Italian arum

[germanshepforever]

I moved into our house last October it was our wonderful garden which sold it to me, I have gone around with my plant checker app and have come accross “Italian arum” lords and lady’s I think it’s also called. Now is this an invasive weed? I have also read it can be fatal if ingested and as I have a mischievous dog and also a 16 month old who likes to put everything in their mouth I am 100% going to dig this up, does anyone have any tips on how to completely get rid as I have read online it is a bit of a nightmare to remove 100%. Thanks in advance 😅

I have just been digging up some in a bed. It contains very irritating oxalate crystals so do be careful to not touch it or pull it up without gloves. That’s why I am digging mine out, it is a weed in that bed and I don’t want to accidentally grab some without gloves. It does seem to keep returning there and has spread slightly so I need to dig more deeply perhaps.

@MabelAndersonthankyou for the advice! Mine is is an area where I plan to have some raised beds for veggies and cut flowers so I definitely need to get rid of as much as possible, I’m wondering now if it will be safe to grow vegetables which we will be eating in the same area this has been growing even if i remove it?

invasive - no, it does get larger over time as all plants eventually do, but easy enough to dig up, with gloves.
weed - I grow them because I like them, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place!

A wonderful, mature garden may well have other toxic plants in it. You won't have seen them since October e.g. foxglove. Some of them are more toxic than others - toxic doesn't necessarily mean it'll kill.

Arum/lords & ladies is not a plant with an instant death guarantee. It's very bitter, tastes horrible, and makes your mouth tingle which generally stops people from eating enough to seriously hurt themselves. According to this study from 2018 no one is known to have died of it: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6018264/

It might be easier to teach your child and dog not to eat anything in the garden. Grow cut flowers around the arum, and things that look very different so you won't confuse them (perhaps no leafy veg).

They don't leach anything in the soil that would affect veg.