How to get rid of an aggressive weed before it takes over your garden. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Rutrgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station image
Creeping Charlie is an aggressive backyard weed that is a member of the mint family, which is known for its tendency to spread. This shallow rooted weed also has a minty odor when cut or crushed.
If you try to pull up this weed, you’ll notice that these stems can root at each node where the leaves attach, making it seem like the plant is hanging on for dear life. Hand weeding will only work if you remove and destroy every bit of the roots.
If it’s taking over a space where you don’t want to grow anything else for at least 6 months, you can try smothering it under layers of cardboard or sheets of black plastic. If it is in your lawn, a broadleaf herbicide can be very effective, but it should be applied in early fall so that the plant takes the product down to its roots, weakening it as it goes dormant for winter.
The presence of creeping charlie signals that the growing conditions for your lawn may need to be addressed. Too much shade, wet soils, or poor fertility could be issues.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s This Land of Ours program here.
Today Ryan Knorr Lawn Care shows you how to get rid of creeping charlie with results that only took a few days! He have been battling creeping charlie or similar weeds like ground ivy and wild violets in his lawn for some time now. As the name suggests, they have started to creep more and more into the kentucky bluegrass turf of his lawn. He used tzone to spray the creeping charlie and even the next day he noticed browning and curling. 6 days later the results were fantastic, and, he shows you those results here in this video.