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Cchaps
Citizen
Username: Cchaps
Post Number: 12
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, March 26, 2006 - 10:46 am: | 
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We have an ever-growing violet infestation on our lawn. Are there any effective ways to treat this, preferably organically? |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 708
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, March 26, 2006 - 10:57 am: |
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Are you talking about the violets that have tiny yellow flowers that begin to leaf-out in very early spring? If yes, dig them up, very carefully. There are lots and lots of little bulbs attached to all the tiny, fragile roots and they will immediately grow once they are disturbed if they are left behind in the loosened dirt! Get 'em NOW, while they are young! It only gets worse each year! Leave the bulbs out somewhere for the squirrels if you want - they LOVE them!
You can try to kill them with spot vinegar treatments, but that can wreck havoc, especially if they are all over your lawn.
They are insidious and will grow large roundish leaves that will effectively block the sun from your grass and weaken it. They seem to love to grow around other desired plants, or right next to rocks - makes me think they are somewhat intelligent about self-defense.
FYI, I used Roundup all over 1/4 of my lawn one summer to try to get rid of them once and for all. Then I had to dig up the dead grass and dead-looking violets, wait 2 weeks, reseeded and had a great lawn the rest of the season. (MAJOR amount of hard work!) Only to freak out when they came back the following spring!
We live on a hill and I think somehow they travel downhill, underground.
I hate them.  |
argon_smythe
Citizen
Username: Argon_smythe
Post Number: 801
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 3:14 pm: |
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I find it somewhat amusing that someone will work like hell to get rid of a plant that doesn't need any maintenance and actually looks pretty nice, so that they can grow a plant that requires constant maintenance, chemicals, and water just to survive, and is rather bland and uninteresting looking at that.
But that's just me.
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mjh
Supporter
Username: Mjh
Post Number: 428
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 3:41 pm: |
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Argon;
To answer your question:
First, because they spread all over and they kill the grass. Second, because when the flowering is over, they look like an ugly weed.
There are many plants that do not require constant maintenance or chemicals.
All living plants, including violets, require water........Normally perennials only need to be watered during their first season while they establish a root system and then they can survive with naturally occurring water(AKA rain) unless there is a drought.
In my experience, weeds require a heck of a lot of maintenance, but not necessarily chemicals (though admittedly chemicals do make it easier).
Mary Jo
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tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4161
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 8:10 pm: |
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Pdg,
You are speaking of Lesser Celandine, also known as Pilewort thanks to certain alledged medicinal properties. It was praised (in its English native environment) by William Wordsworth.
It is an attractive plant that can survive anything but a direct hit by a nuclear weapon. Attempts at eradication are futile.
OTOH, I have found that it doesn't kill the grass and the Celandine dies out in June. In April and May, I mow it along with the lawn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_celandine |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 715
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:35 am: |
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themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2728
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:43 am: |
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I've never seen a real marsh marigold, except in a pot. This endangered native treasure of the sunny spring wetland continues to allude me. I wish that I could say the same for the highly invasive look-a-like European cousin, the lesser celandine a/k/a fig buttercup a/k/a Ranunculus ficaria. Indeed, one of the reasons that I may never see a marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) is because the lesser celandine crowds out the marsh marigolds and other delicate native spring wildflowers like rue anemone, hepatica, bloodroot, Dutchman's breeches, trout lily, and Virginia bluebells that are trying to co-exist in the same environment. Lesser celandine is so bad that the US Geological Survey, not exactly an organization known for hyperbole, calls it a "travesty". |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4163
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 12:53 pm: |
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That's true Themp. The Lesser Celandine, like some many other plants (purple loosestrife, winged euonymous, Japanese knotweed) is an invasive import that is crowding out native species. Unfortunately, these plants are here to stay. At least Lesser Celandine and Purple Loosestrife are pleasing to the eye. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2746
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 4:37 pm: |
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I hate that knotweed. I even see it in the Adirondacks now. Breaks my heart. |
argon_smythe
Citizen
Username: Argon_smythe
Post Number: 802
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 4:58 pm: |
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Grass is an invasive import that is crowding out native species, too. Unfortunately it, too, is here to stay.
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tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4166
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 6:36 pm: |
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Some grass species, not all. |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 747
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 5:03 pm: |
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My backyard neighbor has been diligently digging up this nasty weed in his backyard for over 2 hours now! |
Eire
Citizen
Username: Eire
Post Number: 134
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 4:15 pm: |
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I've found that I have a bunch in my yard too! This is our first spring here... I am actually having the lawn reseeded right now, so I'd love to have a sense of how to best get rid of them, if they are eventually going to overtake the lawn. They do look an awful lot like violets, and are quite pretty, but should I act now?? |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4193
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 4:53 pm: |
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It's hard. If the soil is soft, you can pull them out, roots and all. If the weather is a bit warm, a spritz of Weed-b-Gon seems to inhibit growth. I heard somewhere that Weed-b-Gon isn't as effective when the weather is cool. Weed-b-Gon, unlike Roundup, won't kill the grass.
If they are in the lawn, you can mow them and this will allow the grass to grow.
In June all of the Celandine disappears for the season. |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 803
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 5:24 pm: |
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Act now - they only get bigger and spread under ground!
(But you have to pull them out carefully.) |
Eire
Citizen
Username: Eire
Post Number: 137
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 5:27 pm: |
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you think I should pull them out or try to dig around them? I have one pretty big patch, but overall, they're spread sparsely, but evenly throughout the lawn! |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4194
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 7:46 pm: |
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I have abandoned my back yard to Lesser Celandine. In my front yard, I make half-hearted efforts to spray the individual plants with Weed-b-Gon. I imagine that if you spray each plant weekly for the next month, they might actually expire. In principle, I don't like chemical weedkillers, but I make exceptions for spot applications. |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 807
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 8:25 pm: |
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You may go nuts, but a combo of light digging and pulling after the soil is loosened will do it. If you break any of the tiny roots, the small bulbs attached to them will begin sending out roots for new plants.
A spot spray would work, but doesn't it have to be a certain temp outside for those to work? My neighbor will use a small torch on them - it'll kill the grass too, but the grass will recover and the weed will die for the season. It depends which you think looks better/worse.
If you have a lot, you probably should ignore them like tjohn did in his backyard. Life's too short! |
Shanabana
Citizen
Username: Shanabana
Post Number: 295
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - 10:36 am: |
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We have a lot. Sounds like the only real alternative to letting them take over the yard (they're already 2/3's there) is to dig up the whole lawn (the use of the term "lawn" is debatable, with crabgrass and the lesser c all over the place.) How deep does one have to go to avoid the lessers from becoming greater again? |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4195
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, April 6, 2006 - 10:34 pm: |
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Life is too short to spend too much time fighting L.C.
In areas of my garden where I want to allow other plants to grow, I pull out the L.C. This sets it back enough so that the other plants can grow.
I mow my lawn, L.C., grass and other non-grass plants so that the L.C. doesn't shade out the grass.
And, by the end of June, all of the L.C. is gone for the year and you wouldn't know it was ever there. |
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