mystery roots

[Deb P]

I'm still betting on bindweed.........I found some again on my plot today when I dug up some bulbs to be moved, does the root look white inside when you snap it, its quite fragile? If so, bindweed it is!   ::)

Pic, Pic, Pic...............! Comparison.

I'll take a photo when I go on Wednesday, I'm sure I'll find some more!

Sorry, couldn't get a fork into the ground here today, frozen solid! :-\

[Deb P]

[telboy]

Well norforklass,
You've been buried in advice, what's your opinion?

[norfolklass]

hmm, I'm going to go with the consensus I think, and expect bindweed when it starts growing. checked on the bit I planted at home and it's started to grow although the tip has been frosted so no leaves yet... will post a pic as soon as there are leaves.

whatever it is, it's EVERYWHERE! my neighbour has it too, he's just dug over his plot and there's a trail of the same roots leading to a huge pile on the communal dumping ground (actually two derelict plots covered in brambles and currently home to, amongst other things, a microwave oven, a stereo and lots of broken glass ::) and there's a waiting list for plots on our site  >:( (it took me 18 months to get my plot) but that's a whole new thread). so that should help it spread nicely ::)

[Paulines7]

I am 100% certain that those roots are bindweed.  I think you will have your work cut out for the next few years.  It sounds as though your plot and those nearby have been really neglected for a long time and the weeds have taken over completely.

I am forever digging bindweed out of my vegetable plots and flower gardens, so you have my sympathy.  I look forward to seeing the leaves of your plant when they unfold.  Why is it in nature that the bindweed is such a pest yet has such a beautiful flower.

Good luck with your new adventure. 

[manicscousers]

we've always been told to NEVER let it flower, just keep pulling as much as poss out, seems to work, I think it's giving up and going somewhere more hospitable   ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

If it flowers, it seeds all over the place. The stuff in my hedges has probably been doing so for the last 167 years since the site opened!

[norfolklass]

the bit I planted at home has finally grown some leaves: it's a thistle :o :o :o
I'm not convinced that it can all be thistles, so I've brought some more roots home and have planted those in another pot to see if they turn out to be bindweed.

am very surprised!

[sally_cinnamon]

I have all the roots you have on your picture!  The old boys on my plot said the thicker stuff that is brittle is bindweed, and the thinner bendy stuff is couch (also known as witchgrass and many other names too apparently!) and the stuff with the red and green fuzzy sprouty bits are nettles.

I've also got hogweed (think thats what its called...)

I'll take a pic of mine today and post it tomorrow...

:)

[sally_cinnamon]

Okay, here are my weeds...

Three different kinds, the left one I thought was bindweed - kinda bendy but snaps easy, grows quite deep.  The middle one I thought was couch - bendy, grows shallow, starting to sprout the grass-like shoots out.  The right one I thought was nettle - hard to see here but has red on it too, and fuzzy leaves and stem.  Also, does anyone know what the round green ones are in the backround?  When I pull these out, they have really long, quite thick single roots that splay out into a sort of "foot" at the bottom.  They are starting to sprout up all over the place.   :(


I think this is hogweed?


The pile!

[norfolklass]

eek :o :o :o
am quite scared by your middle pic!

the nettle roots on my plot are quite yellowy rather than red, so I'm not sure that the one on the right is nettle, but I don't know what it might be instead :-\

[sally_cinnamon]

Yes it scares me too, especially when I see that there are around thirty of them sprouting up around the place!  Not even funny.  :(

The bottom one is quite scary too, seeings how I've only just got through about a third of my plot and I'm betting the rest is just as weedy!  Think I'll have me a bonfire...

[mc55]

omg, I've never seen anything like the middle one.  My bindweed and thistles are revving up and springing into life - they look very similar at this stage beneath the soil.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The first one is definitely bindweed and couch as you suggested.

[carolinej]

Does anyone think that the middle one could be last years parsnip. I have tops similar to that on my lottie. When I dug them up, they had badly eaten parsnips underneath. Saying that, they were whiter roots than those. What would schonozera(?) look like ? They have dark roots.

Feel free to ignore all my suggestions, as I'm probably completely wrong ???

cj :)

[dandelion]

I think scorzonera have narrow leaves and it's not parsnips either. don't know what it is though  ::).

[amanda21]

The original photo looks like something I have on my plot.  The leaves it gets are flat to the ground, like a rosette I guess, with bumps and little hairs.  I think if I remembered it flowered with small yellow, almost daisy like, flowers which turn to little fluffy seed head - Like dandelion but taller, and thinner.  The seem to grow along runners of these roots and I found in the end it was easier to pull the weed up once the leaves had grown.  I had some rosettes of about a tea-plate size if not bigger.

This is a good example of the leaves but the roots have shriveled here and were much thicker and creamier in colour. 

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6631/483/1600/IMG_0723.jpg

[norfolklass]

This is a good example of the leaves but the roots have shriveled here and were much thicker and creamier in colour. 

I have that in the lawn at home!
no idea what it is though ???

[Robert_Brenchley]

Could be one of the hawkweeds. Good bee plants.

[dandelion]

http://www.bayer-escience.co.uk/tw22.htm

Oxtongue?

[amanda21]

Ox-Tongue - thanks dandelion - I reckon that's mine judging by the leaves!   :-\