How to get rid of horse sorrel?

Any weed is a real problem on the site. Weed grasses grow quickly, and besides, they multiply by seeds, appearing the next year. One of the most hated by gardeners is horse sorrel. It is about him that will be discussed in the article.

The described weed is a perennial tall grass. In the absence of control, it grows up to one and a half meters. The root of horse sorrel is incredibly powerful, it clings tightly to the ground. The foliage of the weed is dense, especially high at the top. The plant blooms with bright yellow flowers, gathering in a panicle inflorescence. Flowering usually occurs in May, but sometimes the plant repeats it closer to autumn.

The weed appears on the site for various reasons. Most often it can be found in beds with acidic soil, horse sorrel loves it very much. And if the soil is also wet, then the grass will only accelerate its development. Once in such an environment, she quickly begins to "settle down". It is possible to bring the weed to your own garden only in the form of seeds. Horse sorrel is very common in nature, so you can easily bring it on your shoes from the nearest lawn or forest clearing. If the plant grows on a neighbor's plot, then the seeds will definitely be blown to you by the wind.

Despite the fact that horse sorrel is very useful, it is often used in medicine, it cannot be allowed to spread in the area. The weed is very harmful to crops. It creates a huge shadow, takes food from the soil, drains it. The use of fertilizers for other plants only accelerates the growth of the weeds.

Removing wild weed from your garden or lawn is possible, but you have to tune in to the hard work. In the struggle, gardeners use an integrated approach, combining several effective methods of influence.

You need to start fighting weeds mechanically as early as possible, because if you allow them to grow up to one and a half meters and fill the site, then uprooting can take a very long time. If the plants are small, you can try to root them out using a shovel. In adult bushes, the root can go down almost half a meter deep, and here you cannot do without special equipment.

If the time for uprooting is lost, the weeds can be pruned or mowed. This can be done with a sharp pruner, braids. The weed should be cut once every 14 days, as soon as it begins to grow again. So the grass will have less and less strength to re-vegetate, and sooner or later it will die. The cut of the bushes must be combined with the removal of small roots and the combing of the ground with a garden rake.

Experienced gardeners also recommend fighting horse sorrel with mulching. These plants love light, without it they die. It is necessary to cut off all the foliage from the bushes, remove it and burn it, and cover the weeds with an opaque covering material. After a few weeks, the plants will dry out.

Summer residents combine many folk methods with mechanical ones, exterminating weeds in their area. There are several options, all of them are effective, but not all are suitable if you are planning to set aside a cleared area for cultivated plants.

• Salt. This substance is well known to gardeners. In the autumn months, you need to wake up the plot with them. When the rain passes, the salt will soak into the ground and destroy the roots of the weeds. New ones will not appear either. But the downside is that nothing can grow on such soil for several more years. Therefore, the technique is rather risky.
• Soda. This is another good remedy. The solution will need a very concentrated one. Take a container of water and begin to slowly pour in the soda, stirring with a spoon. As soon as the product stops dissolving, the solution is ready. It is necessary to water them both the soil and the weeds themselves. This should be done after harvesting from cultivated plants. The next season, nothing is planted on the treated area.
• Sawdust. It is necessary to take dry sawdust and sprinkle the soil well with them. The optimal layer is about 10 centimeters. Sawdust is covered with spruce branches, you can also take newspapers. Then sprinkle with soil or press down with pebbles so that they do not scatter. The procedure is carried out in the autumn. In the spring, the shelter is removed, and the soil is dug up together with sawdust.
• Alcohol. You need to take 1 part of alcohol and 10 parts of water, mix. Then pour the solution over the soil with weeds. You can plant the area with useful plants after 30 days.
• Vinegar... You can also fight the hated weed with vinegar. The acid should have a concentration of 40%. Diluted with water 1 to 1. Then horse sorrel is sprayed. But it is impossible for the agent to fall on nearby plants.
• Lime. You need quicklime here. It is known that the weed likes acidic soils, so it is better to immediately deprive it of such pleasure. Quicklime greatly lowers the acidity; in such conditions, horse sorrel will not grow. But after cultivation, the land should remain empty for two months.

You can also remove weeds from the garden with the help of chemical herbicides. But it is better to leave this as an extreme option, because chemistry is harmful, it can get on other plants and linger in the soil. Nevertheless, if there is no other way out, you should pay attention to the following compositions.

• "Tornado". It is a liquid herbicide that penetrates deep into the weed tissue. It does not harm the soil, does not cause the death of beneficial worms and birds. But it immediately destroys other plants, falling on them. That is why you need to process each bush separately. Take 3 liters of water, supplement with 50 grams of the drug. This is enough for you for 100 sq. m. Processing is carried out in the absence of rain. Spraying will be effective if the height of the horse sorrel does not exceed 20 centimeters.
• "Hurricane". A very effective herbicide, it penetrates into tissues, up to the root system. Take 40 grams of the product, dissolve in 3 liters of water. Processing is carried out pointwise, planting of cultivated plants can be started after two weeks. However, it is necessary to have time to spray the weed before the formation of seeds. This remedy has absolutely no effect on them.
• "Glyphosate". This drug completely blocks the synthesis of amino acids in plant tissues, which causes the death of the grass. The dosage is 40 grams per three liters of clean water. After two weeks, the weed is completely killed. And 21 days after treatment, crops can be sown. It is recommended to spray horse sorrel with Glyphosate in hot weather, but wind is undesirable. As, however, and precipitation in the coming days.
• Ground. A very good tool that allows you to quickly remove weeds from the garden. It should be applied early in the morning or after sunset. Plants located nearby are covered with polyethylene. For processing, take a bucket of water, the dose of the drug is 120 milliliters. After spraying, useful plants can be planted in this place after three weeks.

Horse sorrel is a very harmful weed, but the plus is that it is very easy to keep it out of the site. Such a plant will never take root on slightly acidic soils. Therefore, they need to be limed every 3-4 years. Moreover, not so many cultivated plants require an acidic substrate. In the autumn, it is necessary to dig up the ground well. Deep digging allows you to find small roots of weeds, which can grow in the spring. It will not be difficult to extract them. Digging up the ground is necessary not only in the garden. Weeds can also grow near paths, so you need to pay attention to the entire territory.

The dug horse sorrel should not be placed on the site until better times, postponing harvesting until later. This is quite dangerous as it can start to germinate again. Better to burn the bushes right away. The same applies to the foliage of this plant. It is burned or sent to the compost heap. If sorrel grows near the summer cottage, but not on your own territory, then it is not necessary to withdraw it. It is enough just to cut off the peduncles.