You paint quite an amusing mental image! I'd definitely give the roundup a try, certainly a lot easier than digging out waist-sized roots!

Don's right, especially if your shoulder is still not quite healed! What's "bouncing Betty"?

I got rid of mine with roundup...about 8 years ago.

Send it to me! Mmmm I love horseradish. Seriously though, Round up might take more than one application (my experience with storage-root plants) but it will kill it.

Bouncing Bet is soapwort. It's seedy and spready but RU should kill it off easily. Or you can pull it by hand and make soap out of it. (I almost typed "soup" LOL) I have a big patch of it that I've been meaning to use for soap just to give it a try.

As in saponaria? We've had conversations about that before, haven't we, Gil? LOL Lois needs to find a wall for it to cascade over!

Hi Lois, I also had gotten rid of some horseradish with strong doses of RoundUp, keep hitting the stuff hard until it bites the dust.

Terrance

thanks everyone I think I'll sic my hd on it asap
Gik if you lived closer I'd give you a truck full.
Marica the shoulder is downhill the bone is dying- dead and I hope the Dr can do a total replacement in the near future.My function is about 50% so I can't wait. Didn't garden much #@#%*% but all looks not bad thanks to others-hd included.
Take care Lois

Sorry to hear that, Lois. :(

Yes, sorry to hear of your rather serious sounding shoulder problems, please keep us updated and hope all goes well for you! Group hugs to you!

Terrance

I hope you can get it fixed up Lois, it's amazing what they can do with joint replacements these days.

Bouncing Bet is Saponaria officinalis Marcia, the stuff we covet is S. ocymoides. S. officinalis is tall and white, it doesn't look too bad but it's a little messy after blooming and spreads a lot. All of the saponarias make a foaming soap substitute but the smaller ones don't grow big or fast enough to be worthwhile.

If you do use the Roundup, let the horseradish put out some top growth first. It has to be absorbed by the leaves in order to get down to the roots. If you had a small area, you could inject RD directly into the roots but that doesn't sound practical in your situation, especially now that they've been chopped up.

I agree with SO, and I've also found RU most effective when the plant's actively growing in the late spring and early summer. I RUed a section of lawn this summer just when our heat/drought wave was starting to hit and it took longer than usual to take effect because the grass was going dormant anyway.