rot-resistant board would work (or even cement backer board). I've heard NPR's Mike McGrath (http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/index.html) talk about digging a one-foot deep trench around larger invasive plants like bamboo and jerusalem artichoke to keep them under control...but I think that bermuda grass and morning glory might just spread down into the trench and then back up again.

Anyway, I hope that helps. Good luck!

hmmm, a one foot trench to contain bamboo? Interesting. I'm thinking he never actually tried to contain bamboo with a trench. I doubt seriously if it would work with most species. There are some incredibly responsible people out there growing bamboo and their containment systems are considerably more elaborate than a trench.

(heavy sigh)

= I am sure you are right, was hoping the + outweight the - I put down some clover for a cover crop and noticed that those areas where relatively free of the MG but the bermuda was still going strong....

I guess the reason I am so discouraged is because this always going to be a problem. I have no help from neighbors who do nothing with their back yards except use it for storage of their misc. toys (boats campers etc.)
I broke my left foot and badly sprained my right ankle in late Aug last year so I did not "put down my garden" as well as I should then, this spring I broke my left ankle and my fight foot so I am watching this stuff take over while I am laid up. Quick fixes never work I know but I still dream...


Willmetge - I am sure digging a trench and putting in some kind of physical barrier then filling the trench back up is how I have seen it on the gardening shows. My research shows that morning glory roots can go pretty darn deep according to Weber County, Utah weed abatement site the roots "can grow to depths of more then 3 feet". To physically put down on 3 sides of my property (due to non gardening neighbors)such a barrier is never going to happen. More from that site...

This makes it difficult to control because the roots can be very deep and extensive, and produce many new plants. Field Bindweed is a very detrimental weed in agricultural situations. It spreads rapidly by its underground rootstocks, quickly covering large areas in pastures or fields, outcompeting forages. It will seriously reduce crop yields by reducing soil moisture available to other plants. Furthermore, Field Bindweed often climbs other plants, eventually pulling them down and smothering them completely. It may also become tangled in harvesting equipment.

A growth habit relatively low to the ground gives Field Bindweed a disadvantage in competing effectively for sunlight in established crops. Closed stands of alfalfa are the best competitor for this weed, but rye, soybeans, and sorghum will also force it into dormancy because it cannot get enough light. Constant tillage will deprive the plant of underground food reserves, gradually decreasing the root quality, and eventually controlling the weed effectively. The best control can be achieved by combining rotation of competitive crops, cultivation, and herbicides.

Well MQN, you and I have a lot in common,

Part of the reason a plant ends up as "invasive" is because there is no "low maitenance quick fix"... if there were, the plants probably would not be invasive.

A cut off barrier like a trench or deep buried edging will help (more for the bermuda than the MG) but it won't be a final solution. But it might help slow things down until you can catch up....

MQN - I don't know how big your bed is, but have you thought about landscape fabric covered with mulch? Thats what we did in one of our beds that was being taken over with grass.

Steve

I have been using the lasagna method to improve the overall soil condition in my entire backyard (previous owners used it for a race track for their atv's) then I started planting my (bones) tree's, shrubs, perennials, etc doing one area @ a time then due to lack of mobility starting in mid-August I lost control.

Due to the lasagna method pulling the grass out is fairly easy but the morning glory roots are another matter. I think one of my main problems is that I have not decided what do to for my main path ways - want pavers with irish moss between but can not afford pavers yet. So I have to much empty space and Mother Nature doesn't approve of unused pampered soil (I have been feeding it lots of compost for its empty clay soul). Thinking its time to solarize large areas and spot treat with RU (been avoiding using this product).

= First incident I was pulling out some overgrown strawberries and just stepped funny, second time was just filling the bird feeders do not think I even stepped wrong. Not only do people now realize that I can not walk, talk and chew bubble gum at the same time, they now know why I generally store them in my mouth:+} (see below)You do not appreciate them till they are gone. Hope you are doing ok sounds like you have had some prob's yourself.

SW-I have been mulching consistently till I got laid up, still thinking solarizing better option. This involves the heat of the sun (the sun is that bright thing in the sky I realize from your location that you probably do not realize how hot it can be down here in the states)(I get to kid being from Edmonton, AB myself - GO OILERS!).

After the last few years, I'm thinking you and I might be twins separated at birth but what do I know any more. Incidentally, it's been long known that I can not walk, talk, and chew bubble gum at the same time. I'm ok with that and evidently you're ok with it too. Here's hoping you're back up and out there weeding your brains out as soon as is possible. I feel for you from that respect. It's almost as if they're snickering at us as they multiply ten fold isn't it?

GRRR just found a new patch of something that has transitioned over from the neighbors, can not win for trying. They are not snickering at me they are rolling on the floor pointing and howling at me, personally I think they all are on steriods, but want to I know I live in the green jello/meth state.

Was actually able to weed for a few hours this weekend - trying to focus on that tiny little patch & visualizing it slowly constantly growing.

Twins? Are you short, near sighted (lazy eye), with a speech impediment (lazy tongue) (see any pattern here)...born with buck teeth requiring major dental work (Canadian almost as bad as English Teeth)....if so I am so sorry, but we could be....

Yes, I'm short. I'm not near sighted but does macular degenertion count? No speech impediment but half the time I get distracted and forget what I was going to say looking at something or other and no words at all come out of my mouth so I'm thinking I can compete quite well with your lazy tongue (I'm seeing a pattern here)... had braces and was too lazy to use the retainer or remove wisdom teeth in a timely fashion so some of my teeth squished back together- yup, feel sorry for me... because we could be...

But wait... I think there might be a triplet out there. Her name is snapple. snapple, are your ears ringing? And by gosh by golly, there could be a quad out there! Dodecatheon are your ears ringing? I have this strange premonition that snapple might not be able to walk and talk and chew bubble gum at the same time and I know dodecatheon is in our boat for sure.

By the way, I pulled some dandelions with my left hand a few days ago and I got a few straggler Garlic Mustard plants. Ha, I feel ALIVE again.

I must be a cousin. Never had braces or any of that, but walk, talk and chew gum? Only if it includes tripping over a crack. Or just tripping to trip. Broke my ankle about 12 yrs ago falling off a ladder, sliding into a fridge. Nearly took my finger off cutting a cinnamon stick...coz it never dawned on me to just snap it in two. Pruned the tip of another finger almost off. My husband says I can't climb ladders, no scissors or pruners allowed in my hands. See? We're related for sure. Oh and I do the thing where you're talking, then something gets your attention and you forget what it was you were saying. Always.

Terry

I am forbidden by my family to even have gum, let alone ambulate while chewing it. I didn't even mention this spring when I cracked my two front teeth and split my upper lip wide open with cement weights I was hanging on branches of a Hakuro Nishiki grafted weeping willow. (This is really just a large shrub on a stick.) I wanted more of a graceful weeping effect so I made cement weights in styrofoam cups with hangers to strategically hang on certain branches to train them to weep more gracefully. I was hanging them looking up into the sun, mouth agape apparantly, when I missed the branch with the hanger and that gravity thing took over. Do emergency trips to the dentist count?

Quintuplets? I dunno, she seems too together to qualify. Maybe she needs a few more years to catch up to the rest of us or maybe her husband set some limits and she hasn't had enough opportunity to do major damage yet? I mean, she might be kinda young and maybe she just doesn't have enough mileage on her yet or maybe those silly rules of her husband that she can't climb ladders or use scissors or pruners are keeping her body in tack.??? Tough call given the cinnamon stick incident. That's a classic.

Oh my gosh, I was typing and snapple made an appearance. Hey snapple, way to go with the cement weights in styrofoam cups. That incident trumps the cinnamon stick. I can't compete with either of those but I did forget I was leaning on a tree once and turned around and walked right in to the tree. Only three stitches to my face that time and you can't even see where I was stitched.

He might have the rules, that doesn't mean I follow them. I had to call his work when I fell, to let him know I was en route by ambulance from his mothers house. I had to talk to his boss. Every time I called, his boss would say, "Oh Terry, you aren't on a ladder, are you?" So, while working on this house, and having to remove the wallpaper in the staircase that went all the way up there, I needed scaffolding. The scaffolding wasn't tall enough. I was on a ladder, on the scaffold. So what the heck and I dial TN and say to the boss, hey! guess where I am?? Good grief, I'm surprised you didn't hear him yelling up where you are! Yea, not just using scissors either. They were those Chicago Cutlery kitchen scissors. I had to have a ring cut off and everything :(

MQN - I remember reading this on another thread, it might be a good way to kill your morning glories. What you do is take a cut stem, and stick it in a small cup filled with weed killer so the plant is forced to wick it up and it kills a good part of the plant. I've never tried it myself, but it sounds like a pretty good method of control. Hope it helps :D

Steve

Snapple I cringed the entire time reading about the cement, dental pain let alone trauma like that....what we get into due to taking care of our babies. Terry -"on a ladder on a scaffold" my natural fear of heights would have kicked in NO WAY would you see me up there you are alot more gutsy then I. Sorry about your ring. You guys make me laugh why is it humor comes from pain? Or is it pain comes from stupidity and humor comes from hind sight.

Steve I have tried something similar with zip lock bags and vinegar (could not get strong enough vinegar so did not really work) going to try again this year with round up - I have been avoiding using RU but this year I am declaring WAR.

I hope you can get rid of them, cause I can only imagine what pests they must be. They can get bad enough here with zillions of seedlings popping up everywhere trying to climb over everything.

Steve

MQN, I would say it is definitely pain comes from stupidity and humor comes from hind sight. Heights have never really bothered me, but I tell you, up on a ladder on top of scaffolding holding a very heavy steamer in my hand.....and I thought my dad would hang around in case I did my usual. He didn't, so thank goodness, I didn't do my usual! :o)

Terry

Ummm, doesn't anyone believe in hiring out for some tasks? Even I won't do my outside windows on the second floor. I even have those new flip out and around windows and I won't even do them from the inside lest I lose my balance and fall out from the second floor. No way. I might be accident prone but I don't have a death wish. Eeeek, on a ladder on scaffolding... OMG! That's pushing it honey.

MQN, try what SW_gardener said only consider using a product with Triclopyr as the main ingredient as opposed to Glyphosate and see what happens.

Flip out and around? Mine flip in. Makes for easy cleaning. I am not my mother and I will continue to do all my tasks myself. Plus I can't afford it anyway. Did I mention about a month after doing that, I slipped on the plastic on the same stairs, my feet flying level with head and bouncing down on the steps? Breaking...what are they? vertebra ? in my back. I don't have a death wish either, but nobody can do it like I can. I have that kind of attitude. Just say kind things at my funeral, o.k.?

Removing wallpaper with a steamer on a ladder on a scaffold even if I had the ladder nailed, glued, stapled with vice grips you would never get me up there. I used to have "the no one can do it like I can attitude" and then I met my ex....even more annal retentive then I am. Since we are still friends I have him come help me to "show me how its done" and it gets done that much faster:+} Works out, I do his book keeping for his cleaning company (rarely have to do my own windows - hey he has the right equipment!). I understand the affordability part doing renovations myself or with help of family is the only way it can get done. Fortunately I am in a rambler so these height situations are not in my foreseeable future.

= is Triclopyr as semi-organically friendly as (I am assuming the active ingredient in RU is..)Glyphosate? Thanks

I had visions of a person on a scaffold on a ladder doing the stick with the plates twirling thing all last night - kept me smiling all night long. Thanks guys.

= you got me, I was wondering if any one would catch - was smiling as I typed it.

Now see, I was being kind by not mentioning the ex! Hmmm...I never even thought about twirling plates while I was up there! I really should have had my dad take a pic on his phone before he left.....just so I can prove just how dumb I can be :o)