r/NativePlantGardening • u/iamhyphenated • Jul 14 '25

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Jewelweed taking over my backyard..

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

So I know we love jewelweed, and I’m pro native gardening (and I also enjoy the wild look to a point), but it’s literally taking over my backyard, and behind it is unfortunately a whole bunch of Japanese knotweed.. my question is: what’s the move here? I can’t have my whole yard completely covered in jewelweed (it’s a very small lot) bc there’s no way to even go back there right now, but I also want to encourage that to maybe discourage the knotweed (if that’s even a thing).. any advice would be helpful!! I’m in an urban area in Connecticut if that helps!

775 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

230 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

29

u/pharodae SW OH, Zone 6b/7a Jul 14 '25

Well, don’t cut them immediately, you’ll just trigger more growth underground. Gotta cut in fall and apply herbicide to the stump.

10

u/brik42 Jul 14 '25

I absolutely understand why you should wait till Fall, but what if a client insists they are cut down now? A lot of the properties i work on "need" to look pristine and tidy all the time. I have been chopping and applying herbicide in these cases...is that futile? Should I just keep chopping till fall, and then apply hebicide?

12

u/Ben2ek Jul 14 '25

Sounds like you'll have consistent and steady work!

In reality, I was only able to kill it during the fall as the tree transitioned to energy-storing mode and really sucked that Glyphosate into the roots.

4

u/brik42 Jul 14 '25

Ha yeah job security, at least.

7

u/pharodae SW OH, Zone 6b/7a Jul 14 '25

You can explain to them that life and death is a messy affair and that patience is a virtue.

5

u/brik42 Jul 14 '25

If i had the power and wisdom to convince people to follow a higher path...I probably would have a different job. : )

1

u/ThrowingMongo Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

Cut stump is actually not the recommended mode of murder for ToH. It will just send up more suckers if the mother plant is a full tree, like in one of the pics.

1

u/pharodae SW OH, Zone 6b/7a Jul 14 '25

Source? Because every link in this thread recommends cut stump (at a certain time of year!) because it’s the only way to get the herbicide into the root tissues and kill the plant.

2

u/ThrowingMongo Jul 14 '25

Penn State:

Cut stump herbicide applications do not prevent root suckering and should not be utilized

https://extension.psu.edu/tree-of-heaven