oxalis

>Hi Susan,
>
>What methods  have been tried there to eliminate the Oxalis?
>I am working on a small restoration project on a quarter acre
>here I bought last summer which is now completely covered
>with you know what. I expected some but not every square inch
>to have it...My plan had been to sow native grasses and wildflowers this
>fall after clearing the ivy, blackberries, etc. but there is no point in 
>doing
>that unless I can get rid of the Oxalis first. Any ideas?
>
>Deborah
>

Hi Deborah

we first tried smothering it - covering it with very thick newspaper or 
carpet underlay in different places followed by mulch (this is the method 
that our local coast action co-ordinator (employed by the state department 
of natural resources and environment) still recommends - unfortunately we 
have found that within twelve months both the paper or underlay starts to 
break down and up comes the oxalis - even through the smallest cracks. If 
you lift the barrier we have found that the bulblets have risen in the soil 
and have attached themselves to the underside of the barrier - just waiting 
for an opportunity!! We have experimented in some places in replacing the 
barrier as it breaks down - but because we need to do it every twelve months 
or so - and the mulch on top doesn't breakdown that quickly we were finding 
that we were raising the soil level too much. I don't know how many years 
bulblets could remain dormant in the soil and still be viable - but I 
imagine that it could easily be several years - if you could manage to 
smother it for years this could be an option - but not in our circumstances.

I would say however that as a strategy to stop competition while shrubs etc 
are establishing it is worth while - and if the shrubs are dense they seem 
to naturally suppress most of it themselves once they get going - hopeless 
however for native bulbs and smaller perennials.

Other things that we have tried are manual removal - but I think that this 
is also a very good way of spreading the bulblets if you are not careful - 
very very labour intensive and slow - need to go back often in the growing 
season over several years to redo the job as there are so many bulblets and 
they are so small that they are easy to miss - also if you pull them out you 
get some but others along the growing root break off and are left in the 
soil - as our revegetation project relies on volunteers - and most want to 
see 'quick instant results' we don't really have enough people with the 
right temperament for this approach to work for us either.

The other two things that we have tried are aimed at weakening the bulblets 
by making them reproduce more and more leaves - we have tried burning off 
the foliage with a "Weed Dragon" a kind of big blow torch designed for 
garden use and manual removal of the foliage - both seem to set the bulbs 
back but cannot say that I really think that they will ever die!!

We have been at it for four years and although I think we have made an 
impact - the oxalis is no where near defeated!!

We haven't tried poisons as we are on a site that runs by a creek down to 
the beach.

If any one else has suggestions or comments I would be very pleased to hear 
them - all help gratefully received!

Susan George
McCrae, Victoria, Australia
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