I need to remove a very large Sisyrinchium plant (was more than a metre in diameter). I have removed the leaves and am left with a huge crown (see attached).
It has so far resisted all attacks with spade and fork. Can anyone advise how to get rid of it? All contributions much appreciated.
Hi cinemike.
I did this with a Pampas Grass this spring, it was even larger. What a horrible job. I tried all kinds of things and spent a few days on it.
I finally used a reciprocating saw (Sawzall) with a pruning blade attached, this was quite helpful. I could cut chunks out. I got it down to ground level but not below. I never was able to dig it out, I figured I would just use roundup on sprouts, but there has only been one so far! I think the whole thing had raised up so far (it seemed like soil even about 2 feet up) that at ground level this was now below the crown. The plant was about 5 years old, and the base was about 4 feet across.
Hi Pistil, in the end, found a video re pampas grass on YouTube. It said to use a pick axe to cut through the roots. Seemed that the Sisyrinchium roots were even tougher than the pampas, but the crown not so large or strong. I also used loppers on the roots. Then forked the soil through to get rid of potential rhizomatous structures.
Thanks for your input.
I have a pick ax I use to plant things sometimes (clay), never tried it to chop up live plants. However I don't know if it would have worked, the stems/roots were so full of water they would sometimes squirt it out when cut, and they were sort of springy.
Another thing I considered was fire, but I was afraid of setting off a brush fire or my nearby wooden fence.I considered fire one the ground level residue, but the water-in-stem made me think if would not work. Maybe I should have poured boiling water on it. We will see if it sprouts much in the spring.
Hi cinemike-
I was looking for something else and ran across these photos I took of my removal project. At this point I has removed about 3/4 of the solid raised crown with my saw! I was taking a break as the saw had overheated, as had I. This gives a good view of the size, solidity, and how high it had gotten. What an awful chore that was. The good news is that I have only had one little sprout come up, even though I did not dig it out. How about you?
Pistil,
I got our very large clump of pampas grass out by cutting it to the ground, then soaked it for an hour or more to soften up the ground and roots, and used a spade to divide it into four quarters. Seems like I did use a fireman's axe on it too since this had to be 15 years ago or longer and my memory for it is good riddance. It was one of the toughest things to dig up (well besides big tree stumps). For that reason alone I would never get another pampas grass. UGH!
