3 cornered leek removal

[BarrelOfOtters]

I’ve a small patch in a very small garden, what’s the best way of getting rid. I don’t like using glysophate but happy to if that’s the best way, it sound harder than blue bells to dig up.

Could you not just keep digging it up and eating it and eventually it will go away?

I suppose it actually depends on how much you like to eat it, it is a beast of an invasive plant!

They are very easy to dig up, just make sure you get all the bulbs up and as new ones appear, get them dug up. They come up easier if the ground is wet. It might take a couple of years to get rid completely but the good thing is they tend to group together so you can get big handfuls of bulbs up in one go.

It only one small clump at moment so I’ll try digging….

We moved to a garden that was covered in it! At least it's pretty.

Just keep pulling it out. It's not that difficult to keep on top of (get it before it flowers/sets seed if you want rid completely, rather than beating it back to certain areas only which is what I do). I don't compost what I pull up as they seem to be able to grow back from anything and I don't want to spread them that way

And yes it's edible - use like spring onions.

For your sanity, I would counsel making your peace with it and accepting that control is possible but total eradication is unlikely. Sorry. As other say - garner satisfaction from eating your enemy

I just eat it. And the ground elder. I try to keep it to a bare minimum but after months and months of trying to eradicate certain weeds, to no avail, I've learned to live alongside them whilst tempering their numbers.

My new nemesis is some sort of wort, which is all over my lawn. I keep digging the utter bastard out but I cannot control it.

Just pull it out. Dead easy at the moment.

Definitely get it done now before it spreads - my garden is riddled with it.

You can also try the no dig method where you put a layer of card board over the plant and cover with 2 inches of compost. Highly recommend not letting it get out of control - so invasive it's classified as illegal to plant publicly under some wildlife legislation in the UK

just dug it up, it was dead easy, got all the bulbs. Husband then said, it’s all over front garden. Had an instructive couple of minutes showing him difference between 3 cornered leek and white bluebells.

Weirdly enough, mine aren't three cornered leeks, because their leaves are tubular like chives, so maybe I have something like white chives if such a thing exists?
No flowers yet either.

It's poked its way through weed suppressant membrane held down by thick layer of bark, so I doubt cardboard would slow it down.

Or have you actually had success doing that? In which case, I must have a super thuggish version!

@Ethelswith this is my first year of trying no dig but given your experience I'm not feeling very optimistic 🙁

Updating this to say the no dig method has worked for the three cornered leek! A few have popped around the very edges of the card board/soil but that's it. Similar success with the other patch of the garden which I painstakingly dug them out of last Feb over several weekends

@Hepherlous this is amazing! I'm going to try it. Is it still working or have they popped up later in the season?

It's still working!! Was looking at photos from this time last year and my beds were a thick green carpet of the damn things. Today it's just soil and my spring bulbs coming up.

I just dug it up.but this popping up again means I’ll, go out and look and see if it’s come back this year.

@Hepherlous that's great! Did you put anything on top /planted in the compost eg grass seed or anything?

It's a right pain. Don't let it flower because ants move the seed around which is why it appears in random places. Beggars belief that it is still on sale!

@Doz10 I put a layer of cardboard from collapsed boxes(which I watered) then covered in thick compost. I didn't plant in it because I wasn't confident it would work but with hindsight I could have planted in it once the card had broken down. Or maybe immediately if the compost layer had been deep enough

@Hepherlous Amazing,thank you. I'll try it this year!

Ooh @Hepherlousthank you for this!
Does anyone know - can you try this no-dig method at any point in the year - ie would it be worth me trying it now even though they’re all almost fully grown already? We’ve tried digging them out before and they just come back with a vengeance…

I dodged a bullet a couple of years ago when Tesco were selling them in a cheap pack of mixed bulbs. I didn't realise at the time what a nuisance they are. Luckily I never got round to planting them and ended up throwing them out.

@MoiraRoseVibesI did the no dig method when the were in full green but hadn’t yet flowered.