Creeping Charlie

I love the little purple flowers  and the scent - but the stuff is taking over our yard - so I can no longer ignore it.  

Has anyone on MOL eradicated Creeping Charlie by physically removing it? I prefer to not use a broadleaf herbicide or the borax treatment, but will admit that I am sorely tempted. i think out mulching lawn mower is helping to spread it. 

I am very slowly winning against it....I've pulled by hand - but over-seeding my grass seems to help the most. This year I am going to try a micro-clover / grass mix. (I spread grass seed over my yard - mainly in areas that are a little bare).

Thanks for your feedback.  I will also over-seed with micro clover, keep pulling by hand, and hope for the best.  

You have to dig deep to get all the thick roots out. My mother kills anything with boiling water -- including some nasty poison ivy that would not die in my yard. We are extremely allergic to it. I was impressed to see her doing this and killing the whole thing in about three days (three pourings of an entire tea kettle). Sounds silly but with kids in the house I rather try naturals stuff first. 

Will this overtake that bamboo or whatever my neighbor planted on the side of the house?

Thanks for the suggestion.  There's way too much of it for me to go boiling kettles of water, but I think that is a great idea for other weeds that I unfortunately have in abundance.  It's a bad year for weeds!

cabameyers said:

You have to dig deep to get all the thick roots out. My mother kills anything with boiling water -- including some nasty poison ivy that would not die in my yard. We are extremely allergic to it. I was impressed to see her doing this and killing the whole thing in about three days (three pourings of an entire tea kettle). Sounds silly but with kids in the house I rather try naturals stuff first. 

No.  Creeping Charlie doesn't grow very tall.  Max height is about 3 inches. Just low enough not to get mowed.

mary2430 said:

Will this overtake that bamboo or whatever my neighbor planted on the side of the house?

We have quite a bit in my backyard. It's among the most invasive weeds due to its propagation by stolon and seed. Even little bits of it will root into the ground. Be sure to bag your grass clippings rather than mulch since mulching will spread the creeping charlie even more. It can be killed off using Dicamba, though that has to be done at particular times of the year (late in the season and early) and can take a couple of years. (I don't use chemicals so...) Once it gets into your lawn it is difficult to remove by hand. I overseed every year now and that seems to be helping, including using a dethatcher in the fall. Keep it from spreading into any gardens by pulling by hand.

Long story short: it's very tough to eradicate unless you want to hit it hard for a couple of years with some pretty nasty chemicals. 

I would stay away from the borax since it is debatable as to how well it works and it's very tricky to use the right amount of borax. If you use to0 much, your soil will be inert for many years to come.