Help Needed! Gound Ivy (Creeping Charlie) taken over yard!

I need advise from someone who has actually used a treatment that worked. A lot of theories here but I need actual testimony. Ortho's Weed Be Gone perhaps? I used RoundUp in a few places which did kill it BUT no mattter how careful I was it ended up killing all the grass within a foot circumference. HELP!

If you have small patches of it, try putting pieces of heavy black plastic, linoleum, metal(I use barrel lids sometimes, etc. and leave it there for several weeks. The heat will kill most plants under it in a couple or more weeks. When you till or disturb the soil more seeds will likely germinate so be prepared to do it several times. Adding moisture to the soil first will help germinate seeds and increase the heat under the material. Other than that you can try wiping the herbicide on with a paint brush or sponge.

Sometimes I'll cut the plant off at ground level and then dap regular strength or concentrated Roundup on the fresh-cut stem.

Well cc is a weed to hate. If you want to use chemical treatments then anything based on 24-d will get the job done. When using 24-d you want the weeds to be growing as fast as possible; such as mid to late spring. With cc you may need up to 4.6 times as much 24-d during the times when this weed is not growing rapidly. Also depending on the product you use it is important to have a rain free period of time ranging from a 6 hours to a couple days. My recommendation is to find a product that contains 24-d. (for over the counter products look for as much 24-d as possible, and a surfactant. Try Gorden's products such as trimec.) Unless you want to kill everything don't use a glycosate product such as roundup, or a “ground clear” product like treflan. The key is to have the weeds strongly growing, then apply the 24-d (I like to use a strong rate for my first application so it doesn't take as much total chemical). If you are in summer or fall and growth is slow don't waste time, money, and the environment with excess chemicals that won't kill your weeds. Just wait until next spring or fall when you can kill them. Now I have extensive knowledge and experience with ag chemicals, but I garden 98% organically. To organically kill cc you can apply a salt/soap mix (many times and only to what you want to kill), you can spend your free time cutting the vines of at ground level, or you can use something such as black plastic. It sounds like this cc is in your yard. Situations like this are the 2% of the time that I use chemicals in gardening. 24-d when applied properly will not harm most grass, but will kill cc. Also don't use weed & feed. It is not effective, and it just adds to the total amount of chemicals we use. Sorry if this is a bit windy (and late). Good luck to you and all our fellow gardeners.

I kill weeds for a living and treat ground ivy every year. I will agree with Mike that you need to use Trimec - Gordon's also has Speed Zone on the consumer market which works better. Dicamba is the active ingredient that works on ground ivy. 2,4-D will not work on it. Treat it when it is actively growing, late spring and mid fall are the best times. Be ready for the ground to be bare once it is removed.

Al

Different common names can be confusing. Around here cc and ground ivy are 2 entirely different plants. cc around here is a climbing vine which may also be called Virginia Creeper. It is also very hard to kill out. I use Tordon with equal parts diesel fuel on the stump when I need to kill it. cc is a hard one because the seeds can remain viable for many years and sprout when you think you have managed to irradicated them for good.