Getting rid of Horseradish...

[wellie]

I know - please don't laugh, but this is a problem that I've inherited, not one of my own making, and for two years now I have tolerated its presence, it being a complete and utter nuisance to me personally, and whatever crops I am trying to grow in and around that space.

Notwithstanding that I allowed Pigletwillie to dig up as much Horse as he wanted to make sauce, and Trousers never got a jar of it, so was way too gutted to ever speak to him again, and personally, I can't stand the stuff, but his harvest has doubled my displeasure.

I have one organic solution up my sleeve, but , to be honest, I'd love loads more of yours' before I decide?

[fruitylou]

Hi, I am not sure if it would work the same but I am currently trying to get rid of bamboo by cutting it down as soon as any little shoot appears the theory being that not allowing it to produce leaves will exhast all the energy in the root so it dies (hopefully), but this is expected to take a long time so depends on your patience etc, my bamboo is just outside the kitchen door so isn't exactly time consuming. Though you are making me a little jealous, my horseradish was so pitiful last year I just through it straight back in the ground!

[sewer rat]

I am eradicating horseradish in two of the gardens I work at, and last year I dug out masses - digging round the area and then excavating a two ft deep hole, removing all the large bits then sieving the soil back into the hole -but still it returns, though to a much lesser extent. One garden shall have the excavation method used again but the other one will be blasted with Glyphosate - not terribly PC these days but then neither am I.

[wellie]

fruitylou,
please don't 'shoot the messenger'! but by what you are doing with your bamboo, is the very thing that will encourage it to spread even further. The reason being, that bamboo sends out underground 'runners' to propagate itself, so by chopping off their heads, you are forcing them to regenerate from below ground.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I once worked for people with the very same problem, and we ended up getting a couple of blokes in who advertise as being experts in getting rid of Japanese Knotweed. They did what they alleged on the tin, and the bamboo came back no more.
This will not have been an organic resolve, obviously!

Ratty, I'm not going to put myself through that kind of torture darlink!?

Shall I just cover the area with heavy-duty black polythene, pierce it for drainage and plant over the top with a) Strawberries or b) New Potatoes, in raised beds/earthed up appropriately?

Would the Horse surrender then d'ya think?

[Glutton4...]

Hello Wellie! Oh how I used to wish I had your problem - we both love the stuff! I know they say 'be careful what you wish for,' and yes, we now have Horsey problems too. Mr. G supposedly dug ours up two years ago, but it came up again last year in the Potato bed. Shame the spuds didn't show the same enthusiasm.

A gardening friend says she just gave up and leaves hers to 'do it's thing' as it's too woody and tasteless to eat now. But she has an enormous garden, and can afford the space.

[zazen999]

Your horseradish will neigh but laugh at heavy duty polythene. We put about 3 layers of cardboard under a row of pallets [the ones with no gaps in them] so it resembled a boardwalk - and the stuff just pushed the pallets straight out of the way.

My Organic solution is to dig it up and leave it in the corridors of Garden Organic and tell my colleagues it's there; the first batch went in 5 mins. They either take it home for new plants or make sauce with it.

My other solution is to dig it up and sell the thongs on ebay.

I think we are just going to have to live with it; and be careful to remove it all when we dig crops out of that patch.

[Glutton4...]

From memory Mr. G dug down over two feet, and the root went down further than that. We are on solid clay...

[zazen999]

I dug over 2 ft down 2 weekends ago, and there were still roots down there.

The reason I have an issue with weedkillers on horseradish, is - if it doesn't work, and for any reason the garden or lottie is given up - then weedkillers have been used on something that the next person might dig up and eat.

That - I take umbridge with!

[Munch]

Your horseradish will neigh but laugh at heavy duty polythene. We put about 3 layers of cardboard under a row of pallets [the ones with no gaps in them] so it resembled a boardwalk - and the stuff just pushed the pallets straight out of the way.

My Organic solution is to dig it up and leave it in the corridors of Garden Organic and tell my colleagues it's there; the first batch went in 5 mins. They either take it home for new plants or make sauce with it.

My other solution is to dig it up and sell the thongs on ebay.

I think we are just going to have to live with it; and be careful to remove it all when we dig crops out of that patch.

If you have any spare? I have plenty of room

[zazen999]

If you have any spare? I have plenty of room

Next time we do digging, I'll get Mr Z to bag some up for you.....

[Munch]

Next time we do digging, I'll get Mr Z to bag some up for you.....

Fanx

[TonyF]

Hi, I am not sure if it would work the same but I am currently trying to get rid of bamboo by cutting it down as soon as any little shoot appears the theory being that not allowing it to produce leaves will exhast all the energy in the root so it dies

Lou, as Wellie said, that won't kill off the bamboo. There are two types of roots on bamboo, one is just ordinary runner based, easier to get rid of. The other type forms a dense mat and tho it's not that deep, the roots go hard like the stems even underground.

Locals here (where we see huge stands of bamboo, some 20 ft high and with stems almost as thick as a wrist) say that the way to kill it off is to spray the cut ends with neat vinegar. I've never tried that method but the stand I inherited from the previous owner is about 12 feet in diameter, solid down to a depth of at least a foot and that's been cut down every year for 6 years with no ill-effect to the plant at all.

So, I'm hiring a mini-digger to get rid of it!!

But cutting it down does nothing except, as Wellie said, make the roots get even stronger.

[Glutton4...]

Tony, could you set light to it, like 'they' do with Pampas Grass?

[TonyF]

Tony, could you set light to it, like 'they' do with Pampas Grass?

Unfortunately not, most of the rhizomes are underground and wont burn - and I never burn out the pampas grass, it's big enough as it is and if I rake out the middle each year, it keeps it clean and tidy without stimulating it into further growth.

[wellie]

Plan B then!!

Actually, I'm now favouring my New Potato Crop on top of heavy duty black polythene, and building a raised bed on top with the well-rotten manure from the funny farm, and homemade compost.

Once the potty crop's been harvested, I can use the spent growing medium for short-term stuff, and then 'revisit' the situation when I've determined what's going on under the plastic membrane.

Your postings have taught me that little bit more about gardening today, so I thank you.
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