Ground Elder

[LIZS]

Re-digging a bed to make space to plant some roses. However have already removed two clumps of ground elder and spread is still evident. What is the best way to remove it please?

Not sure, i keep digging mine out and remove as many tubers as possible
Terrible stuff

Persistence. You just have to keep going until you weaken it enough. It can take years of determined weeding.

Keep going with it. It can be quite meditative, tracing the roots.

Dig dig and then dig some more
Or if you don’t mind using chemicals and it is not mixed amongst plants you want to keep you can spray it with a weed killer like resolva or round up.

It's important not to snap the roots as the broken bit makes new plants.

I let it go for a year about 10 years ago.
It is now EVERYWHERE and the thread roots run in every direction.
Don't leave it while you can still distinguish clear patches. Dig and dig.

It is the work of the devil

Sounds like I will need to get down on my hands and knees! Is it worth using something like bark or membrane to cover over or will it just find its way back through ?

It will just find its way through bark and membrane might kill off the tops but the spaghetti like roots will survive and push up around the edges.
The good news with group elder is that the roots are pretty shallow and you get clumps of it like a ball of spaghetti so you can dig the whole clump out.
When I moved into my present home the garden was full of ground elder. Every bed was infested and it was amongst some well established large clips of plants I wanted to keep.
I spent my first spring digging out any soil infested with the ground elder. Lifting and washing the roots of plants I wanted to keep including a large clump of day lilies and agapanthus. The next couple of springs I would check for any new growth from root I might have missed but only got the occasional random one and now my garden is free of it.
I did end up with 19 garden sacks of it and contaminated soil which went to the dump. Don’t put any in your compost if you have one as it will quite happily survive in there and you will end up spreading it back on your garden.

The only way I managed was spraying the young leaves with week killer in the evening. Older leaves on it are very hardy. I dug and dug before resorting to chemicals but I read that disturbing it makes it grow quicker and that seemed true in my experience. I’ve just noticed a small amount in my new garden, I’ll try and dig first and see if the same happens again.

Any Glyphosate weed killer will kill it but it needs to be used when it is actively growing. Spray it on and wait as it needs to travel through the plant and to the roots to stop it making the proteins it needs to grow.
It is not something that happens overnight and usually takes a couple of weeks to see any die back.

Ground elder is an absolute bastard. One border of my garden has been infested with it for forty years.
It has defied glyphosate weed killer, black plastic smother sheets, forking out by hand, you name it.
The problem with mine is, it was well established when I moved in, and also it’s inextricably bound in with the roots of trees and ten foot high bushes - so I can’t just lift my plants and clean the roots. And it’s difficult to even get access under the bushes to attack the stuff.
OP, when you’re digging it out, you need to be aware that there is a shallow tangle of roots just under the surface, and you’ll think it’s really easy to get out. However, that mat of roots is connected to individual much deeper tap roots, which just snap off when you pull on the mat. They remain viable and deeply buried, and rapidly regenerate new growth.

Yes ours is among shrubs, so don't think weedkiller is ideal. Think it may have come from next door originally as I created this bed, lined it and used fresh compost.

You can put on plastic gloves, then an old wool one on top. Dip the wool glove in weed killer and touch and brush over all the leaves carefully. You can isolate them afterwards by using carrier bags over them if necessary. That's how I've killed some hard to reach weeds.

ceilingsand, that’s a good idea for hard to reach weeds in general, or ones mixed in with wanted plants, but I’m doubtful how successful it would be with ground elder.
I’ve actually sprayed glyphosate weed killer directly onto my ground elder. It turns yellow for about a month then regenerates, more vigorous than ever!

I had some all mixed in with some Japanese anemones, the young leaves of which look very like GE. I tried digging it out, but got nowhere so eventually resorted to RoundUp gel & spray as appropriate, and it's all gone now. It didn't take that much doing and was definitely worth it.
Apparently it tastes good

Yes, quite spinachy when you cook the very new shoots.

I luckily only have it in a few beds, so I have embraced it. Its so pretty when it flowers and insects love it. It shares a bed with other plants that are also quit thuggish: cranesbills, hollyhocks, white masterwort and hellebores among others and they all seem to rub along ok. Probably not the answer in a small garden, but my garden is quite (too) big and I'm too old and tired to win the fight

Yes, quite spinachy when you cook the very new shoots.

Do not do this after spraying.

Its evil, but evilly beautiful when it flowers.
Embracing it as an edible has its merits but only if you want a garden full of it.
Never transplant anything from an area of ground elder to anywhere else, and draw your battle lines and constantly patrol the area, removing it as soon and as thoroughly as you can when it pops back up.
My last garden was full of it. Where I live now it was free of it until I unwittingly imported it with a plant - which actually seriously pissed me off

Spent this afternoon digging it out but am certain have not got it all. Some tap roots headed off under the fence and there is more behind a shed. Hopefully that will do well enough for now though.

Our garden is also full of it, quite overwhelmed!