Creeping Charlie ?

Thankfully, I've never had to deal with creeping Charlie, though as a child, I recall my grandmother's "lawn" being filled with the stuff, it thrived in that moist compacted clay soil.

The worst invasive I've had to deal with was Witch grass. I tried getting it out of my vegetable patch by first digging it out but it kept coming back, so next I used an electric cultivator. Wow, what a mistake that was! It seemed that just trying to dig it out, the very delicate roots would break off a piece and every piece you left behind would produce another plant. Imagine what happened when I used the cultivator...lol. I gave up growing vegetables there for 2 years before I got the idea to solarize the area. I just covered it with a large leftover plastic from an old ice rink for an entire year and that did the trick.

So I don't want to make the same mistake with this one. So if I just carefully dig it all out and separate it from anything it has intertwined with and wash the roots off with water, will that be the best non chemical way to try to remove it?

I also garden pesticide-free. I have no issues with the manual removal of CC. But I don't go to any extraordinary measures either. I never bother with the stuff growing in the lawn - it's only one of many "weeds" I tolerate there - but I do remove any that encroaches into planting beds. It helps if the soil is somewhat moist and loose but it is very shallowly rooted and usually peels up easily. I use the term 'peels' as it roots along the stem as it grows so you can be attempting to remove quite long runners. I have also not found it to interfere with other plant roots, as they tend to grow much deeper. If mixed in with other spreading, groundcover type plants, things can get trickier 😖

You are never going to get 100% complete control without the use of a herbicide, especially if you allow it to remain in the lawn. Bits of roots and stems left in place will regenerate. But it is relatively easy to keep on top of it manually as long as you don't ignore it. It can spread very quickly!!

That sounds like I should be able to manage it at least fairly well. Actually, the funny part is that it didn't start showing up anywhere near the lawn. It's in a long mixed bed that has a rock border and a wide bark mulch path along the front of the bed. We also leave whatever is growing in the lawn to stay there. Clover, dandelions, violets, but I haven't noticed any of this creeping charlie in the lawn. Now that I know what it is, I'm going to have to pay particular attention to see if I do have it.

I wonder if it could have come in on a purchased plant that had a hitchhiker along? Anyway, I'm grateful that I didn't wait any longer to notice it and ID it because it's not that large a patch yet.

Thanks very much!

I may be about to say something stupid, but any chance they're garlic mustard seedlings? I have extensive creeping charlie experience and this looks a little different. Sadly I also have extensive garlic mustard experience.

it is Garlic Mustard, not Creeping Charlie - one way to tell for sure is to crush a leaf, it should smell mildy garlicy. Garlic Mustard is a biennial, it seeds itself around very well in spots that it likes.

I have just seen this. (It's early morning here.) It's Garlic Mustard imo.

I think it's garlic mustard too--I have both. The good news is that garlic mustard doesn't creep, but it does set prodigious amounts of seed and it can flower and set seed on a compost heap, so when you pull it, PUT IT IN A PLASTIC GARBAGE BAG AND SEND IT TO THE DUMP. It's a biennial, so if you get those first year seedlings, you're good to go.

Thanks, I'll check it this morning to see if there is a garlic smell...!

As well for GM the stems are kind of dark...a "reddish" tinge.

^^^ As are the stems of CC!! It also has a strong scent when leaves are crushed (acrid, sharply minty or cat-like) and the leaves are slightly fuzzy with fine hairs.

Interestingly, garlic mustard is listed as an invasive species almost everywhere while CC is not. Yet the CC is far more present and aggressive in at least the western half of my state than the GM could ever be. East of the mountains, the positions are likely reversed.

If the weed colony never gets anything above a couple of inches tall, you will have your answer :-) I'm still leaning heavily to creeping Charlie.

I’m leaning heavily in the opposite direction! By comparing with the Iris shoots you can see that the leaves are larger than CC. Also the leaf texture is different.

If it spread out in a creeping mat and never gets taller than about an inch (if that), it is not garlic mustard - it is creeping Charlie. Creeping Charlie has pinkish-purple flowers, garlic mustard has white. I have CC everywhere. The good thing is that is it is so shallow rooted it pulls up very easily. After a good rain, starting pulling, and you'll pull up mats of roots. And yea, why is it it always wants to creep into the iris LOL!

I just came in from outside. (We have had GM and CC side by side for years.)

Here is GM:

And here CC:

I did go out and try to crush some leaves and see if there was a little garlic smell, but no. And some of the stems have a slight red coloring. I am going to have to try digging some out to see what it is....thanks for extra photos Rouge. I'm not sure which one it looks more like.

I have it too. I think it is creeping Charlie.

mxk3 - looking at your description, I think it is definitely garlic mustard, as it has grown to about 3-4in tall and has white flowers. I am going to take another photo the next time I think of it. Thank you!

Mine has purply pink flowers.

Garlic mustard weed was my first thought too. It is a pest here that I’m always looking for and removing….!

She said the leaves have no smell. How can it be garlic mustard if the leaves have no smell ?

Okay, As far as I know this is the only patch of them in the yard. Here are the photos today .Here it is invading Iris...

Looking down at it from overhead...

That's a lot taller than I thought it was....

I know you said it doesn't smell, but pretty sure that's garlic mustard.

I know I did say it doesn't smell. I'll try it again. Thanks.

100% Garlic Mustard. Taste a leaf. It’s perfectly safe.