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Weeds

MA5MA5 London Posts: 10
in Problem solving
Dear all, I am trying to replace my rubbish lawn that is full of weeds and covered with Weeping Charlie. While digging up the soil, we found some kind of roots covering the whole lawn area.  Can someone advise what is the root and how to get rid of them so that I can have a nice lawn? Please see attached photo.
Thank you.
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Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ DoncasterPosts: 7,707
    Impossible to tell just from roots! Are there any trees or shrubs nearby that the roots could belong to? You could try digging them out and see if that leads you to the source.
    And what on earth is Weeping Charlie? Could the roots be from that? (assuming it's a plant and not a critter).
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Scariff, County Clare, IrelandPosts: 7,871
    The scourge of common plant names... I'd guess you're not in UK, @MA5 , cos I've not heard of that one.
    "The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life."  Rabindranath Tagore
  • B3B3 South East LondonPosts: 24,076
    There's creeping Charlie. Common name for a variety of weeds.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet PeterboroughPosts: 26,870
    a google search threw up nothing for Weeping Charlie. It gave me Creeping Charlie for Ground Ivy,  (Glechoma hederacea) which doesn't have roots like that.
    The photo looks like an area where shrubs etc have been ripped out but nothing that indicates a particular plant
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 1,983
    It reminds me of horsetail, but I could be wrong.
  • MA5MA5 London Posts: 10
    Thank you all. Sorry as you can see I know nothing about gardening.  The weed is call Creeping Charlie not weeping charlie :) .I googled it to find the name.
    Before digging up the old weeded lawn, it was covered with creeping charlie.  Once the lawn was taken up, all these roots appeared. I pulled a few up below and the roots are very much alive.  Just concerns that the new lawn would have the same problem as the old. I live in London 

  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 49,147
    Forgive me if I'm being an idiot @MA5, but how did you know what to look up? Do you have a photo of the area before it was cleared? 
    I'd agree with @nutcutlet - the roots  of it don't look like the ones in your pix.
    Yours look quite big, thick and woody, or is it just the photo?
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • MA5MA5 London Posts: 10
    Hi Fairygirl, please see photo below before the lawn was taken up. It was covered by the creeping weed in the bottom left corner of the photo (hope you can see it). I googled it and it looks like Creeping Charlie? Once lawn taken up, those roots are all over the place 
    :(
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 49,147
    I've looked at pix of creeping charlie, and I cant see anything that looks like that.
    Perhaps @nutcutlet can ID it though. I also think she's right, that those roots are from other shrubs etc nearby, or present in the lawn area beforehand.

    I think if that had been my lawn, I'd just have used a weedkiller, and after everything had died down, I'd have added some new topsoil and turfed, or seeded, rather than trying to remove. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • nutcutletnutcutlet PeterboroughPosts: 26,870
    that plant looks more like Potentilla reptans (Creeping Cinquefoil) to me. This does have tougher, deeper roots than the Ground Ivy.
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