Controversy in the Garden

A departure from the usual type of post here. I have had to make a difficult decision regarding a pressing issue in the garden.

The story begins 10 years ago when I was given some plants from an out-of-state friend; some flowers and some raspberry roots. I had just moved here from NYC where I'd lived for 35 years. Not knowing where to plant what--I didn't know the land yet--I plopped everything in the first places I could think of that might be suitable. That location was where my garden would eventually become established. I was completely oblivious to the time bomb hitching a ride in one or more of those potted plants. I knew nothing about it, nor did I know to look for it.

That bomb was Ground Elder, also known by several other names including Bishop's Weed. Aegopodium podagraria. A horribly invasive plant up here where I'm located. The garden where these plants came from had Ground Elder in it, I found out later. I noticed it within a year or two and it's fast spreading habit alarmed me. When I went looking to ID it I started to realize the seriousness of the problem. Within two to three years, one bed had been completely over run by it. I spent two to three weeks one spring digging that bed up and sifting the soil, trying to eradicate it. (If but a tiny segment of root is left in the soil it will take hold, grow, and re-establish itself.) This set it back but before I knew it, it was back and spreading in other directions. It was a mess and threatening to smoother my entire garden. In hindsight I think this threw me into a sort of denial, thinking that it would 'peter out' or meet the end of it's natural life cycle. Well no, it didn't.

I had angst about it for a number of years, discouraged at having had the experience of sifting through soil in an effort to remove every trace of it, and not wanting to repeat that effort again in vain. Last year I noticed it spreading to other beds nearby and some had popped up in an area where I was dumping sod to create new beds. It seemed an insurmountable problem and I was feeling a certain guilt over it, because it wasn't here before I got here. I worried that it would continue to spread and that it's seedlings would eventually cover the entire mountain in an unstoppable sea of Bishop's Weed. How did this ever happen?

The situation had become one of desperation. From the stories I'd read online and my experience at trying to dig it out, I realized that trying to manually eradicate it would be a futile exercise. Thus begins my controversial decision.

It is completely against my principles to use weed killers or insecticides. However, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, so I decided to do some reading up on the subject. Today's ubiquitous herbicide of choice is, of course, RoundUp, which contains as it's active ingredient, glyphosate. I have, over the years, read horrible things about glyposate and it's effects on the bee population and other life forms. I would never have considered using something like it. But in my search for an answer I came across some studies that seemed to shed new light on it.

One study from England, in particular, had found that some glyphosate based herbicides had about the same effect on bees as a control group--a very good outcome indeed. The study mentioned a particular brand, but sadly, that product is only available in the UK. The conclusion of the study is that glyphosate is not the main culprit in RoundUp, and the real problem is the inert ingredients that make up 99% of it's constitution. (I'm unclear whether the maker of RoundUp is reformulating its product to address this issue.)

This alone might not have completely convinced me, but I had also read about how glyphosate works, and why it cannot affect insects or animals. It works by interfering with some channel of chemistry that plants alone utilize. Reading about the application of RoundUp, I found that one sprays it on the plant's leaves, which in turn absorb it and it makes it's way to the plant's roots. It's systemic.

 All this 'research' took place last summer and since I couldn't obtain the glyphosate herbicide from England (the one with good marks), I decided to wait and think about it over the winter. I wasn't ready to turn to RoundUp yet.

Several months later, and my thoughts boiled down to these points:

• I think that the indiscriminate use of RoundUp should be avoided and by no means should it be used on a large scale.
• If I had sprayed these invasive plants when the problem first arose, I would have had to use very little. If I wait longer I will have to use a lot more.
• I need a specific, one-time (hopefully) application to erradicate an out-of-control invasive plant that could well smother out a lot of local flora if nothing is done about it.
• The size of the area I need to treat is still manageable.

I decided it needed to be done.

I started with the worst patch first, waiting for a day with little to no breeze, and sprayed close to the plants. The label on the container says results can be seen as quickly as 12 hours later. Nothing. After a few days: Nothing. Finally, I noticed a yellowing of the leaves and a gradual dying back. Oh, thank goodness. It has been working for over a month and I'm now removing as many dead roots as possible so as to reclaim the bed that had become so infested.

There is still another bed that needs treatment and I'm waiting for some early flowering plants to be done blossoming (which they just did this week) so I can dig up the bed, save the plants I want, and then spray the Ground Elder.

I'm really relieved. Finally, it appears to be under control and I know how I can get rid of it now.

It's been a nightmare. I'm keeping some RoundUp in reserve so that if I see any new shoots coming up, they'll get sprayed right away.

This is the area that has already been sprayed, the process of removing roots has begun. The rhubarb patch will also need to be dug up and treated since it, too, is infested:

A pile of dead roots. A small fraction of what I'm pulling out:

Another view of the area (I'm waiting on the small patch on the right because there are crocuses I want to save in that area):

The other bed that is infested, waiting to be treated: