Is this Sorrel?

[Black_Thumb]

Hi all. This plant magically appeared on a slope in my yard. It wasn't there last year. It looks just like spinach. I'm thinking Sorrel. Thoughts? What should I do with it? There is quite a lot of it.

 

[Tetters]

I would call that Dock, and pull (no DIG) it all out and compost or burn it (same family as Sorrel I think) It's not pretty, and I can't think of any good use for it.

 

[YumYum]

I have one lonely plant that looks like that in my chicken run. It wasn't there last year either. The chickens wont eat it.

 

[Tetters]

I have one lonely plant that looks like that in my chicken run. It wasn't there last year either. The chickens wont eat it.

I wonder why That would make me suspicious actually, because as far as I know, docks including sorrel are quite acceptable to chickens. It may indicate that it's poisonous, and I would definitely dig it up and dispose of it.

@Black_ Thumb, have you had a look around to see if there's a similar plant growing nearby where the seeds may have come from - maybe in the wind?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Dock seeds are quite heavy, usually the long flower stalk dies and swings to and fro scattering the seeds, but my dog used to get them caught in the soft hair round his ears, which can travel them. However English docks usually have a white vein and more upright habit. Sorrel can be red or white, there are several different plants called sorrel.

Dock roots are a pig. There was a story of the allotment gardener who battled a dock for ages before finally digging deep and getting the whole thing out. He nailed it to the shed door in triumph, a year later the nail had rusted through. it fell down, got trodden into the mud, and sprouted. One thing about those big leaves, you can paint glyphosate on them without getting anything else, and it does break down when the plant dies.

 

[YumYum]

I wonder why That would make me suspicious actually, because as far as I know, docks including sorrel are quite acceptable to chickens. It may indicate that it's poisonous, and I would definitely dig it up and dispose of it.

@Black_ Thumb, have you had a look around to see if there's a similar plant growing nearby where the seeds may have come from - maybe in the wind?

I would take a pic of it but I already pulled it. It had a tap root like a carrot. I dont remember ever seeing that plant before either. That doesn't mean it isn't around I suppose.

 

[Black_Thumb]

I did put down some weed killer and grass food the other day. I'll also be digging them out. It's so frustrating. Last fall, I put down post-emergent, and I also put down weed and feed as a part of a four-part process for the year. Now this year, I have all kinds of crap growing that I DIDN'T have last year. I have what appear to be green onions growing all over the darn yard, this Sorrel-looking stuff, crab grass is back with a vengeance, and I expect the Bermuda grass to be rearing it's ugly head any time now. What the Hell will KILL this stuff???

I'm buying a liquid fertilizer spreader for my tractor, and today I put down the springtime weed killer and grass food as a pre-emergent. Seems like the more I try to make it better, the more nasty stuff that appears out of nowhere. It's just weird.

 

[YumYum]

I did put down some weed killer and grass food the other day. I'll also be digging them out. It's so frustrating.

I sprayed said plant with Spectracide. It only wilted the leaves down a bit, maybe killed one leaf. I reached down to pull it out of the ground and it broke off. The liquid inside is real greasy.

 

[Tetters]

Very often when you turn the ground over - especially using any implements like a tractor, you can make lying dormant seeds spring to life. Weeds are only plants in the wrong place, and they have their own way of surviving. We all have our own share of unwanted plants that need to be removed, and I find that preparing a plot by hand digging and weeding as you go to be the best way. Then you can determine what kind of roots you are dealing with too, and if you have those that grow on rhizomes for example, deal with them in a different way. If you do use weedkiller, it needs to be applied strictly as the label says, and at the right time. It always takes time to work, and patience is required. After treatment, which doesn't always work first time, you might need to apply it a second time.
I quite enjoy weeding, and like getting ''down and dirty'' as the saying goes. I am not a fan of using chemicals at all.

 

[Black_Thumb]

I hate weeding. I just want my yard to look great, and not have to crawl around on my hands and knees over 50,000 square feet to pull the damn weeds. I did that last year with all the dandelions. I literally crawled on my hands and knees over my entire lawn and dug out the dandelions by hand until they were all gone. This year, I only have ten showing up. Last year, I had thousands. It was worth the effort, but now I want to be rid of this other crap I mentioned, and not have to take all summer to do it. They can do it at golf courses, so I should be able to do it in my lawn. LOL

 

[Mike Allen]

Dock. Useful in soothing nettle stings. Poisonous to including horses.

 

[Tetters]

I hate weeding. I just want my yard to look great, and not have to crawl around on my hands and knees over 50,000 square feet to pull the damn weeds. I did that last year with all the dandelions. I literally crawled on my hands and knees over my entire lawn and dug out the dandelions by hand until they were all gone. This year, I only have ten showing up. Last year, I had thousands. It was worth the effort, but now I want to be rid of this other crap I mentioned, and not have to take all summer to do it. They can do it at golf courses, so I should be able to do it in my lawn. LOL

In that case you may be better off with concrete - or maybe employing someone who loves gardening. Using poisons on the land and killing the very insects that help us gardeners is hardly the best plan is it. Sad that you find it such a chore.
A bit of effort seems to have worked on the dandelions.....

 

[Black_Thumb]

My garden is totally different from my lawn. If you like weeds in your lawn, that's fine. If you want to be rid of them by climbing around and pulling them, that's fine. Don't try to shame me for using weed killers just because "you gardeners" don't use them. I don't use them to solve every problem, but some problems with weeds aren't solved by pretending that climbing around and doing it by hand is the solution either. Your first reply was, "If you do use weedkiller, it needs to be applied strictly as the label says, and at the right time. It always takes time to work, and patience is required. After treatment, which doesn't always work first time, you might need to apply it a second time," but now you have suddenly changed your tune and try to make me out to be the bad guy just because I don't like weeding. Make up your mind. You say that I might need to apply them a second time, and then you try to call into question my gardening integrity with nonsensical comments like, "you may be better off with concrete." Seriously??? How lame is that? I DO use them exactly as the label directs, and I try not to use them if I don't have to, but some things require more intervention than weeding by hand. Hopefully you get that. But, then again, because I use chemicals, I can't be numbered with "you gardeners," now, can I.

 

[Tetters]

Ok, sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you.... honest

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Once the grass gets established mowing will cope with a lot of the other stuff, it can't cope with competition from the grass and being mown, but the grass thrives on mowing.