Topic: Urgent help - please -

[tim]

Ground elder? (Not couch)

If not wot?? And to check if it's alive, put it in water? For how long?

[sandersj89]

Tim

Looks like elder I am afraid, roots can be similar to bindweed.

No sure about putting it in water to check if it is alive. How about when you snap the roots. Do they break cleanly and is the flesh clean white inside? If so I would say they are alive but just dormant at the moment.

Jerry

[tim]

With you on that, Jerry. Yes!

Daughter is re-turfing her lawn, & a long border is thick with the stuff. Last year's Roundup killed everything in sight, but seems to have left the roots hale (never written that word before!) & hearty?

So - you either rely on the 'mow often' theory, to degenerate over several years, or you have to wait till the growth is well advanced before you try another kill. By which time the place would be a mess. And that could take another 3 years??

So - I reckon we have to turf & be damned!

[Palustris]

First of all, mowing, you will be glad to hear, does eventually get rid of it, especially if you do it as often as one is supposed to, if one wants a fine close knit turf.
In the border itself, the only way is to dig out all you can and then wait until the new growth starts. Bruise the foliage and apply the Round-up.
I would like to try covering the soil with black plastic and letting the weeds grow underneath until they are a few inches tall and yellow, then weedkilling to see if as the leaves develop the full chlorophyll it makes any difference to the uptake of the chemical. Where are you John Miller or Hugh Jones for their thoughts on that?

[tim]

My true name is John - be that as it may.

Since they work in London all week, it's going to be labour saving - no beds! We, too, have cut out the main border & we can now play cricket without a qualm.

[john_miller]

Unfortunately, Palustris, Hugh, citing more pressing matters, has withdrawn from this forum.
I don't think that the presence or absence of cholorphyll is of prime importance concerning any attempt to make Round-up more effective. I did read specifically how it works (which hormonal process it interrupts) and the important factor is to get as much of the a.i. into the plant as possible. Bruising is one way of doing this but by just laying the plastic over the developing plant the plant will have time to seal most breaks in tissue (except for those immediately before you remove the plastic). I would erect  supports over the ground elder and put the plastic (clear would work too) over it for a few days to produce succulent growth. This would keep the stomata wide open and so allow enhanced absorption of the a.i. by the plant while the plant is still intact and growing 'normally'. If you replace the plastic afterwards it may also maintain a higher rate of translocation through the plant and further increase it's efficacy.
Just an opinion.