I had similar difficulties with some large areas I had planted with groundcover. It seemed that every time I pulled a weed, 10 more weed seeds would be raised to the surface, where they germinated and grew.

I started treating the weeds with Roundup, very carefully squirting each weed with a small amount. A windless day is best to avoid drifting of the herbicide. You can also put some roundup in a cup, and use a small paintbrush to dab the weeds, or dip a rubber-gloved finger in it and touch the plants. If they're too close to the Jasmine to spray, pull the weeds and sprinkle a bit of Preen on those areas.

Did you mulch between the Jasmine? If not, that will help keep weeds from sprouting and the ones that do sprout will be easier to pull.

Hi Deee & Jo/Saypoint,

This post is interesting to me because it's the Asiatic Jasmine that is already considered THE ubiquitous 80's-90's suburban Austin look! It's everywhere, and is used for many commercial landscapes. Actually, I've got the opposite problem - been here nearly two years and can't get rid of it.

Jasmine was planted in one large bed where it had strangled a few roses, and of course once it hit something vertical it climbed and turned into a twining vine. By the time we came, it had made cocoons of some flowering shrubs and encased the wooden privacy fence, wrapping around and through the spaces between the boards like wire. I think the previous owner hoped it could combat the Virginia creeper which pops up all over the shade areas of the yard, but instead, the creeper grows up through the jasmine, then heads for the lawn. In front, it was grown without edging, and has infiltrated the lawn area for many square yards, so Deee, I hope you have some edging or a trench.

I just keep digging it all up. I don't use Roundup anyway, but have read that Asiatic Jasmine has a sort of waxy cuticle(?) that keeps Roundup from penetrating and working, so if you do what Jo says, it might not hurt it much.

Around here the Asiatic Jasmine looks very tidy and dense when planted around a single tree, and when it is kept under control with regular mowing, whipping and edging.

Annie

You are dealing with a common 'lazy gardening' southern landscape idea. As Annie mentions, this type of planting is supposed to be closely cropped to a height of about 6"-8" (or a height pleasing to you) every two weeks using a weed eater. When this is done the weeds do not show. No one ever pulls the weeds...just whack everything back to a uniform height.

Nandina - 'lazy gardening" is right up my alley! Since I am a lazy gardener, I was hoping for some kind of landscaping "trick" to help keep back all the weeds and the grass until the jasmine fills in.

I just went out and filled a large drywall bucket of weeds in about 5 minutes. I'm too lazy to figure out exactly how much area I'm talking about, but I wanted to cry when I saw how quickly I filled up that bucket.

I just mentioned to my husband that I can't believe that all the high end homes and fancy office parks in my area put up with a weedy mess while the jasmine grew.

Corn gluten keeps crabgrass seeds from sprouting and doesn't kill established plants. I sprinkle corn gluten around all my planted beds. Could help a little bit.
LR

annieaustin had good advice and I am interested in what you actually have in place. Do you have a good layer of mulch? And is the grass random weed grasses, or invasion/remainder of lawn? Also the point about "pulling up" weeds often not being the best approach especially for large or tenacious weeds is correct, since it continually disturbs the soil and mulch interface and exposes more weed seeds, plus many weeds and grasses simply tear off at their tops and you haven't really removed them. So the approach described above with correct mulch material and depth and judicious use of Roundup is an important way to stay under control the first couple of years, and it has worked for me.

Groundcovers ARE often a lot of work to establish correctly and the payoff is delayed.

Dig, dig, dig, pull, pull, pull.
Eventually it will cover and crowd everything else. Thomasville, GA has many pretty landscapes with jasmine ground cover, kept whipped into submission.

{{gwi:28141}}

The ground cover AND what looks like a large shrub on the right is all trachelospermum. When the big live oak broke off, hollow, I elected to leave the stump. Existing jasmine covered it in a season or two. It cannot compete with grapevine, holds its own with Virginia creeper, but will cover just about anything else, once it gets going. I do have to remove wild cherry, pokeweed and other strong seedlings sometimes.

One other thing: If you're prone to allergies, you don't want this close to your house. When it's in full flower, it will take your breath away.

Nell

A pre-emergent herbicide will keep new weeds from sprouting without interfering with the spread of the jasmine. For existing weeds Round-up and/or pulling are your options.

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. It sounds like we'll just have to suffer a bit until it fills in.

Frankie - we do have a layer of pine straw. Most of the grasses are weeds, not invasion of lawn grass.

I definitely will try the careful application of Roundup and a pre-emergent herbicide.

Roundup WILL kill your asian jasmine or at best stunt the growth. I picked up a product at callaway's nursery called. Ortho Grass B Gone it is in a green bottle. It works well and does not harm your jasmine.
In addition it takes about 2 years for the jasmine to really take off. Keep adding jasmine to your bare spots by either purchasing or clipping and replanting (do some web searches it will show you how). Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scott's

Our yard has been totally invaded by the neighbor's asian jasmine. We have been trying to get rid of it for years, but nothing kills it except straight white vinegar, but that kills earthworms too. We do use some on our pebble path, but don't want to kill the earthworms. We've tried Round-up, and Ground Clear, and several other products that are supposed to kill all vegetation, but nothing touches the jasmine. Hate it!!! We're in Tallahassee, FL.

Close mowing will eventually kill Confederate Jasmine.

This is Asian Jasmine, not Confederate Jasmine. Any suggestions for killing Asian Jasmine that won't harm earthworms or other plants? The jasmine is all through my flower beds and pebble path, and growing up the trees.

Asian jasmine and Confederate jasmine are extremely closely related - just different species of the same plant - and techniques to kill one will be exactly the same as techniques to kill the other.

Vinegar is not a very effective herbicide for plants that develop woody stems. It does not translocate like commercial herbicides do so the 'kill' is only on the foliage and does not move into the root system. And an undamaged root system will just sprout new growth. Also, both species have very waxy leaves that resist penetration by the herbicide, which is often why it doesn't appear to do any good. You would be better served by cutting back the plants and then treating the cut stems with a commercial herbicide. And I'd recommend an herbicide intended for woody plants, like one that contains triclopyr, not glyphosate (RoundUp).

As I said in 2006: dig, dig, dig; pull, pull, pull. Close mowing will eventually discourage it over a large area. Cutting back and digging roots will work where it can't be mowed. Use the herbicide with triclopyr suggested by gardengal48 as a last resort.

It would be helpful to add a picture showing the actual conditions. Depending on how far along the Jasmine is, and its spacing, it may be easiest to protect it by shielding from herbicide and spray over the whole lot. Then, treat the whole lot with pre-emergent in order to suppress all the germinating seeds, which, surely, there are tens of thousands. One reason for this to get so easily out of control is that many weeds -- the most successful ones -- begin producing hundreds or thousands of seeds before they are even noticed. They begin breeding when they are still babies and can hardly be seen by the casual observer. If not dealt with promptly, they will bring a nightmare. Then, make sure your mulch layer is of decent thickness. Thin mulch invites weeds.

I am disheartened by any use of this exotic in the landscape these days. The only thing worse in my yard from the fifties is air potato vine. I agree with pinepal about sparing the earthworms and I too am a pine pal, lopping the jasmine vines down from my pines whenever I see it creeping back up again. I have dug dug dug pulled pulled pulled and still it returns, I have used a blade attachment on my weed wacker to remove what previous owners let grow 3 feet deep but I will not maintain it this way because I am a lizard and snake pal too. I am going to try something this year. Whitewash. I will use old fashioned hydrogenated lime and water during a dry spell in the weather. My main target will be what weaves itself in the chain link fence from neighboring yards. I think being coated with lime for a couple weeks will defoliate it and the critters will have a chance to move away before being harmed. Yes?