Selective Herbicide for Weeds in Ice Plant?

[rsproule]

Does anyone know of a selective herbicide for killing weeds in Ice Plant ground cover? I have Aptenia cordifolia and Aptenia 'Red Apple' ground cover. In the San Diego area Home Depot sells a product called "Killer for Ice Plant Weeds", but it doesn't work very well. It will partially burn the leaves of most weeds, but not kill them.

[MattyB]

can you up the dose?

[DoomsDave]

Ryan:

I used to manage a garden shop (30 years ago) and we sold "Ice Plant Weeder" which is a saline solution. Ice plant is very resistant to salt (see how it grows by the sea) while a lot of weeds aren't. (So you hope.)

As you note, some weeds will resist the salt. As Matt suggests, you can up the concentration but not too much. This can be tricky to get just right. Be prepared to wait a while, like a week or so.

If you have a particular weed that's a problem there may be a weeder for it. Ornamec is good if you have Bermuda Grass; Advantage is good if you have nutsedge. (Both are expensive, especially Advantage).

Send us some pictures of your weeds maybe we can offer some suggestions.

dave

[rsproule]

can you up the dose?

I think I'll try that. I did hit the weeds multiple times (a week apart), but maybe the stronger dose will do it. Thanks

[rsproule]

Ryan:

I used to manage a garden shop (30 years ago) and we sold "Ice Plant Weeder" which is a saline solution. Ice plant is very resistant to salt (see how it grows by the sea) while a lot of weeds aren't. (So you hope.)

As you note, some weeds will resist the salt. As Matt suggests, you can up the concentration but not too much. This can be tricky to get just right. Be prepared to wait a while, like a week or so.

If you have a particular weed that's a problem there may be a weeder for it. Ornamec is good if you have Bermuda Grass; Advantage is good if you have nutsedge. (Both are expensive, especially Advantage).

Send us some pictures of your weeds maybe we can offer some suggestions.

dave

Your bang on, I think that's pretty much what this stuff is. The active ingredient is salt (Magnesium Chloride) and it seems to have a lot of oil in it. I suspect the oil acts as a surfactant and also helps to sun burn the leaves. Like you say, It causes zero damage to the ice plant, but it just doesn't kill the weeds down to the root. Most of the weeds that I am trying to kill are run-of-the-mill broad leaf weeds that would be super easy to kill if they were in your lawn. The toughest weed I have is clover, which is very difficult to pull. No nutsedge or bermuda grass. I do get Bermuda grass in my fescue lawn and have found a herbicide called Turflon Ester to be very effective. I've also have some Yellow Nutsedge in the lawn. I used to use a really expensive herbicide called Sedge Hammer for the nutsedge, but now I use Ortho Nutsedge Killer (sold at Home Depot). It works well and they have pre-mixed in a ready-to-use sprayer. To save money I buy the concentrate which is sold in a bottle that attaches to a garden hose. The garden hose type sprayer does not work for me, since I only need to spot treat small areas. I mix up a quart at a time in a spray bottle. They don't give any mixing instructions, but by comparing the active ingredient percentage in the concentrate to the ready-to-use stuff percentage, I was able to figure out how much to dilute the concentrate. It's practically free when you mix it yourself. Thanks for the info!

[DoomsDave]

Ryan:

I used to manage a garden shop (30 years ago) and we sold "Ice Plant Weeder" which is a saline solution. Ice plant is very resistant to salt (see how it grows by the sea) while a lot of weeds aren't. (So you hope.)

As you note, some weeds will resist the salt. As Matt suggests, you can up the concentration but not too much. This can be tricky to get just right. Be prepared to wait a while, like a week or so.

If you have a particular weed that's a problem there may be a weeder for it. Ornamec is good if you have Bermuda Grass; Advantage is good if you have nutsedge. (Both are expensive, especially Advantage).

Send us some pictures of your weeds maybe we can offer some suggestions.

dave

Your bang on, I think that's pretty much what this stuff is. The active ingredient is salt (Magnesium Chloride) and it seems to have a lot of oil in it. I suspect the oil acts as a surfactant and also helps to sun burn the leaves. Like you say, It causes zero damage to the ice plant, but it just doesn't kill the weeds down to the root. Most of the weeds that I am trying to kill are run-of-the-mill broad leaf weeds that would be super easy to kill if they were in your lawn. The toughest weed I have is clover, which is very difficult to pull. No nutsedge or bermuda grass. I do get Bermuda grass in my fescue lawn and have found a herbicide called Turflon Ester to be very effective. I've also have some Yellow Nutsedge in the lawn. I used to use a really expensive herbicide called Sedge Hammer for the nutsedge, but now I use Ortho Nutsedge Killer (sold at Home Depot). It works well and they have pre-mixed in a ready-to-use sprayer. To save money I buy the concentrate which is sold in a bottle that attaches to a garden hose. The garden hose type sprayer does not work for me, since I only need to spot treat small areas. I mix up a quart at a time in a spray bottle. They don't give any mixing instructions, but by comparing the active ingredient percentage in the concentrate to the ready-to-use stuff percentage, I was able to figure out how much to dilute the concentrate. It's practically free when you mix it yourself. Thanks for the info!

whoa

You are the Weed Warrior!

Sedge Hammer! What can I say?

My observations are that some ice plant is more salt tolerant than others. The mat-forming types smother weeds; the tall types (like the magnificent Lampranthus purpurea), don't.

I know your dilemma. Clover needs lots water to be good, but it will survive a drought to roar up again like a bad tumor when the water returns.

You'll have to up the percentage and just watch. Some weeds will croak of you salt them enough. How much, I don't know. Keep records and let us all know!

[Gonzer]

Ornamec is best for grasses in iceplant while SpeedZone Southern may work for any broadleaf weeds. I stress MAY.

[rsproule]

Ornamec is best for grasses in iceplant while SpeedZone Southern may work for any broadleaf weeds. I stress MAY.

Thanks I'll check out SpeedZone. I had grass in another patch of ice plant I have called Purple Rosea (Drosanthemum hispidum). I used Ortho Grass-B-Gon (available at Home Depot) which a selective herbicide that kills grass (monocots), but doesn't harm most broadleaf plants (dicots). It killed the grass (slowly) and did not appear to bother the ice plant.

[_Keith]

That is the stuff I saw in SoCal now being used as a ground cover all along the Interstates, right?

[rsproule]

That is the stuff I saw in SoCal now being used as a ground cover all along the Interstates, right?

Could be, I have seen it in places, but I don't get on the freeways that often. It blooms super heavy in the spring and then lightly in the summer. When its in full bloom the flowers almost completely cover the foliage. Very spectacular.

[John Case]

That is the stuff I saw in SoCal now being used as a ground cover all along the Interstates, right?

Could be, I have seen it in places, but I don't get on the freeways that often. It blooms super heavy in the spring and then lightly in the summer. When its in full bloom the flowers almost completely cover the foliage. Very spectacular.

Despite the fact that ice plant along the freeway from the top to the bottom of the state is endemic, the State of CA has declared the plant an invasive species....this occurred when they tried to remove it from some popular beach sites many years ago and it refused to die.......we also must remember that it was the state that planted it in the first place to help stabilize the sand and lessen beach erosion......I guess you can't have it both ways!