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Identify crippleing ground weeds - HELP - please!!!!

autoxtrazukautoxtrazuk Posts: 2
in Plants
Hi all from newby - but very much an oldie....
We had some ground lawn cleared 2 years ago and hardcore put down - basically whats called Road Planings - old tarmac and top surface from road resurfacing works whcih is used a s a cheap type 3 hardcore. Now the problem starts...
We started to see the small ground weed appearing and now it's covering about 40m2 - we have tried a patch area and drowing it with everything for almost undilited Roundup 360-diesel-bleach-brake fluid and petrol - and it's still coming on like wildfire - there are no other plantings around.
I've looked at many many pictures on line but have not seen a picture of this - it's very distinctive with 2 funnels coming out of each leaf - (looks more like a coral from an aquarium) it's small like chickweed, but thick with juicy leaves, and the roots are tremendous - very very fine and long like hairs and pull masses of soil when we try pulling them by hand. I've taken a few pics to show what they look like - I need urgent help with identification and permenant treatment as I need to put finshed stones on top of my yard so I can market my house and dont want to pass this problem on to a new buyer - ps I've lived here 25 years and never had 1 of these weeds before.
Help!!!
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Posts

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 33,732
    liverwort, bad drainage is the cause, good drainage is the solution.
    Devon.
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 3,741
    Liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. See this discussion : https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/comment/1823169#Comment_1823169
    You are invited to a virtual visit of my garden (in English or in French).
  • BrexiteerBrexiteer Posts: 955
    I've got that growing in my potted young lupins
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 3,741
    Old Arthritic marc said:
    I've got that growing in my potted young lupins
    Get rid of it as soon as possible! Do not chuck it on the soil, nor the compost, take it away from your garden as far as possible.
    You are invited to a virtual visit of my garden (in English or in French).
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    Papi Jo said:
    Old Arthritic marc said:
    I've got that growing in my potted young lupins
    Get rid of it as soon as possible! Do not chuck it on the soil, nor the compost, take it away from your garden as far as possible.
    To Brittany, say? :)
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 3,741
    DampGardenMan said:
    Papi Jo said:
    Old Arthritic marc said:
    I've got that growing in my potted young lupins
    Get rid of it as soon as possible! Do not chuck it on the soil, nor the compost, take it away from your garden as far as possible.
    To Brittany, say? :)
    No, thanks .
    You are invited to a virtual visit of my garden (in English or in French).
  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    Glyphosate won’t touch it!  Scrape it off, throw it far away, rake and grit/gravel your driveway and then if need be use a moss killer.  
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    Helix said:
    Glyphosate won’t touch it! 
    Wow! Not a plant then? Pleased to say I've never come across it!
  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    Well, liverworts are in a totally different division - so tho’ still part of the plant kingdom they are hugely unlike most things we call plants.  They are non-vascular, which means they don’t have an internal structure that conducts stuff around so systemic weedkillers like glyphosate don’t work.  There is nothing to move it from one bit of the liverwort to another. 

    Most of the things we call plants are angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (conifers). But there’s another division called the bryophytes, and that’s the mosses and liverworts.   (You did sort of ask.....)
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,056
    As a house buyer I'd rather inherit a driveway with liverwort in it than one that's contaminated with diesel, brake fluid etc.
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