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Getting rid of Morning Glory is no easy task

Question: There are these climbing plants with white trumpet flowers mopping the ground and crawling up trees. I've tried digging and find networks of fat roots. It has been a lot of hard work.

Question:

There are these climbing plants with white trumpet flowers mopping the ground and crawling up trees. I've tried digging and find networks of fat roots. It has been a lot of hard work. Is there any simple way to get rid of them once and for all?

Dennis Chan, by e-mail

Answer:

This is a truly noxious, hard-to-control weed, which is sometimes called Morning Glory or Devil's Guts. Its botanical name is Convolvulus arvensis. The roots are reputed to go down 30 feet, they store enough food for three years -and it's said to be resistant to weed-killers.

So eradication is not simple. But it can be done.

No plant can survive if deprived of light and moisture over time or if being pulled constantly. A once-a-week pulling session would ultimately remove it. A few gardeners claim to have eradicated it in two years of focused, frequent weeding. But if it's established I'd expect three years minimum.

If you can cover the infested area with black plastic for six months or longer, the roots tend to come up to the surface, making it easy to pull large quantities. A variation of the black plastic method is to cut a few slits in the plastic and douse the emerging shoots with horticultural vinegar. The black plastic method will need to be done several times, but it does weaken the weed.

Plants tend to die out if made thoroughly uncomfortable. Morning Glory loves moisture. It hates being shaded out and weakens if given competition from vigorous, strong-growing grasses.

I do hope your convolvulus doesn't come from a neighbour's yard. If so, a deep barrier is needed to block it from your garden. A minimum of 90 centimetres deep is recommended. This can be concrete or very heavy plastic.

Whatever you do, don't compost it. And, if possible, try not to let it seed.

Question:

We have some blueberries that looked like they are developing nicely, but if you open one up it is brown, hard and dry and not edible. Gordon, e-mail

Answer:

Your blueberries have mummy-berry. This is a fungal disease where the berries begin to develop normally, then get hard, discoloured and drop to the ground, where they over-winter, becoming small, shrivelled and grey or black. They then produce spores and keep the infection cycle going next spring.

The way to control it is to gather and garbage the infected berries and rake up any that fall on the ground. Every infected berry should be garbaged.

This disease is worse when soil is wet and in places where there's not much air movement. Many fungal infections have hit fruit this year due to the wet spring and summer.

Send garden questions to amarrison@shaw.ca.