Ob-noxious Weed!

[so lucky]

Several years ago I bought some cute plants at a yard sale. They looked like mondo grass, and did well in my rock garden. They did so well, in fact, that they have all but taken over the entire rock garden hillside. Maybe it is a species of lyrope, but no blooms. It produces underground runners and tubers, and seems to be able to regrow from just a snippet left in the ground. Needless to say, I now want it gone!
I have tried grubbing it out, cutting it off to the ground level, round-up and poison ivy killer (triclopyr), all of which barely slowed it down. I have other desirable plants in there, so I can't easily do anything drastic. I don't even know what drastic would be, anyway.
Starting over by emptying out the rock garden is a difficult possibility, as some of the rocks weigh up to 75 or more lbs, and I struggled getting them in place when I was a lot younger and stronger. There is no guarantee the weed wouldn't survive that anyway.
You all know I don't like chemical weed killers, so the idea of using something even stronger is not attractive. Any ideas?

 

[seedcorn]

Round-up or a genetic version is excellent on grasses.

 

[ducks4you]

Sorry, you KNOW that I'm a digger, but I think you're going to need to kill everything and replant what you want. I fight bindweed and I have to kill it to get rid of it. Heck, what you are looking at is far worse than mint! I can pull out mint and rid my beds of it.
You can also put heavy plastic over the area after using herbicide on it to heat up and kill any seeds.

 

[digitS']

I think drastic would be:

yes, digging the valuable plants, moving them and waiting for the optimum time to spray the round-up.

Optimum time would be when optimum growth is going on, as best as I understand it. In other words, you may even want to give the weeds a little fertilizer. Certainly, allow them to recover from moving their valuable neighbors. Don't be surprised if it looks like some of them are recovering but give them 3 weeks into that. If there is any green left, hit 'em again with the spray. You can use a cone around the nozzle to limit the spray moving anywhere you don't want it.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

cut bottom out of 5 gallon pail, place pail over plants you want gone and spray, sometime you just have to bite the bullet and use chemicals

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you relocate any plant be very sure none of that stuff gets transplanted with it.

Take some of it to your county extension office and have them identify it. Explain your problems and see if they have any acceptable solutions. If they recommend a specific herbicide get extremely clear instructions on how to use it. What plants does it affect and which ones are OK. Even on calm days be aware of possible drift.

I use a specific herbicide that kills grass only in my iris beds and a couple of landscaping beds. I don't know that the stuff you are talking about is a grass or not, that's why you need to identify it. Get something that targets it. Maybe it won't hurt the other stuff. I take extremely great pains to not use it anywhere around anything I might eat, it has long withdrawal times, a year if used around nut trees for example. It's nasty stuff, in my mind much worse than round-up, but it saves me several days on my knees of digging through those non-edible landscaping beds and iris beds, destroying my fingernails and cuticles and cutting and scraping my fingers on those rocks.

 

[so lucky]

Honestly, I think it is in the lily family, with the rhizomes it produces. There is a plant called lily turf (or turf lily) that it strongly resembles, but I don't remember it ever blooming. One source gave a name of asparagus-something or other.
Taking it to the extension office is a good idea. Last summer round-up only top-killed temporarily, then it came out from the roots.

 

[so lucky]

I think I have it identified as liriope spicata. It is listed as an invasive species by the national park service. From China and Viet Nam. How nice.

 

[Nyboy]

Can you post a photo of it ?

 

[pjn]

If you relocate any plant be very sure none of that stuff gets transplanted with it.

Take some of it to your county extension office and have them identify it. Explain your problems and see if they have any acceptable solutions. If they recommend a specific herbicide get extremely clear instructions on how to use it. What plants does it affect and which ones are OK. Even on calm days be aware of possible drift.

I use a specific herbicide that kills grass only in my iris beds and a couple of landscaping beds. I don't know that the stuff you are talking about is a grass or not, that's why you need to identify it. Get something that targets it. Maybe it won't hurt the other stuff. I take extremely great pains to not use it anywhere around anything I might eat, it has long withdrawal times, a year if used around nut trees for example. It's nasty stuff, in my mind much worse than round-up, but it saves me several days on my knees of digging through those non-edible landscaping beds and iris beds, destroying my fingernails and cuticles and cutting and scraping my fingers on those rocks.

What do you use in your Iris beds. Just spent half a day cleaning a very old neglected bed that was here when I moved in a few years ago. Maybe it would help to keep it under control.
Thanks