NEED to get RID of this - some desperate HELP please

This is every gardener's nightmare .This weed has taken over part of my gardens for several years and seems like the more I pull the more they come up.

We had nothing but rain,rain,rain in the last 4 weeks +.They grow faster than I can catch up.
Was gone to Boston to help our daughter after she got out of the hospital to help with their 4 children.Came back to weeds EVERYWHERE ! :-(

I don't know the name of it but the stems are easy to pull up ,they are soft.

Please help me get rid of this pest.Thank you,
Brig

Yesterday one cart full,this morning this big pile and still MORE to go.

But pulling them up the way you are, you are creating more. You need to get them roots and all. If you have the time, weed wack all the tops off then go back with a hoe and till up the soil and get the rest of them, roots n all. If they are in a confined area, not next to any good plants .. hit them with roundup.

X

Thanks X
Do you know by any chance what the weed is called ?

Have pulled most of the weeds with roots,however had some help from a granddaughter,so that's probably what you zeroed in.But I don't want to discourage a helper even though they hinder some times.

Using a hoe is of course a good idea but I have lots of other plants/flowers in that island i.e.Roses,Peonies,Phlox .Plus I have a herniated disk and the hoe and weedwacker probably wouldn't be a good idea.
But I sure would like to ID this @#$% thing.

EGLA,
Ask at your local nursury, college, or county extension office. They should be able to idenitfy and provide treatment options. I would say spray it with the most deadly herbicide you can find, but thats just me.

Best;
bluelytes

you could also post on ID forum if you want to know what it is, I see weeds get ID'd over there all the time.

When taking a plant to the extension office, you will actually have a better chance of getting your weed IDed if you leave one plant to make a flower and/or seeds before taking it there. Speaking as an extension Entomologist who also has to identify a few weeds, we really appreciate a flower and/or seeds when identifying plants. You can't imagine how much easier it makes the plant to identify.

Looks like Jewel weed to me, and yes it is rampent here but pulling helps control it. As long as you pull it before it flowers and goes to seed. Next yr use a pre-emergent herbicide like preen or weed screen. That will help you out a lot. It is so easy to pull you don't need a herbicide like roundup.
I have had to ID this weed all week at work a long with lily leaf beetles blah...

First of all thank you all for helping.
bluelytes,
Yes I have thought about taking one to a nursery before but I am usually so anxious and daydreaming about WHAT I am to find that I always have forgotten the weed.
I don't use herbicides very often,even though I might have to in my bebble walkways.

ecrane3
I would have done so today but looks like I don't have to anymore.

Night_Bloom
When I posted I forgot to mention the little orange blooms it has.I fully agree that makes an ID much much easier.Bet you have had your share of research :-)

Chicory31
A big THANK YOU to you that you have IDed this for me and NO I won't make a plantmarker for them LOL.Jewel weed hmmmmmmm what a Jewel THIS is !

Notived that we are both in the same New England zone .So when would I have to put the preen down ? Just before dormancy breaks next spring?

I let violets grow under that tree as a groundcover.Will it affect them too ?

Thank you again ,
Brig

If you have poison ivy around, you might want to leave a little bit of jewelweed (you can always remove the blooms it before it seeds). Jewelweed is a wonderful poison ivy reliever! :)

gardenwife,
Thank you so much for that info...oh yes we have poison ivy around here,our grandkids can attest to that :-(

I used to use Jewel Weed all the time on poison ivy. Just break open the stem and rub directly on the affected area. The results are fast and dramatic.

Has anyone tried freezing jewel weed for later use? Does it still work?

could you puree it and make kind of a poltice out of it??

Best;
blue

That's what I'm wondering...Like jewel weed pesto. LOL

Look what I just found:

gardenwife,
what great and frugal information.Where in the world did you find that recipe ? works probably better that something one has to pay for.

I Googled for freezing jewelweed and that referenced source page came up in the search results. God, I do love the Internet! :)

I second gardenwife's comment on the internet.

As for the jewel weed, you probably have enough there to cure all the poison ivy in the state of ME. Perhaps you are sitting on a gold mine!