How To Control Wild Violets In Kentucky Lawns
Theres an old saying that goes where theres one mouse, theres more. Unfortunately, the same could be said of wild violets in lawns. If youve spotted one violet, chances are theres an underground root system spreading like wildfire. While it technically isnt an invasive species, because its native to North America, it is incredibly invasive when it comes to lawns. They take root quickly and are difficult to eradicate but not impossible. Today, well discuss this perturbing plant and what you can do about it.
How Do You Get Rid Of Ground Ivy
As pervasive as wild violets, finding the best weed killer for ground ivy can be a tricky task. While you can pull and pull at these weeds, this is not how to get rid of ivy on the ground, as this persistent growth will just come right on back.
So, how do you get rid of ground ivy effectively? Similar to wild violets, we recommend:
- A liquid broadleaf herbicide
- A long-term treatment plan
- Effective lawn care throughout the year
Like with wild violets, what kills ground ivy is an effective, professional application of broadleaf liquid herbicide. This will require more than one treatment a year, from the spring and into the fall. We also recommend waiting to mow your lawns for three days after treatment to best keep creeping charlie at bay.
Additionally, in order to find what kills creeping charlie but not grass, youâll need to boost your lawn care to strengthen and thicken your lawn. With this process, youâll limit the spread of ground ivy while ensuring you still have grass on your commercial property.
When it comes to the question of how do you kill creeping charlie, the more the better. With this in mind, a technician can spray your lawn with treatments whenever they are there to treat the lawn, creating a better potential for controlling this invasive weed.
Help I Have Violets And Ground Ivy In My Lawn Info & Tips For Killing Tough Weeds
Ground ivy and violets in the lawn can be the cause of a major headache. It might seem as though every year you have more and more of these persistent weeds and no matter what you try, you cant seem to get rid of them.
Youre not just imagining it. The truth is, the aggressive nature of both ground ivy and violets makes these weeds two of the toughest to get rid of. Your fight against them can almost feel futile as they seem to fight back harder. When it comes to getting rid of ground ivy and violets, youll want to take the mentality of losing the battle but winning the war to heart. Its going to be a long road, but the right treatment approach by a professional can get you there.
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What Is Ground Ivy
So, what is ground ivy? Great question! Ground ivy, also known as âcreeping charlie,â is a very aggressive weed that grows in thick mats across your lawn. It gets its name, âcreeping charlie,â as it can creep across your lawn, harming your grass as it goes.
Not sure if youâre dealing with ground ivy? Hereâs what to look for in your invasive weeds:
- Ground ivy features rounded leaves with scalloped edges
- Will often sprout a small purple flower
- Essentially acting as a vine, ground ivy will grow low to the ground
- Features nodes that form roots if they reach the soil, making them deeply-rooted and hard to hand pull
This weed prefers shady and damp areas and is often resistant to herbicides, making removing ivy from ground landscapes a real hassle. And if youâre wondering – âdoes tenacity kill creeping charlie?â The simple answer is – no. Pulling at this often deeply rooted weed will prove unsuccessful. As it spreads and takes root, this weed flowers in the spring – a great time to start the process of killing ivy on ground surfaces.
How To Prevent Wild Violets In Your Lawn
To prevent Wild Violets, make sure your grass is thick and healthy so theres no room for these weeds to take hold. Do not overwater to promote the moist soil Wild Violets prefer. We recommend mowing high so your grass roots are strong and deep. We always recommend adding Microclover to your lawn to feed your soil and keep your grass healthy.
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Cleat Tips To Get Rid Of Wild Violets In Your Lawn
Wild violets are a near relative of violas, pansies, and other garden flowers. Even though some people today see this plant as a good wildflower others regard it as stubborn perennial lawn marijuana. Wild violets could be taken out by hand, particularly if you frequently inspect your yard to restrain the plant until it spreads. But occasionally this marijuana calls for its use of chemical herbicides for complete eradication.
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What Are Native Wild Violets
Wild violet is a annual weed-like flower found in the northern parts of the united states. It blossoms in spring, and you will start to see them in the cool, humid areas of your lawn. Dealing with native violets in your lawn can be one of the most traumatic tasks any lawn owner can ever encounter.
These pretty flowers will take over your lawn in a matter of seasons, and once in control, nothing is more tenacious like the violet flower. Eliminating wild violets in your lawn can take years so be sure to have a long-term strategy!
Are you in such a situation? You have done everything, but no matter what you do, they keep coming back? And you are left wondering, is there any form of treatment that one can use to kill these invasive flowers?
Not a very good scenario to find yourself in! Dont worry, there are a couple of things you can use to kill violets on your lawn. The next few paragraphs will have some insightful information on how to deal with these pesky flowers!
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What Causes Wild Violets
Wild Violets grow best in shady, moist, and fertile soil. They spread via underground root systems and seeds. Seed pods grow in small capsules at the base of the plant that look like they might bloom into flowers. Wild Violets form large colonies, connecting via their underground roots: rhizomes. They often occur in newer developments that were previously wooded or in established yards with forests nearby.
Are Wild Violets Safe To Eat
Wild Violets are safe to eat! Do make sure you correctly identify any and all plants that you forage before eating them. Violets are often used as a garnish on wedding cakes or other desserts. Flowers can be crystallized with sugar or used on their own. Violet jelly, liquor, syrup, vinegar, and tea are all common uses. Leaves and flowers together are often eaten on salads. Leaves can also be added to soups or stews. Violets provide both vitamins A and C.
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How To Kill Wild Violets Growing In The Yard Without Killing The Grass
21 September, 2017
Wild violet has a reputation of being notoriously hard to kill. But most of that reputation is because of the use of the wrong type of herbicide. Wild violet is only responsive to post-emergent broad leaf herbicides that contains triclopyr and is listed as safe to use on lawns. This type of herbicide is much more effective on wild violets than any other. However, wild violet is stubborn and it will likely take more than one application applied over more than one season to get rid of the plant for good.
Mow your lawn and the wild violet. By cutting the wild violet back, you will force it to start growing rapidly. Perennial weeds like wild violet must be actively growing when sprayed or else the herbicide will not be drawn down into the weed’s roots.
- Wild violet has a reputation of being notoriously hard to kill.
- Wild violet is only responsive to post-emergent broad leaf herbicides that contains triclopyr and is listed as safe to use on lawns.
Spray the wild violet once it has grown 3 to 4 inches. Coat all of the plant tissue, but stop just before the herbicide drips off of the plant. In roughly two weeks, most of the wild violet will have wilted and turned yellow.
Spray the wild violet again three weeks after the first application . The second application should kill the majority of this season’s wild violet. If not, spray again as necessary at the intervals specified by your herbicide’s manufacturer.
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Wild Violet Species Identification
From the blue to purple flowers they grow to the underground stems that can cause them to aggressively spread throughout your thick and healthy lawn, wild violets are easy to identify. They tend to be most common in the early spring.
In addition to their deep purple color, theyre also characterized by heart-shaped leaves. But these arent pretty flowers. In fact, theyre among the more challenging weeds to kill. Though they favor moist soil, they can also tolerate drought. And the flowers can drop seeds below the low-growing waxy leaves, which can submerge them in lawns and cause them to spread until there are thick clumps of even more violets in your lawn.
The good news is that they can be controlled and prevented both the flowers and the underground root system. In the forthcoming section, well take a look at how to do it:
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Dont Let Violets Overtake Your Lawn Call Farison Lawn Care
Violets are tricky, but proper lawn maintenance with Farison Lawn Care can help. A comprehensive lawn care program with weed control applications such as the one that Farison offers can help keep your lawn healthy and better able to ward off weed infestations. Call or contact us online to schedule a lawn maintenance program today! For more tips and ideas on maintaining a gorgeous lawn, be sure to visit our monthly blog and follow us on , , or !
How To Identify Wild Violet Weed
The first step to controlling wild violets is identifying the plant. They are low-growing plants growing to about four to six inches . They have green heart-shaped, waxy leaves.
However, their most recognizable feature is their flowers you can easily identify the plant by the wild purple flowers growing in the yard. However, some plants also produce white or yellow flowers.
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Make Sure Your Lawn Is Healthy
Many homeowners dont take as good of care of their lawn as they should. Feed your grass with fertilizer anywhere from two to four times each year to encourage root growth and a healthy lawn. Fertilizing yourself will only take about a half hour with the right equipment. A thick, healthy lawn will prevent wild violets from growing.
The Case For Tolerating Wild Violets
Because wild violets have pretty flowers that bloom early and often, not everyone regards this plant as a weed. Many homeowners choose to let these wildflowers grow in their lawns and elsewhere.
There are several reasons for tolerating wild violets in the lawn:
- It makes for a low-maintenance lawn.
- It avoids the use of herbicide.
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- Works slowly
- Affects only a few weeds
The results after the submission will require from 2 to 4 weeks to see. The weeds turn yellow at first and dry just afterward. Before coating the whole lawn, try it on a specific area it may not function in certain regions or may even destroy healthy vegetation.
What Are Wild Violets
Wild violets are a close relative to annual violas and pansies, Shipman says. They are a persistent, low-growing, broadleaf perennial that thrives in shady spots with moist soil, and they flower prolifically in the early spring. The plants grow between four and six inches tall, forming thick clumps with flowers that attract many pollinators.
These aggressive plants spread via rhizomes a creeping horizontal root that can produce new shoots or seeds. If you look closely, you can often see small, unopened flowers underneath the foliage, Shipman says. These can self-pollinate and produce seeds, a fascinating adaptation that ensures the next generation of plants, even if the opened flowers havent been pollinated by insects. The botanical term for this is cleistogamy.
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Reasons To Keep Them On Your Lawn
It undeniable that even though they can be somewhat invasive, violets are pretty flowers. The flowers bloom in the early months of spring and bloom rather oftenand as a result, not everyone sees them as weeds.
There are those homeowners that are known to choose to let them grow in their lawns and elsewhere on their property.
There are a few reasons why you might want to let violets grow on your lawn:
- They offer the ability for low maintenance of lawns.
- You will able to avoid the use of any type of chemical or herbicide to combat them.
- They are a favorite amongst all types of pollinatorsincluding bees.
- If there an area of your property that you are having a problem with growing grass, violets, with their love of shady, moist areas, can prove to make them an excellent ground cover.
- They are considered a native species, and as such, they are beneficial additions to a natural landscape design.
Finally, many are not aware that the violet is officially classified as a weed safe for consumption. Both the flowers and the stems are safe to eat, and the leaves of the younger plants have a pleasant, somewhat nutty flavor. In addition, many individuals use parts of the flowers medicinally. The acid in the leaves is said to break down and eliminate corns and warts.
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Why Is Controlling Wild Violets So Difficult
Wild violets are cool season perennials that grow best in shady, moist soil. There are three problems with these tough little plants that make killing wild violets so difficult. Wild violets have two types of flowers the pretty purple ones that children gather for their mothers and the plain, unopened ones that shelter beneath leaves that protect them from most types of wild violet control. The purple flowers may be sterile. The flowers beneath the leaves are not only fertile, but self-fertilizing. They dont need to bloom to reproduce.
Thick clumps of underground stems, called rhizomes, store water so the plants can survive drought. When a gardener tries to kill wild violets in the lawn, the rhizomes survive and send forth new shoots.
Those lovely heart-shaped leaves pose the third problem in controlling wild violets. The waxy coating that gives the leaves their shine also prevents herbicides from penetrating the leaves.
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What Do Wild Violets Look Like
Although wild violets can be a nuisance, they are at least a pretty one! So, what do wild violets look like? This weed is low-growing and features broad leaves that can grow in both sunny and shady areas – making it a very invasive weed in your lawn.
Featuring flowers that can bloom in violet shades, as well as white, blue, purple, or yellow, these weeds often look quite delicate, but donât let them fool you. Wild violets can create thick mats of leaves that grow rapidly and aggressively. Okay, but why is this so bad? These mats of leaves can actually block the rest of your lawn from getting the nutrients it needs, meaning the weeds will thrive while grass and other flowers struggle.
With a waxy leaf covering, extensive root systems, and their ability to grow and spread rapidly, finding what kills wild violets successfully can be a hard-earned battle.
Stay On Top Of Things
It may take a couple years to really get a handle on a big crop of violets. Understand that these weeds are very persistent and will try to come back. Dont wait until it is a big problem again to start a major war in your lawn. Plan proactively with a good lawn care program to keep these weeds in check.
It is possible to get rid of violets if you are more persistent than they are. If youre interested in finding out more about how we can provide the weed control treatments, soil testing, aeration, or seeding you need to win your violet war, please dont hesitate to contact us.
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Are Wild Violets Safe
Yes. The flowers and leaves of these wild plants are edible and even have medical qualities for humans.
The leaves are high in vitamin A and C and are commonly used in European salads or as cooked greens, Shipman says. The flowers can be candied or tossed into a salad to add a pop of color and flavor. She suggests making violet syrup, tea, infused honey or sugared flowers as fun and delicious family activities.
Do keep in mind, however, that you should never ingest flowers or leaves that have been treated with chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Mow Away Your Troubles
If left uncontrolled, yard violets can create a dense mat. If you’re not in a hurry and don’t want to be bothered with manually removing each plant, try frequently mowing the area. Set your mower to as low as possible and pass over the violets every time they regrow from your last mowing. This immediately slows the spread of the weed. Over time, the effort of repeatedly regrowing starves the underground rhizomes and kills the plants. This entire process may take several months, depending on how large the violet’s underground rhizome network is and how much water and nutrients it has had a chance to store up.
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