What can I use to kill off this weed without destroying the plants it grows through?
les6,
Jun 22, 5:17am
easier to move house?
nightboss,
Jun 22, 5:26am
Another option I have heard is to apply a 100mm layer of concrete over the garden.
nzmax,
Jun 22, 6:35am
Oxalis grows from a bulb, you need to get rid of the bulbs, every single one. Just think glady bulbs or lily bulbs and how hard they are to get rid of. Some useful info here: http://www.gardenews.co.nz/oxalis.htm
ruby2shoes,
Jun 22, 6:52am
wow, I didn't realize its all about the leaves nzmax! Interesting article.
moniemonies,
Jun 22, 7:02am
I use Kiwicare Rapid action Weedweapon. The trick is to spray. Wait til it comes back again and spray it again until it stops. Ie. I won't die off first go due the the complex bulb system. Has worked a treat so far.
cantabman1,
Jun 22, 7:36pm
By all means spray it, but digging it out is really the only way long term. You just have to keep at it, as there will always be one bulb you miss for a while.
lythande1,
Jun 22, 8:37pm
It says, keep removing the leaves and it will die eventually. No it won't.
nzmax,
Jun 22, 10:19pm
From personal experience. it does work. Took a number of years, think it was 6years in the end, and that was after digging up the majority of the bulbs initially. Unfortunately its a regular almost daily ongoing assault, its not a one season thing.
bluefrog2,
Jun 23, 2:16am
Actually, yes it works. But you have to be very persistent. My hens have a thing for oxalis leaves, they go for them first, and over 5 years, have pretty much cleared the oxalis out from under a row of rhododendrons that were infested before. Unfortunately, they also tend to destroy whatever low plants the oxalis is growing close to.
pogram0,
Jun 24, 7:38am
I moved into my house 10 years ago and I know oxalis very well. I have had to eliminate it from the gardens of the last two places I have owned. At this current place I have a small patch of soil that has no plants whatsoever and it had a type of oxalis which has leaves quite a bit larger than normal oxalis. I have been very vigilant with removing the plant and bulb because I am in the garden most weekends but even after around 8 years I still get the occasional one coming up. Unfortunately, it can be around for a long time.
bugalugs,
Jun 24, 7:54am
My mum had a great solution. Pocket money based on the volume of bulbs dug up.
nzmax,
Jun 24, 8:07am
From my understanding there is an ornamental oxalis, which isn't invasive like the weed is. I dug out of my garden a plant pot with large leafed oxalis growing in it, which I was told was an actual plant and not the weed by my amazing gardener neighbour.
gypsypom,
Jun 24, 8:07am
cover all the oxalis with 2-3 inches of sawdust, wait till it grows up through it and is really thick, then roll it up like a carpet, all done bulbs and all
megafish,
Jul 9, 11:44am
I have used 1 litre of warm water and 3 tblspns of baking soda anda couple of drops of detergent - add the detergent after you have added the water/baking soda mix to your sprayer. This mix doesn't affect any other plants that I know of. The detergent acts as a surfectant and helps the spray cling to the leaves. It can take a couple of seasons to get rid of bulbing oxalis but worth the wait.
woody1946,
Jul 9, 8:24pm
Chooks-----Yep, chooks, those little eyes,beaks & claws will find and destroy all the bulbs quicker than any other method, so just fence the area off and let them go to work
oh_hunnihunni,
Jul 9, 11:01pm
Spent two summers with a soil sieve doing exactly this, from a quarter acre garden as a kid. These days I just pluck the leaves, constantly.
oh_hunnihunni,
Jul 9, 11:03pm
I'm currently waiting for a purple coloured one to show leaf. Weeds are after all just plants doing too well by our standards in places we'd rather they weren't.
Yep. A cute little 4-year-old neighbour was the best oxalis-digger I've ever known, and loved being told she was the best and getting 50 cents for digging up six plants. She would push the trowel right in about 5 cm from the plant, then tilt it, and carefully pick out all the bulbs, which seemed to be easier with her little fingers than for me.
Couldn't even say it properly -- it came out, "okthalith." She's 20 now, still cute, and lives north of Sydney.
And my okthalith is back, but not as thick in the places where she dug.
ianab,
Jul 12, 10:25am
A weed wiper with Roundup concentrate should at least give it a bad day. Just make sure it only gets on the Oxalis leaves. not the plants you want.
And it will probably take several applications and a couple of years until you get them all.
figjamto,
Jul 15, 7:13am
I read recently that covering with a thick layer of pine needles helps to kill Oxalis ? something to do with the acid in the pine needles
..pip..,
Jul 16, 7:19am
Chooks! Mine have rid my gardens of it.
brownscows,
Nov 20, 11:07pm
pour boiling water on the flowers too
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