Nandina

Does anyone know how to get rid of a badly overgrown Nandina patch?

Heavenly bamboo isn't so heavenly. Sorry about that. I've got my share that aren't so heavenly myself.

I'd go for the triclopyr which is the active ingredient in Ortho's Brush-B-Gon Poison Ivy Killer. Other than that, the site below describes the process of getting rid of it very well-
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/invasive_plants/weeds/nandina.pdf

I was poking around in the Internet and found the comments at this site to be rather interesting-
http://www.doverpost.com/PostArchives/07-30-03/pages/bamboo-easytogro.html

how about creeping charly its realy creeping all over I was told all you can do is pull it I'v pulled for years its creepy
Gloria

Gloria, there's a reason why Creeping Charlie/Creeping Jenny is called Creeping Crud. This crap is in the mint family and it does seem to want to take over the world. I tried pulling it by hand to avoid using chemicals but that really didn't work. Smothering does work well on large patches but you have to leave the tarp in place for a long time and even then you have to spray around the edges when it tries to escape. Maybe you better try to get it right now with a happy juice specifically for Glechoma hederacea. I'm too tired to get up and go look at what I used but the product also killed chickweed and oxalis what ever it was. Maybe another Ortho product but maybe not. I hate this creeping crud. Maybe do a search using the words Glechoma hederacea and see what is being recommended these days to kill this thing. Please come back and share what you find if it isn't too much trouble.

eq. I will do that I know all about tired long day at work I need jammies. I will let you know when I do
Gloria

Two (male) friends volunteered to dig the roots out. Yesterday evening they attacked the patch with pick axes and shovels. At ont point, they were over a foot deep. They dug out two 30 gallon plastic bags full of roots and shoots! They say they are almost finished. What a job.

I have nandina that pops up occasionally too. You're right about those roots, they are very deep. I do what Equil suggested, paint the cuts with brush-b-gone. Thankfully Nandina grows somewhat slowly, so I can catch them before they get too big.

I don't know what people see so attractive about Nandina. It is one of the ugliest plants I know of. ( I had to get that out ).

I happen to be a rather big fan of that "ugly" little beast .... which is easy to do/say this "far" north (yet I am NOT a yankee, thank you) as they're not seemingly all that invasive up here where the little 'Dinas need to sleep each winter.

Where exactly are you up far north where the little Dinas aren't seemingly all that invasive? Just curious.

Not invasive in Bel Air, MD, considered as Zone 7, but I plant as 6b for my microclimate.

Kiwigal, I'm not sure if you're talking about how nandina behaves in your garden or how nandina behaves in natural areas. Remember not all garden thugs are invasive in natural areas (ie invasive in a larger ecological sense) and some plants which are generally well-behaved in a garden are, in fact, invasive in natural areas.

In any event, while nandina does not yet appear to be invasive in the ecological sense in our area, I know many experts consider it to have the potential to be invasive in the mid-atlantic just as it already has proven itself to be further south.

Mary, I was referring to my own garden. I've actually found them a bit finicky - just enough sun, not too much wind, etc., but I do appreciate that many plants that we happily cultivate become ecological thugs up the road a ways.