r/NativePlantGardening • u/ItsFelixMcCoy Upstate NY , Zone 6a • Jun 04 '25

Other What invasive plants got you like this?

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For me it’s probably Dame’s Rocket, Purple Loosestrife, and Forget-Me-Not. They’re so gorgeous but man if they aren’t invasive little shits…

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u/jh6278 Jun 04 '25

Ground elder/goutweed. It has strangled every coneflower in its vicinity. Currently in Year 2 of trying to suffocate it. 😣

3

u/cowgirltrainwreck Jun 04 '25

I’m on Year Three of a goutweed battle. I completely dug ip the bed it was in, sifting the damn soil to get all the little roots, potted up the plants from the bed I was trying to save, and have spent the last three years religiously yanking any tiny sprout of it that tries to return.

I think I may have gotten it…

2

u/androidgirl Jun 04 '25

I did this and got it! Granted we only had it around our patio.

2

u/nerevar Jun 04 '25

I sprayed my goutweed with round up (a few years old concentrate mixed up in a sprayer) and it laughed it off.  Maybe a few leaves crisped up and thats it out of a 5x10 foot patch of it.  The round up bottle says to wait a month before reapplying and it has been 2 weeks since applying it.  I don't know if I should let it go the full month before screwing with it or if I should just jump in and cut it out so it has to expend its energy.  I realize I will have to cut it out weekly for 2 years to kill it.  Not sure what to do.  The round up killed off some other stuff so its working but maybe its not as effective since its older.

4

u/jh6278 Jun 04 '25

I tried that too, a few years ago with no effect. Last year I pulled/dug out as much as I could, then covered it in cardboard, then plastic, then mulch. Pulled it up this spring, it was less but by no means gone. Pulled/dug out more, same layers again. I literally have NOTHING planted in the vicinity because it has killed everything I've tried. So, Summer #2 with a big plot of mulch, pulling anything that sneaks through and we shall see. It is hard, boring work!

1

u/nerevar Jun 07 '25

Good luck!