It is probably a good idea to go the plastic route. I read on another forum that the only success to be had was just what you are doing, including the round up on anything green that shows its's face. I am not a fan either but have tried it on these things. This year i tested it in an area that is barren except for them. I found that if you get them just as they are arching out of the ground (sticking their noses up, lol!) they do die back. Not sure yet what the bulbs look like but I will be digging to see after some time passes. Once the leaf or leaves are up, it is really hard for the round up to do it's work. Last year, I cleared a bed and bagged all the turf grass into black plastic contractor bags, hoping to compost it over the year. I opened them almost exactly a year later and guess what was the only thing growing, in the total darkness? Yep. I've (unfortunately) continued digging like a gopher. I've got them in perennial beds where I can't spray, but I have been trying to be vigilant for months now, digging at first sign, and picking the balls of the surface as far back as march. I've got pockets of them that I keep my eyes on the most and am really, really trying to get them gone. I dug up one whole 7ft or so bed totally this past month. Everything growing there was removed and put in quarantine. It was one of the worst areas yet the one that needed the most work, so thought I would try it. Nothing that really needed saving was growing there, though I did save the stuff. I manually picked out patches and sifted all the dirt thru a window screen. What hell. I went down as far as the topsoil seemed to go till I got to compacted rock and clay, and just re-filled it last week so time will tell. I want to put perrenials there, but am holding off till I feel it is under control. I spread a bunch of zinnia seeds there this season for the time being. I'm afraid to transplant anything around the yard for fear of moving them to "clear zones". The stuff I have transplanted I have essentially washed off the roots to bare root and replanted. I have discarded lots of soil, sadly, and have lots of low points and divots, but it seems that when they pop from these areas I can get them up from the disturbed soil. I'm going to let these areas around my plants alone before I refill, and see if I can eliminate them that way, too. Keeping a watchful eye on known areas and dig every night in known areas. I saved a bunch in pots (in a safe place, if there is one, lol!) to test what cutting the leaves off, roundup and covering totally will do to them. The front lawn is just filled with the immature leaves currently. As I walk down the street there are 3 places offhand that I know are filled with a field of them, mature flowering plants. Good luck and keep me posted. I feel so alone in this fight. I'm on my way back outside to do daily rounds of search and dig. I may spray some in the front yard that were sprayed a week ago. I try and pull the trigger on the foam setting right on top of each one, no broadcast spraying. I don't think broadcast spraying would even work, not concentrated enough. I just now deflowered several that I spotted growing under the hedges out front. Crafty buggers, they are. By the way, keep a long screwdriver handy while you work. It's good for lifting out strays you find as you work!
EGADS!!! This thing sounds horrible. I think I would be tempted to bomb the house & yard & just move on!
Have you tried other herbicides? I'm thinking of some of the common lawn broadleaf stuff that isn't too nasty. Trimec or turflon ester. I have some of the latter for Bermuda grass control, so maybe I'll mix it with the Roundup and have a go. Once I've completely destroyed all of my soil with chemicals, I'll go back to natural This is what the weed has driven me to! At least I only have one stubborn patch... though my neighbor's yard is infested so this will be a long term theme for me.
A friend says she has had success battling Pinellia ternata with herbacide containing the ingredient feHEDTA. One brand is Natria.
Thanks! I'll have to hunt it down and try it. I think it should be safe enough - it's just iron dissolved in an acid... I guess the little menace doesn't like iron! I'm currently having more success with the triclopyr than I was with the Roundup. They bend over and start to die within 24 hours with the triclopyr - but I'm not certain that it will kill the corm.
Yes, it is that time of year again, folks! A bump to this thread for all of us fighting the good fight!! Spent the last weeks since the snow melted removing leaves from the garden beds and the yard. My eagle eye spotted many many little pinellia bulblets on the surface in the most offending areas. I picked them, squashed them and threw them out. Crikey! Will it ever end!!!??? I think I am getting close to some control, but time will tell. Last fall the manic-landscaper dude did not leaf blow the back hard where my beds are, so I am hoping there will be far less mechanical spread than there has in the past. Not that there won't be any, but I can hope. Happy spring to you all and keep up the good fight!!!
Sounds very reasonable. Just make sure it's warm, sunny, not windy, leaves are dry when you do use the RU or it won't be its' most effective. Good luck fighting the good fight! I hope you are able to use "your garden" this year!
Oh, just realized I replied to the last reply on page one, but the wish for luck stands! ...and speaking of "the fight," ugh! Pulling a ton of Asparagus ferns out of my Mom's yard. Those things have bulb-type things on their MASSIVE roots too. Not sure the first dig'n'pull will get all of that. Then there's the patch of Vinca minor that I'm working on too. A lot of pulls are just handfulls of 'strings.' Not easy to get the roots to come out.
Yes, TY! That's how they got in the yard, then the berries started sprouting too. I got all of the visible Vinca last night! I was worried I wouldn't be able to get rid of it manually but I got tons of roots to pull easily by pulling on the base of where the leaves are sprouting, not just the 'strings.' Doing it when the ground is soft and moist makes a huge difference too, than last time I half-heartedly tried to pull some of that out. I'm sure I missed some and will be monitoring closely to pull anything more coming up, but at this point, I think it will be minimal. The other thing I'm battling in Mom's yard is blue mist flower (Conoclinium coelestinum.) It creeps along just under the surface just like Vinca but didn't come up as easily, most of it just broke off. I may have to smother a large area of it after realizing what's going on. What's weird is that she didn't plant that. I planted tiny store-bought Ageratum 2 years ago, and last year, that stuff showed up where it was. I don't know if there were cross-bred seeds dropped, or some kind of reversion. Either way, I will never, ever buy Ageratum again.
