I'm a beginner gardener who ended up with a garden overrun by an invasive plant, likely Lysimachia punctata. I've been struggling to control it, and I've heard that Roundup, which contains glyphosate, might help. My question is: should I wait until the entire bed is full of mature plants before spraying Roundup, or can I treat the younger plants as they start to grow? I also want to confirm that I shouldn't just spray the soil without actual plants present. Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
You can definitely spray glyphosate on young plants! It works best when they're actively growing, which makes young plants ideal. Just keep in mind that it usually takes a bit of time before you notice any changes, like a week or two. If you do get some on the soil, it's not the end of the world, but it’s best to aim for the leaves to avoid wasting the herbicide.
Before diving into herbicides, consider if you’ve tried other methods like using tarp or cardboard to smother the weeds. Covering the beds might work better than chemicals in some situations. If you're worried about wind, maybe weigh it down with rocks?
I thought about covering with cardboard, but the wind here is pretty brutal. Still, I'll look into it more and see if I can find a sturdy way to do it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Got it! So if I see the young ones popping up, I can just spray them right away instead of waiting for everything to fill in. That takes a lot of pressure off!