Lesser Celandine; Treating it in Your Lawn (or trying to!)- March 27, 2023
Вставка
- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) is a very aggressive, non-native species that is quickly engulfing our natural areas and choking out our diverse native populations of spring wildflowers. We have tested a lot of different methods for controlling it, and have only found glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) to be effective. In the spring of 2022 we tested twelve different combinations of herbicide concentrations trying to find a practical solution for treating Lesser Celandine in a lawn. Unfortunately, we found that the common treatments for broad-leaved weeds in lawn, such as Triclopyr 3 (salt), Triclopyr 4 (petroleum base), Mecoprop-p, 2,4-D, and Dicamba did not seem to have much effect on Lesser Celandine populations in the lawn. We tested several concentrations of each, but even relatively strong concentrations had minimal impact. We did find that glyphosate was an effective control, but will also kill off the desired grass species in a lawn. One solution proposed is to treat with glyphosate when the lawn has small patches of Lesser Celandine, and then either reseed with new grass, or allow the existing lawn to fill in the bare spot. We welcome comments from others with better solutions to control this very aggressive non-native weed. Do you have solutions that work for you? Do you have other suggestions on methods we should try? Please leave suggestions in the comment section for the benefit of everyone who is trying to control this weed.
Oak Haven is a 60-acre private woodland in Southwestern Ohio near Cincinnati. Jim and Julie Varick both have degrees in Botany and over thirty years of experience in managing natural areas. They enjoy sharing their enthusiasm for the natural world and would like to build relationships with like-minded people to share knowledge and resources.
I have been killing lesser celandine in lawns (without killing grass) with Tenacity herbicide (or Torocity herbicide- same chemical), with the concentration recommended on the label. First spray around late February, second spray around mid March. Sometimes a third spray. I spot spray when I can so I can spare the violets and clovers. I try to do as much of the spraying as possible when the temp is over 50F, it seems to work better. Some of the grass may temporarily turn white.
How long have you been using this? Is it a permanent kill or something that has to be applied year after year?
@@KevinCiamaichela I started 2 or 3 years ago. The amount of lesser celandine dropped a lot. Dropped a lot more since last year. But there is still some so I still spot spray there. Which is similar to the outcomes I get with glyphosate.
I am new to your videos but not new to lesser celandine. I live on the east side of Cincinnati. I have records that show that the Krippendorf's, who founded the Cincinnati Nature Center, brought lesser celandine in from Georgia. At first it did not appear to be aggressive and then it took off. It now inhabits the whole Little Miami and East Fork watersheds. It came up Buck Lick into my neighbor's yard. Crossed the road and now has a patchy presence in my lawn. I typically am relaxed about my lawn, as long as it is green from the house to the road, I don't care. I drew the line at lesser celandine. I did the same broadleaf (Weed-B-Gone) weed killer test as you did. By the next spring, it was clear that I also failed to control this plant. Guess I will spot treat with Roundup and see how much lawn is left. Ha! Ha! A fun fact, it seems that I am one of the few people who have photographed the tuber with a small emerging leaflet. Rhode Island contacted me to use the photo in their invasive species pamphlet.
Also in SW Ohio and we have a ton of it in the yard. Our woods is the worst since it was not taken care of by previous owners. We just built our house a few years ago and have had our priorities on other projects, but dealing with this pest is coming up on the priority list. Good info about what works and what doesn't. I am wondering if repeated treatment of a broad leaf killer will work over time if applied early. Next Feb will be the start of (probably) a few years of treatment to deal with this pest.
Really great videos! Check out Milestone specialty herbicide, in my tests the last couple years I'm getting about 99% control at the lowest concentration on the label. Caution with using it around legume trees like locusts because it does have some soil uptake via roots, but it a highly selective herbicide to mostly legumes and thistles. It absolutely smokes canada thistle as well!
I also used Speedzone herbicide on a huge infestation of stat of bethlehem, another invasive tuber/bulb spring ephemeral and had outstanding results. Speedzone really wallops bulb plants.
I will definitely try Milestone for Lesser Celandine. I have been concerned about using it because the label says that it can move through the soil and is persistent. "Because of its residual activity, control may last all season long or,
depending on the weed species, into the season after application. The residual activity also helps control germinating seeds of susceptible weeds." That is fine for lawns, but I am reluctant to use it in a natural area.
I’ll have a look at Milestone. I have a lawn care company and have been spraying with tryclopyr and 3way with zero affect. Sprayed it early and often and it still comes back with a vengeance.
Hey. Thanks for the video. So based on your video last year and seeing the the effects of Triclopyr, I did some research and found that Tzone would be a good herbicide to try in my lawn.
You are correct about the timing, it matters alot. I knew that I would have to use several applications so I did 3 treatments, one in January, one on February, and one in March.
It definitely had an effect and visually looked like it killed most of it. The ones I sprayed on January completely stopped growing and at the minimum, didn't reproduce.
Also, forgot the mention, once they flower, they don't really react to triclopyr.
Every time I see small yellow flowers this time of year in our woodland my heart jumps. So far all native. Phew....Will continue 'The Watch' however. :) Thank again for another great video!
Thank you, your videos are very informative and helpful.
I have a large patch in my yard, this year I sprayed it all with 1.5% glyphosate. I wanted like 3% concentration but they don't sell it here, atleast for the public's use. I hope it doesn't come back next year!
Did it come back? I have been fighting the little yellow nuggets for years and it’s only gotten worse. I sprayed concentrated Roundup/glyphosate last year and maybe reduced 40%. This year I sprayed over 6 gal of 2% and definitely killing part of my yard.
@@armandrabinowitz6101 I'm not sure, only sprayed a few weeks ago! All seems good so far, but I suspect I will need to respray next year and the year after.
I hope it takes care of it! You can find concentrated glyphosate online or at many hardware stores.
Great Video. I definitely get a lot of inspiration from your work. Treating so much honeysuckle right now.
Thanks!
That cute damned stuff invaded the edge of a garden I was working on, the owner knew what it was and let it go. The next year it had taken over.
It looks like violets in a lot of ways.
The little tubers on the roots look like micro sweet potatoes. They pop off and spread
Best time to treat is a day where temp is up and just before bloom.
I've heard herbicides work best above 65 F, which makes lesser celandine elimination tricky. I've no success yet
Thank you for all your videos on Lesser Celandine, so invasive. What about Crossbow Specialty Herbicide which contains 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid,butoxyethyl ester, Triclopyr BEE. This maybe somewhat of a solution for lawns with the Triclopyr. Watching your past video with Triclopyr and testing 14 other solutions, this may work better for lawns since the glyphosate will kill everything . I am going to try this this season as I have tried everything on an 1.25 acre of lawn and its relentless, just keeps coming back more and more. I have been fighting this weed for 10 years and I am praying the Crossbow works...Thoughts?
Let me know how it works! We didn't have great response to either 2,4-D or triclopyr, but maybe in the right combination at the right strength.
The ONLY thing that has worked for me is using a string trimmer to defoliate areas that are infested, and to do this repeatedly every two weeks. Grasses recover better than the Celandine does, but it still takes a whole season of doing this to kill of the big, established bulbs. True, the lawn looks like crap for a couple of days after doing this, but keeping the lawn short anyway minimizes this bad look, and you can overseed the treated areas.
I think the key is to realize that it's okay for it to "look like crap for a couple of days". Getting rid of it is a goal worth putting up with it looking bad for a little bit.
It still looks way better than it does using glyphosate. Those dead patches look bad for weeks, months. @@TheWoodlandSteward
@@ProfessorLiljedahl Wouldn't it come back next year? Doesn't it spread more when you trim or cut?
I need to look for that species. Don't think I have it, yet.
That would be great!
Thank you for this information. Due to your videos I have been working on the lesser celandine by the creek in our backyard last year and this year. Question 1) do you recommend putting dye in the solution, so you can see where you’ve sprayed it? Question 2) do you dilute the shoreklear herbicide to get it down to 4% glyphosate?
Yes, I add dye (Liquid Harvest Lazer Blue Concentrated Spray Pattern Indicator). Yes, I dilute the Shoreklear down to 4%. It starts at 18%.
Would a weed torch work for this weed
I cannot for the life of me find something that will kill lesser skullcap. I have st. Augustine. Can I brush glyphosate on just the lesser skullcap? Will it still kill my st. A if I let it dry on just the lesser skullcap before letting it touch anything else? Plllleeeeaaassseeee heeelllppp!!! It’s taken over a good area in my yard. I thought Virginia buttonweed was bad, NOPE!
Do you have any recommendations for killing grapevine or porcelain berry? Those vines are killing my trees. I thought I would try the cut stump method you use for honeysuckle on those vines. You are right about lesser celandine. It is taking over the lawns as well as the woods in northern Cincinnati where I am.
I think treating the cut stumps of grapevine and porcelain berry is a good idea (20% glyphosate).
@@TheWoodlandSteward thanks. I've tried it. We'll see what happens.
Moved to Cinci and bought a house and this stuff is just overrun. I have a half acre little wood line and this junk is so strong, it’s nearly a foot high in some places and covers the entire property like carpet.
Didn’t realize you are in Cincinnati until one of other videos. I’ve been super discouraged about this stuff and feeling helpless. I’ve been working hard on propagating this big moss patch and the lesser c just overruns it every year setting me back. At least your video gives me a little hope.
But am I going to harm all the trees and everything if I use glyphosate across the entire woods? I wish I could upload pics of it. Makes the lesser c in your video look tame
I feel your pain! We have managed to keep it in check on our property, but it doesn't take much. Glyphosate will definitely impact any plants where the chemical comes in contact with the leaves. That may be lawn grass or spring wildflowers. It won't hurt the trees and shrubs that are above the level of treatment. (Landscapers spray an amazing amount of glyphosate around trees in landscaping without harming the trees.) You do need to be careful around the herbaceous layer.
Have you tried contacting herbal enthusiasts, homeopaths in local, non- local areas? Matthew Woods (institute of herbalism) can advice what to do with it or perhaps recommend someone who can. It seems repeated "problem" (because nature knows what it's doing).
Good informative and enjoyable videos
Have you tried weeding it out if it is not a large patch or do you find that it just keeps coming back and needs to be sprayed?
I’ve had success with removing small patches (chipmunks, I’m sure, in a raised bed by my front porch). You may need to repeat your efforts in the following years because tiny bulbils can get left behind.
Weeding a small patch is certainly an option, but keep an eye on it. If it starts to spread you may need to pull out the big guns!
Hi, just to be clear, the Shoreclear 18% was successful? What was the dilution? Is there any other gylcophate product that has worked for you? I will use the Shoreclear first if it is less toxic. The area is a bit moist in woodlands where unfortuneately I have other native woodland flowers that are already up. I was thinking of digging up them and replanting them in another spot so I can liberally treat the Lesser Celandine here. Hoping it is not too late to treat it here in CT, , but afraid to wait at this point.
Sorry for the late reply. We use ShoreKlear at 4% glyphosate, although 2% may do okay. We use other generic glyphosate successfully for upland situations.
Hello, I've used glyphosate to kill what little patches I have in my yard. (It had already bloomed when I found this video, so I'll likely spray again this year and start in January with spray next year.) But I sprayed almost 2 weeks ago. I read that you shouldn't mow because it spreads the stuff, but now that it's starting to die, can I mow killed off patches of the stuff? How long should we wait until we mow? (I also plan to get out there and dig some of it out soon, but I will need to mow in the next few weeks.)
What herbicide brand do you use? Does it kill the grass nearby?
Sorry this is so late. I would look for healthy bulblets in the axils under the blooming stalk. If there are no bulblets, I would mow.
She is using glyphosate, which is non-selective, and will kill the grass.
I've been spraying it with Roundup for the last 2 years. I knocked it down, but it still comes up in areas. This will be year 3.
What strength are you using!
What about tenacity?
I will have to look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi. I tried using Brush Killer Bioadvanced concentrate .08% from Lowes, using 8oz of concentrate per gallon in a pump sprayer. The Lowes employee said this is what she used to kill it and same strength. I used a rough spray not the mist and applied it thickly about 2 weeks ago in CT. The results so far show wilting but it is not dead. Should I retreat it? Or make it twice as strong? I could not find the ShoreClear at Tractor Supply. Is it worth retreating now at higher strength, or switching to Glycoshate now, or wait until next spring? Did you notice glycosphate killing it quickly? I thought I had killed it but from watching your video and hearing it came back the following year, I doubt I eradicated it.
Thank you for your videos, please show the updates.
I believe that product uses tryplocyr. That’s what I was using in small patches for lesser celadons and wild violets. It does knock the plant but root it remains to be seen -next year?