Can someone help identify this please?

Hi all,

Im a complete novice to gardening and was wondering if someone would be kind enough to identify this weed for me (picture attached). I showed someone who said it could be dock or even worse knotweed! Bit worried about it so any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Glen

 

Get those Docks out quick before they seed everywhere! They have a deep tap root that makes them difficult to remove.

 

Thanks for that guys... any recommended course of action? or appropriate root killer?

 

Dig them out. If the seeds look 'ripe' (brown) snip the stems off first and dispose of them.

EDIT: If just relying on weedkillering them you risk the seeds continuing to ripen after application, and seeding another even bigger crop of Docks.

 

If you pull it (Docks) out, with the root, that's it job done. However, with all that ready-to-drop seed dangling on it then its going to seed everywhere (you won't be able to remove them without dislodging some seed), and thus they will be back next year ... and the year after ...

As the old saying does "One year's seed = Seven years' weed"

Ignore the SPAM drivel about treatments for Japanese Knotweed - you don't have that, and the chemical they are trying to promote / sell to you is only available to trained professionals, so they are breaking the law pushing it here, and they' only copied it verbatim from their website - wasted their time registering as I expect the MODs will remove the post shortly and report them to their ISP etc ...

 

I'm on the side of Dock ... now, if you have a load of nettle, you might learn to "appreciate" having dock to hand (and, interestingly, from my - albeit limited - experience, nettle and dock tend to grow in similar habitats; so, check your nettle situation too!). Dock leaves rubbed on a nettle sting brings a great amount of relief ( ain't nature wonderful!? Kill and cure in the same breath - who knew!? ).

I have some of this growing in my garden (my copse end). But, I'm not really "dealing" with it this year because (selfishly ) I'm, hopefully, moving to pastures new and I only have so many hours in the day when working full time.

Contain the seed (as per Scrungee's post); then, treat the remaining stems with a weedkiller (crush the leaves, apply: pray!) Keep your eyes open, for the next couple of years, and pull/treat every sighting.

Sounds a bit "OCD" - but, to be fair to "the flowers we know as weeds", it's the only way to eradicate them (as best as we are able, that is!)

Best of British!

 

I am doubtful that Roundup / Glyphosate will knock them off in a single application, they are well established and not actively growing any more ... so I think it would be a waste of time, seed would be shed, and grow :( and as you say digging (or pulling, if they will) them out would be a total solution

 

For minimal ground disturbance my preferred tool for dock tap root removal is one of these used to chop out a narrow slot complete with root.

 

Well all I can say is good luck with digging them out completely. The one I have just had a go at was still going down over 2 feet and as we know any bit of root will regrow. I find Glyphosate works on them very successfully.

 

I think it would work better on young / re-growth. So doing the best to remove them (even if that is just cutting / breaking the tops off, to try to catch as much seed as possible), and then waiting for the re-growth, and then spraying.

I'm just sceptical that it will provide a 100% kill on the mature plants (and the seed will still drop if only weedkiller is used??)

 

Looks like some of them are growing through slabs, so digging out may be impossible there. That's where I find most of mine to be honest - coming through gaps in paving slabs and edges of borders where they look like they're growing through the wall.