Weed or feed? Plant Id help.

[Methe]

Any one have any idea what this is? It looks a bit like a bit like dock but the leaves are narrower and it's a lighter green. It has spines on the top and spines along the middle on the back.

It's not something I've ever seen before and no one else at my site has any idea. We even consulted a book!

[Bren In Pots]

That's a teasel birds love the seeds especially Gold finches and linnets.

| The Wildlife Trusts

[PyreneesPlot]

And the butterflies love the bluey purple flowers too.

[Methe]

That makes sense as there's loads of old teasels on the plot but the tall bits seems to be coming out of bare earth so I didn't out them together. Are they biennial?

[Methe]

When I say bare earth I mean a carpet of couch grass

[Glutton4...]

Yes, Methe, Teasels are biennial. I often forget what they are and weed them out, but I like to leave them in if I can.

[Methe]

I rather wish I'd not covered them in roundup. There's a lesson learned!

[Jardiniere]

it really does depend on where they are - i get rid of them on my plot itself - but only by digging them up.

[Methe]

Well I recently took on the other half of my plot and it's been a bit neglected. I haven't finished sorting out the first half yet so I've covered it with black plastic and will pull back a bed at a time to clear (what I did with the first half and it's been pretty painless) the teasels are in an area I will be putting a greenhouse eventually.

I expect there's a huge taproot? Won't roundup kill it off? I think it might actually have been resolver.. Revolver?something like that anyway.