Persistent, hard to get rid of weed ... what is it? Photos

[Shoeshelpplease]

We are in a new build with a newly laid lawn and we keep getting the most awful persistent spotty type of weed, virtually impossible to dig out.

In the lawn and paving stones. Weed killer gets rid but obviously kills the lawn around too.

Can anybody identify this weed and offer solutions?

it's a kind of thistle.
just keep digging it out and also from borders to stop it self seeding.
you could also poor boiljng water over it or burn it with a flame thrower if you have one.

Bristly oxtongue

Can't help you to get rid but if anyone knows a solution I'm all ears.

Yes - keep digging as soon as you spot them - you WILL see results if you're as consistent as you can.

I haven't tried it, but I remember a long-ago gardening programme where the presenter recommended a small pinch of salt for weeds in lawns. Right in the epicentre. HOWEVER, you need to be careful. If there's a lot of weeds, too much salt will affect the lawn negatively.

Weeding wand for paving, I agree are very effective and, of course non-toxic.

Baby triffid

flumpy

No easy solutions then!

Any recommendations on weed pulling up tools .... this is going to take some time!

There's never an easy solution, except for having your lawn removed in its entirety and having new turf laid. I've fought against horrific lawn weeds for years and the new lawn laying has been the only effective measure I've ever taken. Is this the only troublemaker you have or are there other species muscling in? If it's the only one (which I doubt, weeds being what they are) then investing in a horticultural flame thrower may well be the answer. Or digging them up, but all thistles have a hideously long tap root, and if you leave any of it behind it will start regrowing from that.

Did you know that it's considered a herb and was used to get rid of parasites in the body?

Also some of the little hairs are known as trifid hairs, flumpybear!

The advice I've found online is:

"For a large infestation a selective herbicide will have to be used. Use a selective weed killer containing a mixture of 2,4-D, Dicamba and Mecoprop-p, repeat again 6 weeks later if necessary."

There's no biological controls you can use, so if you don't want to use chemicals, you'll have to keep digging them up. It's normally found on wasteland probably why my garden is full of them.