Allotments 4 All

Some oxalis seeds must have been in manure I spread on one of my raised beds a couple of years ago and has been impossible to get rid of. I dig carefully and remove as many of the brown seeds in the clumps as I can see but a few days later there are more growing, especially at this time of the year. They multiply faster than I can remove them and have become the bane of my life. Anyone got any advice please? I have leeks in the bed this year plus a courgette at one end and a squash at the other.

Tricia

I'd treat them like any other plant that I don't want but keeps returning as seedlings.... Use a hoe everytime they stick their pretty little leaves up. A "swoe" should make life easier as it fits in and around rows of reasonably spaced veg plants.

If they have grown from seed and you keep them under control this year preventing them from developing seed pods/heads then next year you will be clear of them.....if that's how they spread and not from roots.

Have you tried lime?  They died here very quickly.

It would be helpfull to know first which sort of oxalis you have to determine how to get rid..

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=498

Is it this one?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oxalis.corniculata.7562.JPG
If so, then whatever you do, don't Swoe it, it will spread from its pesky roots as well. My patch is infested with it and has been for 28 years. I fork out the biggest clumps as they grow , and remove seedlings as I sow seeds or plant out, but otherwise I've had to learn to live with it. Stop it seeding if you can because they 'pop' a long way as they ripen - I've been clearing it from my block paving (old knife down the cracks, groan groan) and the seeds shoot up in your face, cheap exfoliation  :).
Good luck!

My sympathies. I have it in my bonsai pots. One has to lift it carefully from loosened soil to get all the tiny bulbils.

Quote from: small on June 08, 2012, 10:00:22
Is it this one?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oxalis.corniculata.7562.JPG
If so, then whatever you do, don't Swoe it, it will spread from its pesky roots as well. My patch is infested with it and has been for 28 years. I fork out the biggest clumps as they grow , and remove seedlings as I sow seeds or plant out, but otherwise I've had to learn to live with it. Stop it seeding if you can because they 'pop' a long way as they ripen - I've been clearing it from my block paving (old knife down the cracks, groan groan) and the seeds shoot up in your face, cheap exfoliation  :).
Good luck!

Whoops....... made a mess of that suggestion (made earlier) didn't I?  :-[

I swoe / hoe any little b*gg*r that's in the wrong place and I keep going. Presently I'm tackling mares tail as it pops up in my parents new garden. One of us will eventually give up.

My intention is to continuously weaken the plant and prevent it from photosynthesising as much as possible no matter what its root system is like.

Ooooh, Adenroller, let's have pistols at dawn! I didn't mean to sound rude, I was just thinking of my total failure to eradicate it like that. My Swoe is my extra hand...
I do my parents garden too (next door, mixed blessing...) and as well as oxalis they have helxine in their block paving, and a lawn composed of moss and hawkweed. And couch in the rockery!

Quote from: small on June 08, 2012, 16:20:43
Ooooh, Adenroller, let's have pistols at dawn! I didn't mean to sound rude, I was just thinking of my total failure to eradicate it like that. My Swoe is my extra hand...
I do my parents garden too (next door, mixed blessing...) and as well as oxalis they have helxine in their block paving, and a lawn composed of moss and hawkweed. And couch in the rockery!

I didn't take your comment as in the least bit rude - "No prob" as the youngsters I once taught say.  :D

Having taken a closer look at the dreaded oxalis I'm pretty sure that's the blighter my parents had in their last bungalow.  ::)

My parents now live smack bang opposite us and life is sooooooooo much easier. No cycling up and down countless times every day of the week all year long. Added bonus is their new larger than average garden which I love escaping into when I can... despite the mares tail... Hoe, hoe, and more hoe or Swoe as the case may be.  ;)

Oxalis (sorrel)  in Zimbabwe is termed a noxious weed.. therefore you had to spray and kill it if you saw it and could not plant it!!!

Oh dear - looks like I have a permanent problem. I don't want to use weed killer because of the risk to the planting in the bed. It is this variety: (I have previewed it, so don't worry about the long link!). The brown seeds are often as much as six or seven inches deep. I've lost a lot of lovely rich soil by using a spade to get under big clumps and dumping the lot in the bin I keep for perennial weeds.

Tricia

http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Doxalis%2Bimages%26rd%3Dpref&w=160&h=119&imgurl=www.bing.com%2Fimages%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Doxalis%2Bimages%23focal%3D5c4fd5b66cea0d009fbefc4bd2f10364%26furl%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fupload.wikimedia.org%252fwikipedia%252fcommons%252fc%252fc7%252fOxalis_acetosella-1.jpg&size=&name=search&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fimages%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Doxalis%2Bimages%23focal%3D5c4fd5b66cea0d009fbefc4bd2f10364%26furl%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fupload.wikimedia.org%252fwikipedia%252fcommons%252fc%252fc7%252fOxalis_acetosella-1.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fimages%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Doxalis%2Bimages%23focal%3D5c4fd5b66cea0d009fbefc4bd2f10364%26furl%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fupload.wikimedia.org%252fwikipedia%252fcommons%252fc%252fc7%252fOxalis_acetosella-1.jpg&p=oxalis&type=&no=2&tt=108&oid=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fimages%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D4635752059896519%26id%3D59c959d5457d9837daa5d444cbbe9b92&tit=File%3AOxalis+acetosella-1.jpg+-+Wikimedia+Commons&sigr=15ovtoiba&sigi=15hrbmr6n&sigb=12210kbat&fr=my-myy-s