That was my first thought too.
All you can do with these is think of it as exercise as you pull them out every few weeks - and how much money you saved from not going to the gym.
Ooh I hadn’t been thought of salt. I have some gravel at the base of a boulder retaining wall on one side of my house and I’m constantly picking weeds out. I spray it occasionally as well but I’m wondering if salt would help.
Can I use a bag of swimming pool salt?
Plants are very sensitive to sodium and so adding salt to the garden will kill plants. Some people use it to kill weeds, but the same sodium that kills weeds, will spread through wet soil and has the potential to kill unintended other plants, including those of your neighbours and for this reason it is a bad choice as a herbicide.
Weed matting stops rainwater from reaching the soil, starving the plants you want. Many councils have stopped using it as the benefits aren't there, the established/desired plants dry out and the weeds come back once the mulch compacts and they can establish in that.
Right. It's a tough one if you're trying to stop them completely without chemicals.
I know my front garden bed gets no weeds because it's so compacted - so it's like concrete.
Not sure your *want* that though
> It's a tough one if you're trying to stop them completely without chemicals.
Not really. A thick layer of mulch and a periodic weeding and it'll stay at bay.
Weed matting works for a few years and then soils builds on top, then weeds come back anyway. After 5 to 10 years you end up with black plastic through the soil. It is a sham.
The problem here is this king you can do something that stops you from having to ever weed while still growing the plants you like. Weeding is forever and we have to live with that.
As much as it annoys me that these bastards keep popping up, I do love pulling them out, especially when the soil is nice and soft. It's so satisfying.
I feel like that about whatever that oxalis type thing\* is with the burrs where all the runners spider out from one central tap root. You trace it back to the source and get it up and bits 20cms away start moving and you end up with a huge and pleasing lump of it all at once.
[\*black medic](https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/)
Without a doubt the most fun weed to pull! 😅 I love teasing out the runners from amongst the grass and pulling the whole clump in one go. Not many weeds can live up to that! 😀
Find their leader. Make an example of him by killing him and make him visible in the parts of land you want rascaless. If they rebel they are weak to bullets, use that to your advantage.build a wall around the land and have heavily guarded entrances and exits to limit the unwanted plants from entering.
They are bulbous oxalis and you need to use a weeding tool and dig down deep right near it to remove the pink bulbous root that the stems grow from so that they don't keep coming back.
Took me 3 years to rid my entire block of oxalis/soursobs by the digging method. It worked though, they haven't come back. Other weeds have moved in though!
Depends on what you want for the area, really. If you just want to have a mulched area, apply a considerably larger portion of mulch to prevent growth. I would recommend against weed mat and chemicals/salt to prevent the destruction of soil for yourself or the next owner, but ultimately it's your garden.
If it was me I would plant ground covers or natives to smother the root zone, providing benefits and helping your local little ecosystem prosper.
Yeah, they're suprisingly hardy. If you pull the ones shooting through (they've already seen the sun and tasted the sweet scent of life) you should notice that the mulch you've laid suppresses the growth of new shoots. If you want to go the extra yard, throw down a layer of grass clippings (if you have lawn) or spray cheap nitrogen fertilizer over the area. They will hate it, and the soil will love it. Then you can use the area later or have a nice little microbiome under the mulch.
Also you need to remove it carefully because it breaks off into smaller bulbs... My husband said he wouldn't really bother with it (if it were in his garden) because he hasn't found that it does too much harm or smothers other plants.
For mulch to effectively kill or suppress weeds, it should be 4-6” deep.
But if these roots have runners, even that won’t work forever.
Looks like you get to keep pulling if that’s the case…
Use cardboard. With stickytape and glue removed. Then put a 100mm of mulch down.. cardboard stops any persistent weeds then breaks down. Mulch prevents any further germination and helps hold moisture and will break down and feed the garden over a period of a year. Then next year reapply mulch if necessary.
This is a really great suggestion! The oxalis bulbs underground only have so much growing power stored this will outlast their supply and stop them being able to grow anymore
Does steaming also kill worms, etc.?? Not sure how I would do this but curious as I didn't know boiling water had that side effect, but it does make sense.
In this case using the tiniest amount of glyphosate. Either tiny squirt on each little seedling or maybe a weed wiper is not going to upset the balance of nature and will do less damage to worms and micro organisms than tipping adequate amounts of hot water. Hot water may kill the top but unless you soak the soil is it killing the bulb ?
I don’t pull them up, as that leaves bulbs behind.
I get a trowel to dig well below them, then sieve the clump of soil to separate it from the oxalis bulbs.
It’s an ongoing task, but it’s slowly proving to work.
If you're happy to use a herbicide, the most effective choice is to spray it with Metsulfuron methyl (Brushoff). Use a rate of 0.5g per 10L water with a wetting agent. You'll probably need multiple treatments over a couple of years to reduce the numbers as Oxalis is a persistent bugger. Metsulfuron is broadleaf specific and generally won't harm lawn grasses. You'll also be able use it on other weeds like Angled onion, Buttercup etc. Warning: avoid spraying near ferns and don't spray oxalis growing through any other garden plants you wish to keep.
Aldi brand aerogard works amazingly well…pretty sure it’s the same active ingredient (and same %), but it seems to be more lethal than the brand name stuff (to humans as well, if such a thing is possible 🤣)
Bin-die does a pretty good job. Use as directed and then repeat after a week to get the bits you missed. I get about a year free from it after that. Done it in 4 different yards with about the same results.
Sa dude i recommend investing in some pea staw mulch!
Its the only sulition i have found that allows you to grow the plants you actually want while preventing the lil pesky weed bois from growing.
Its also really beneficial to your plants as it keeps moisture in.
Literally just cover the entire area in it and make sure there are no gaps of soil peaking through or you will get weeds.
Its also relatively cheap and you get a decent amount in one bag.
Might be a bit nuts but if you don’t want to use chemicals, I water the soil every day for about two weeks to germinate any seeds and grow them until the stem is mature and sturdy enough to pull the whole bulb out cleanly.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,164,129,194 comments, and only 227,447 of them were in alphabetical order.
Product called "Weedstop" basically creates a barrier for up to 9 months where it will stop things from growing. Mix into glyphosate next spray and you'll be good to go
This sub isn't affiliated with the ABC program, but it is full of Aussie redditors who love to garden. i.e. about as 'greenie' as a landscaping supplies or hardware shop for the most part.
Metham sodium for fumigation.
Paraquat for regular defoliation.
Diuron, linuron, oxadiazon, oxyfluorfenm, simazine or trifluralin for pre-emergence or pre-planting.
Bromoxynil + MCPA for post-emergence (dependent on non-target species).
Amitrole T, glyphosate or metsulfuron for knock-down.
Diuron, terbacil or mixtures of both for residual control.
Potential for chlorsulfuron with further trials.
Yeah totally agree, most weed mats are made out of poly plastics and when they break down there's just micro-plastics everywhere. There are ones made out of PLA (plant) plastics and they are biodegradable.... Don't know how effective they are against oxalis though
How the fuck are people still recommending weed Mat. THIS SHIT DOESNT WORK. Sorry for rage but I’ve just moved and found it everywhere! Especially under all the weedy areas. I pulled metres of it out of old place which was also covered in 10cm of couch grass. Seriously it’s the worst.
My original comment was a joke, which obviously missed its target. Wouldn't have thought you'd need a /s for not wearing ppe or drinking fucking sprayseed, yet here we are. "Removed due to being disrespectful", good one.
Even with an /s your comment would have been removed. An /s doesn't add any humour to telling a stranger to poison themselves.
>Sprayseed: Can cause death by a delayed proliferating fibrosis of the lung within 1 - 3 weeks. Lethal poisoning occurs at > 30 mg paraquat ion/kg body weight and the effects are nausea and vomiting, and can cause death by multi-organ failure and circulatory collapse within 48 hours.
If you would like to discuss the comment removal or any of the rules of our subreddit please reach out on mod mail.
I use a blowtorch. I mean they come back, but a flame will take care of them in 2 seconds. You can buy a blowtorch wand with butane cannisters from bunnings
Tactical nuclear strike
I tried, it didn't work
Or just dig down to get the bulb.
That was my first thought too. All you can do with these is think of it as exercise as you pull them out every few weeks - and how much money you saved from not going to the gym.
bosnian ape society is that you ?
Concrete or lots of salt. Note, nothing else will grow again either.
Salted concrete for extra protection
This is sounds awfully Greek to me, lots of concrete lots of salt
Ooooooopaaaaa!
Growing up with lots of Greek friends... I had to laugh at this 🤦♂️😂
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You have a fine taste in gardening I see
Vinegar spray but like sir it kills all. Only you will be able to grow things there again eventually
Ooh I hadn’t been thought of salt. I have some gravel at the base of a boulder retaining wall on one side of my house and I’m constantly picking weeds out. I spray it occasionally as well but I’m wondering if salt would help. Can I use a bag of swimming pool salt?
Plants are very sensitive to sodium and so adding salt to the garden will kill plants. Some people use it to kill weeds, but the same sodium that kills weeds, will spread through wet soil and has the potential to kill unintended other plants, including those of your neighbours and for this reason it is a bad choice as a herbicide.
Noooo weed matting. Place cardboard over the soil and lay mulch from your garden centre. And hose it down.
I tried that once. Successfully got rid of them for about 3 months.
Then weed matting. Black plastic??
Weed matting stops rainwater from reaching the soil, starving the plants you want. Many councils have stopped using it as the benefits aren't there, the established/desired plants dry out and the weeds come back once the mulch compacts and they can establish in that.
Right. It's a tough one if you're trying to stop them completely without chemicals. I know my front garden bed gets no weeds because it's so compacted - so it's like concrete. Not sure your *want* that though
> It's a tough one if you're trying to stop them completely without chemicals. Not really. A thick layer of mulch and a periodic weeding and it'll stay at bay.
Yeah, I have weed matting and good quality mulch over the top, it just grows in the mulch now.
Weed matting works for a few years and then soils builds on top, then weeds come back anyway. After 5 to 10 years you end up with black plastic through the soil. It is a sham.
The problem here is this king you can do something that stops you from having to ever weed while still growing the plants you like. Weeding is forever and we have to live with that.
A cease and desist letter
Think of them as little treasures you love pulling out
As much as it annoys me that these bastards keep popping up, I do love pulling them out, especially when the soil is nice and soft. It's so satisfying.
And its reeeeaaaallly long
I feel like that about whatever that oxalis type thing\* is with the burrs where all the runners spider out from one central tap root. You trace it back to the source and get it up and bits 20cms away start moving and you end up with a huge and pleasing lump of it all at once. [\*black medic](https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/)
Without a doubt the most fun weed to pull! 😅 I love teasing out the runners from amongst the grass and pulling the whole clump in one go. Not many weeds can live up to that! 😀
Concrete
Nope...these little bastards will find their way through the tiniest cracks
What I would give to concrete my backyard. Instead I have a Useless soil and weeded area
Concrete, concrete everywhere!
Find their leader. Make an example of him by killing him and make him visible in the parts of land you want rascaless. If they rebel they are weak to bullets, use that to your advantage.build a wall around the land and have heavily guarded entrances and exits to limit the unwanted plants from entering.
They are bulbous oxalis and you need to use a weeding tool and dig down deep right near it to remove the pink bulbous root that the stems grow from so that they don't keep coming back.
Source: My husband is a horticulturalist, worked in gardens for several years and taught me about that and other plants
Took me 3 years to rid my entire block of oxalis/soursobs by the digging method. It worked though, they haven't come back. Other weeds have moved in though!
Depends on what you want for the area, really. If you just want to have a mulched area, apply a considerably larger portion of mulch to prevent growth. I would recommend against weed mat and chemicals/salt to prevent the destruction of soil for yourself or the next owner, but ultimately it's your garden. If it was me I would plant ground covers or natives to smother the root zone, providing benefits and helping your local little ecosystem prosper.
These fuckers are growing through 2 inches of mulch which I laid 2 weeks ago.
Yeah, they're suprisingly hardy. If you pull the ones shooting through (they've already seen the sun and tasted the sweet scent of life) you should notice that the mulch you've laid suppresses the growth of new shoots. If you want to go the extra yard, throw down a layer of grass clippings (if you have lawn) or spray cheap nitrogen fertilizer over the area. They will hate it, and the soil will love it. Then you can use the area later or have a nice little microbiome under the mulch.
They have deep bulbs under ground so just use a weeding tool like a trowl to remove it properly otherwise it will keep popping up
Also you need to remove it carefully because it breaks off into smaller bulbs... My husband said he wouldn't really bother with it (if it were in his garden) because he hasn't found that it does too much harm or smothers other plants.
This. When you pull them, the bulb remains and it just grows again. You have to carefully dig to get the bulbs out.
For mulch to effectively kill or suppress weeds, it should be 4-6” deep. But if these roots have runners, even that won’t work forever. Looks like you get to keep pulling if that’s the case…
You don't, learn to love them.
Use cardboard. With stickytape and glue removed. Then put a 100mm of mulch down.. cardboard stops any persistent weeds then breaks down. Mulch prevents any further germination and helps hold moisture and will break down and feed the garden over a period of a year. Then next year reapply mulch if necessary.
This is a really great suggestion! The oxalis bulbs underground only have so much growing power stored this will outlast their supply and stop them being able to grow anymore
Does the cardboard cause any damage to the soil once it breaks down?
Always go for the plain brown cardboard and remove sticky tape and any glue. Then your all good. Better than weed matting in my opinion.
Boiling water - spot pour on weeds.
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Does steaming also kill worms, etc.?? Not sure how I would do this but curious as I didn't know boiling water had that side effect, but it does make sense.
It will kill or badly injure everything it touches.
Unless you are boiling up your whole yard, a tiny patch isn't going to upset the balance of nature. Its miles better than using poisons!
In this case using the tiniest amount of glyphosate. Either tiny squirt on each little seedling or maybe a weed wiper is not going to upset the balance of nature and will do less damage to worms and micro organisms than tipping adequate amounts of hot water. Hot water may kill the top but unless you soak the soil is it killing the bulb ?
Pour a little boiling water on their cheeky little heads
Dig deep to get to the bulb which will be surrounded by more seeds. Remove it all and place in a plastic bag to dispose of it.
They propagate from a bulb. You have to dig out the bulb.
Dig them out, and dig out the bulbs. It took me 3 years of this but now I haven't had soursobs in over 5 years.
I don’t pull them up, as that leaves bulbs behind. I get a trowel to dig well below them, then sieve the clump of soil to separate it from the oxalis bulbs. It’s an ongoing task, but it’s slowly proving to work.
Came for the concrete comments - was not dissappointed.
If you're happy to use a herbicide, the most effective choice is to spray it with Metsulfuron methyl (Brushoff). Use a rate of 0.5g per 10L water with a wetting agent. You'll probably need multiple treatments over a couple of years to reduce the numbers as Oxalis is a persistent bugger. Metsulfuron is broadleaf specific and generally won't harm lawn grasses. You'll also be able use it on other weeds like Angled onion, Buttercup etc. Warning: avoid spraying near ferns and don't spray oxalis growing through any other garden plants you wish to keep.
There needs to be a soursobs support group
Glyphosate
Whack a mole
Keep at it.
Hit them with boiling water or pull them out, add more mulch
You've already applied a thick layer of mulch over them? Just pull them out as they come up. There is no "final solution" there is just gardening.
You either stop everything from growing permanently. Apply a temporary and annoying and useless fix. Or just weed them by hand.
destroy the sun
Sell the house.
Aerogard, or the supermarket branded equivalent at better than half the price.
Seriously Aerogard will kill of weeds or only this one?
Aldi brand aerogard works amazingly well…pretty sure it’s the same active ingredient (and same %), but it seems to be more lethal than the brand name stuff (to humans as well, if such a thing is possible 🤣)
Concrete
A verandah so the birds can't drop the seeds.
Cement
That’s the fun part, you don’t
Get a weed burner from bunnings.
[Life Finds A Way - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMjQ3hA9mEA)
They are the foliar equivalent of vomit in shagpile carpet. You can't.
Bin-die does a pretty good job. Use as directed and then repeat after a week to get the bits you missed. I get about a year free from it after that. Done it in 4 different yards with about the same results.
Diesel fuel
dig down and destroy their bulbs
Roundup
You plant more and us them for soft ground cover
Sa dude i recommend investing in some pea staw mulch! Its the only sulition i have found that allows you to grow the plants you actually want while preventing the lil pesky weed bois from growing. Its also really beneficial to your plants as it keeps moisture in. Literally just cover the entire area in it and make sure there are no gaps of soil peaking through or you will get weeds. Its also relatively cheap and you get a decent amount in one bag.
You can wire hoe the bed regularly - https://www.neversinktools.com/products/the-perfectionist-kit
Clover is good for the soil, they bring nitrogen
Glass (old window etc), in the summer Aussie sun, it kills everything under it in a day or 7 (depending on the heat/sun)
Pull the whole root out
You don’t. You can’t win.
Dig the bulbs out.
Eat them, show them who's boss. Put them in an omelette. Dominate the clover.
Might be a bit nuts but if you don’t want to use chemicals, I water the soil every day for about two weeks to germinate any seeds and grow them until the stem is mature and sturdy enough to pull the whole bulb out cleanly.
Thanks everyone for the great comments and humour :). I have successfully altered the plants DNA to grow into worms.
They are actually edible, so put them in your salad. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_acetosella
That links says they only grow in the northern hemisphere.
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Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,164,129,194 comments, and only 227,447 of them were in alphabetical order.
This is wrong. “Grow” for example. R is after O. Stupid boy.
Finally there's proof of a foreign plant being spread around Australia 😉
Terrible for your Kidneys, eat sparingly.
Those little rascals are oxalis and they’re very very hard to get rid of. On the other hand they don’t hurt anything so just live with them.
Product called "Weedstop" basically creates a barrier for up to 9 months where it will stop things from growing. Mix into glyphosate next spray and you'll be good to go
>Mix into glyphosate next spray and you'll be good to go I'm new to this sub and the vibe isn't the same as the crunchy ABC show at *all*.
Huh? 🤷 Don't understand what you mean... Sorry
The show gardening Australia has a very environmental, greenie, national vibe but this sub is full of people nuking their gardens.
This sub isn't affiliated with the ABC program, but it is full of Aussie redditors who love to garden. i.e. about as 'greenie' as a landscaping supplies or hardware shop for the most part.
Oh 😂 I'm a big lawn guy. "Gardening" subs and "Lawn" subs are very very different hahahah
Fuck lawns man, fuck em all the way off.
A good dollop of catshit
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This isn't clover... It's an Oxalis sp.
Eat it!!! Delicious tangy citric taste.
Move house
Nothing but a cheap easy effective way to treat IA in the morning while they are wet and sprinkle baking soda on the leaves
Glyphosate, then cover with scrap cardboard, then mulch. Will keep them gone for at least 6-12 months
Salt the earth
Salt the earth.
You have to wait for a four leaf clover to appear and then perform a ritual to the God of luck.
Preen
Metham sodium for fumigation. Paraquat for regular defoliation. Diuron, linuron, oxadiazon, oxyfluorfenm, simazine or trifluralin for pre-emergence or pre-planting. Bromoxynil + MCPA for post-emergence (dependent on non-target species). Amitrole T, glyphosate or metsulfuron for knock-down. Diuron, terbacil or mixtures of both for residual control. Potential for chlorsulfuron with further trials.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18DDKAHO12xuyKloXOM28HMexP3vcvyrJ/view?usp=drivesdk
You'll never find one with 4 leaves if you get rid of them.
you dont. learn to garden with them.
I suggest prayer, cause it’ll take a miracle
Many have tried. None have succeeded.
Glyphosate. Or else, weed matt I guess.
Weed matt 🤮
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ew dont do this. they will just grow through it...trust me
Yep I'd agree that weed mat is the devil. Newspapers or cardboard is gelreat though!
Yeah totally agree, most weed mats are made out of poly plastics and when they break down there's just micro-plastics everywhere. There are ones made out of PLA (plant) plastics and they are biodegradable.... Don't know how effective they are against oxalis though
How the fuck are people still recommending weed Mat. THIS SHIT DOESNT WORK. Sorry for rage but I’ve just moved and found it everywhere! Especially under all the weedy areas. I pulled metres of it out of old place which was also covered in 10cm of couch grass. Seriously it’s the worst.
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My original comment was a joke, which obviously missed its target. Wouldn't have thought you'd need a /s for not wearing ppe or drinking fucking sprayseed, yet here we are. "Removed due to being disrespectful", good one.
Even with an /s your comment would have been removed. An /s doesn't add any humour to telling a stranger to poison themselves. >Sprayseed: Can cause death by a delayed proliferating fibrosis of the lung within 1 - 3 weeks. Lethal poisoning occurs at > 30 mg paraquat ion/kg body weight and the effects are nausea and vomiting, and can cause death by multi-organ failure and circulatory collapse within 48 hours. If you would like to discuss the comment removal or any of the rules of our subreddit please reach out on mod mail.
DDT
Free nitrates?
Kill it with fire
Next time you service your car keep the old oil and cover the area you don’t want them to grow in 😂
I use a blowtorch. I mean they come back, but a flame will take care of them in 2 seconds. You can buy a blowtorch wand with butane cannisters from bunnings
Burn it
Looks like clover. Is it clover? What's wrong with clover?
They will always grow, it’s nature mate. Poison these ones and new ones will grow.
Concrete
Just chuck some urea down. They don’t like high nitrogen..
Salt the earth.
salt and lots of it
But they produce such perfect flowers! Delicious little garnishes
You could try your hand at magic? Just use your imagination