It's been three years since I started the big eradication, and I'm still finding it. The voracity of this stuff is beyond belief.

Where I sprayed mine it is beginning to die, but I know I will have to spray more, and I may lose a plant because it has come up in it. I am having a harder time getting rid of my lamium that is in the shade. sprayed it twice, and after 3 weeks it is still alive and well.

After reading through this thread, looks like the smart thing to do would be get a stand at one of the 'trendier' farmers markets, and sell it as the latest trendy superfood delicacy. :-)

I saw the title of the thread and thought "oh no, not again? How many times can we resurrect this topic?"

As long as there are people who buy a plants impulsively without knowing anything about it. That's me! For 40 years without learning. I bought a camelion plant not 10 years ago, read about it while it sulked for a year, then ripped it out. Saved by a whisker!

Bought a perennial which had a small piece of this voracious weed in it now have it everywhere!

this topic.. not unlike the plant.. is impossible to kill .. lol ...

but of course.. the brilliance of it.. is the searchable topic ... so we dont have to repeat the advice in many different posts ... who rah ....

ken

15 years and still digging it out...

Hi all. This is such a fantastic (and long-lived) thread. I'm actually an audio journalist working on a story for a show broadcast by the Philadelphia NPR station. The story is about this "demon" plant and the trials and travails people go through to get rid of it. If you'd be willing to share your story with me, send me a message at qu.libson[@]gmail[.]com

Margaret Roach along with Ken Druse bemoan chameleon plant and goutweed on her podcast. And yet nurseries still sell it as an ornamental...qlibson, you can try contacting them if you'd like for a professional opinion.

Thanks to her I'm attacking the goutweed that I found last year, still a small patch. Thankfully, no chameleon plant here!

Thanks, deannatoby! I've read Margaret Roach's writing about chameleon plant. I first heard of the plant when my aunt went through her own battle with it after, like many of you, she planted it herself without knowing what it was. I've never seen a person so shaken to her core by a weed. It's been a long, multi-year road to acceptance for her (along with some guilt, since she's now realized the plant has traveled under her fence and "infected" her neighbor's yard).

Amazing that this Houttuynia cordata thread is twelve years old and still going. Sadly, I understand why. I just bought a home a few months ago (my dream home with a cottage garden and all...) and discovered this awful, awful plant in the large perennial bed out front.

Where do I start? The smell of this plant is punishing. It's pungent and sickly and foul. Let's face it, it's bad enough battling this plant everyday, but to endure its odor is just cruel.

It has spread to an area about 100 sq. feet. I didn't know what I had on my hands, and I made a terrible mistake about 9 weeks ago--one I will never consciously make again. I ripped out what I could by hand and then took my Mantis tiller to the area. Every underground root structure was chopped into tiny viable pieces of evil. There are now hundreds of newly sprouted H. cordata in the bed.

If that wasn't bad enough, I did the unthinkable. I threw the plants along with lots of root matter into a compost/brush pile that sits at a woodland edge on my property. Today, I discovered hundreds of vigorous new plants in this compost pile.

Bear in mind that I'm a plant native enthusiast and try hard to practice earth friendly, ecological gardening. As such, I have been radically against the use of RoundUp and other herbicides in my own garden for years. Yet...and you know what's coming....I bought the RoundUp--the really potent one for really stubborn plants. This plant broke me. I even had a nightmare about it last night. It's invaded my garden and my psyche.

I've sprayed RoundUp multiple times over the past 5 weeks, which is having some effect at last, but these plants are not even close to dead, just a bit stunned.

As for the compost pile, I got a pitchfork and moved the entire heap to the driveway where I hope to bake the living daylights out of it and then torch it.

The battle is only just beginning, I fear. But I'm not giving in. RoundUp will not be my only weapon. I plan to get the black plastic and heavy mulch going soon.

Wish me luck. And to all of you waging a similar war on this dreaded plant, I'm with you in spirit.

Last year it was taking over in the front and back yard. i sprayed Eraser on it, which is a lot like Roundup. It didn't look like it was going to kill it, but this sping most of it was gone. Just a few strays here and there. I have yet to spray it before fall because i have been so busy weeding my flower garden, but i will get to it. So don't give up. Like many here I don't like poisons, so i only use it on poison ivy and on the this plant.

sochicat, that sounds felt out painful. Sympathies. I try hard to be ecological, but I do realize there are a few instances where Round Up is exactly what it is supposed to be--a selectively effective attack. I hand week with gusto, but some things need more. Keep us updated!

Jessaka, thanks for the encouraging information. It's good to hear that you are having success. I'll keep at it!

deannatoby, thanks for the sympathies. I do feel less guilty about using RoundUp after the encouraging comments. The roots are so deep and they break so easily that removing this plant mechanically seems impossible...especially since every root fragment throws up a new shoot! I found a green shoot making its way through the soil 6 inches under ground. I don't even understand how that's possible.

The good news is that after this plant, all other aggressive plants may seem easy. If it spreads easily but the rhizomes are 1 inch underground, what’s there to complain about?!

I literally excavated an entire patch at least 10 inches deep and still don't think I got the deepest roots. I'm now four years into the eradication, and still find occasional sprouts, but at least it's down to a trickle. I've been very vigilant about checking every place it ever had a presence.

that happened to me with Mexican primrose. I dug it all out and threw the soil away, and the next year it was all over the place. I posted in an earlier post that Eraser weedkiller killed my chameleon. for weeks it didn't look like it had touched it, but then in the spring only a few springs returned. I had had a large area of it.

Fellow sufferers... it is Oct 31 in ATL. Foliage has died back. Will Roundup sprayed on roots do anything?

No

if you sprayed the foliage, and it is dead, that has killed the roots too.

i dont understand how you will spray roots???? .... if you go far enough to dig them up.. why waste the spray ....

it may or may not work on dormant branches .... a dormant plant does still have some activity .... it would not work on trees and such ....

ken

Barron, thanks for the laugh--- short and to the point.

"If you sprayed the foliage it is dead".

uhhh-----maybe---- but I have my doubts. Depends on how long you've had it and how aggressive it got. Call me pessimistic but I had a lot of trouble finally eradicating this monster, it travels great distances underground and each piece of root left can create a new smelly plant.

RoundUp and most other herbicides need to be applied to viable plant tissue during the active growing season. If the foliage/leaves are going over or declining because it is the end of the season and the plant is entering dormancy, then spraying now will have no effect. And even if you did use the herbicide during the growing season there is NO guarantee that the plant(s) are dead. For very persistent weeds with extensive root systems, it often takes multiple applications for the herbicide to get fully translocated to the roots and kill off the the plant.

gardengal48, can I use herbicide on evergreen weeds at this time of year? The dollar weed are still green.

As I recall Roundup is most effective when above 70F. It's also probably not 'active growing season' for almost anything in the temperate northern hemisphere.

So...not the best time to use it, though it might have some effect.

It's been five years since my eradication, and I'm still getting occasional sprouts. What's really bizarre is that I'm finding it in spots nowhere close to where it was planted. I recently found a sprout down by my mailbox, and the nearest place it had been was about 200 feet away. ( have a 300 foot driveway.) I had found it in the front yard before, and the only way it could have gotten there was to shoot rhizomes under the driveway.

Will also spread just as easily from seed or any portion of root that was overlooked or dropped as in during clean up.

Fortunately, I got my goutweed while the "outbreak" was still young. Each year, however, I see some sprouts coming through. There must still be some root portions left in the ground, but, the survivors are certainly manageable.

I have an idea how I got goutweed in the first place. A neighbor, who is a very lovely and welcome neighbor, does nothing with his yard now that he's a widower. The goutweed grows rampant and happily. I'm sure a bird brought me a present from his yard. When it's time for him to sell, he has two choices: (1) sell to a non-gardener who thinks that lovely white flower everywhere is just charming, or (2) sell during our long winters when the new owner has no idea it's there. (I'm sure many among us have a sad story about "surprises" found at new homes!)

The rhizomes on this plant from hell grow every which way! They grow sideways and a foot straight down into the dirt. Nothing kills it!

Well, my turn. Bought our home about 17 years ago. When we were touring the yard, I asked the owner what the plants were in the side yard, he said "oh it's a ground cover plant for the landscape, isn't it pretty?" it didn't feel great to me, there was quite a bit of it, but I figured not a big deal. Plus, he mentioned it all dies in the fall. Well, 17 years later I just completed the biggest mass assault on it to date. Hired a guy to come in tear out all the plants in the beds, the grass in a 15 by 40 foot area and he dug pretty deep and got "most" of the roots -- would've been nearly impossible to get them all. Would've meant a huge amount of digging and dumping. As it was, he brought in a backhoe. I thought he should've taken out more dirt, but I could see it running into more and more money. I spent thousands as it was. He also used tons of caseron as he built new dirt back up, layering it in, and used a tarp liner where he put sod back. He continues to put it down in the beds when he comes to mow. I know he's nervous about it coming back. I guess the good thing is we won't be planting anything in the area except the sod he put down, the beds are empty and laying there like a dead zone, no weeds, nothing will grow there. This has been about 6 weeks, so I was curious and dug down with a shovel in a single deep thrust to see what was happening with the roots. Those evil little bastards are still down there about 8 to 10" below the surface, but they don't appear to be growing. Not sure if the chemicals he's putting down will do anything to prevent them from coming up next year. We'll find out. I'm thinking serious chemicals will be the way forward if they do. These things are God awful and will overtake your lawn, plant root systems, everything. Someone mentioned 2.4d. I think that will be the next chemical to try. but that sounds like it goes on the actual plant. I want to get something deep down into that soil to just destroy every living thing down there. Yes, it's turned someone who really doesn't like the idea of using any chemicals into environmental nightmare. It's a soul killer!!!!!!!!!! I'll try to report back next spring into summer!

Well, here we are six years from my big eradication, and I'm still finding it. The most amazing find? Last summer, it was coming up around my mailbox down on the street. I have a 300 foot driveway.

The horror continues.

YES. I still haven't killed it off either! lol

I have this devil plant in my front flowerbed and I have to tell you, it is a never-dying, constant pain in my side! Its been me against the plant for five years now, and the plant is outsmarting me! Weed/Grass killer sprayed weekly and all the devil plant does is laugh in my face and pop up in another spot! I am obsessed with this plant and its demise! Thick plastic, cardboard boxes, weed barrier -- again just laughter from the 'devils spawn' as it rises up through the barriers to find the sunlight and live another day! This year when I mulched, I laid the plastic mulch bags down first and mulched over them! Desperation at its finest! Every year another layer to try to stop this plant from finding the surface, and every year I see that same small leaf appear! I have tried everything; root destruction, spading, tearing out with my hands while screaming at the Gods "Why Me!", chemicals! The only thing left is a nuclear bomb! If the world does end, there will be cockroaches and the Chameleon plant! DONT EVER LET THIS PLANT NEAR YOUR HOUSE!

Hu, I can sympathize. I have a batch of it in my front yard and back yard that cannot be killed. I have to do yearly removal in order just to stop its spread.

We bought this house 3 years ago. The deceased couple loved gardening but all of the beds surrounding the house were so over grown. I knew I was going to be digging out the pretty ground cover because it was too much. And all over the sidewalks. Little did I know the nightmare that it was. Last summer we finally broke down and hired a hardscape company to dig it out -over a foot deep. The entire perimeter of our house. They even had to take out a beautiful evergreen because of the roots. They sprayed (against my best intentions), put plastic down, and filled it all back in with new dirt. The landscapers had said they never dealt with anything so bad. The stuff is also under our deck so they could only spray there. I really thought it was the end.

That dreaded, awful smelly stuff is back. Literally everywhere. It‘s in places it wasn’t before. Oh and it’s all within grass now. Because we planted frickin beautiful grass instead of having to weed flower beds. So now, as my husband mows he’s probably chipping the little bits and spreading it even more. I dig this plant up in my nightmares. Truly. I feel like the former home owners are haunting me. Before we knew better my husband dumped what I had dug up, in our woods. So there’s a nice patch up there too.

And our realtor really loved the stuff so she took some home and planted it in her garden. I tried to tell her to dig it up but she said it reminded her of us and she really loves it. So there’s that.

This plant, Chamelon, is unbelievably resilient! It grew for years in a small flower bed and stayed contained. Last year it started spreading. I have dug the entire flower garden twice up to 12" deep and pulled out clumps of the roots, or as I now know rhizomes. It is terrible to get rid of and after reading all these comments I don't feel any better about it!!!!

If anyone offers you “a great groundcover with pretty white flowers”, run away! This person HATES you and wants you to be miserable forever. I can’t remember who the she-devil was who offered it to me but, I will curse this person for all eternity. My hillside, while safe from erosion, will NEVER be free of this invasive monster.

Does roundup kill this plant? Has anyone tried?

Yes, it does, but if any rhizomes at all survive, it will keep sprouting. I finally resorted it, and while it was quite effective, not a year has gone by that I don't see an occasional sprout here and there. You really have to keep after it with vigilance.

Bought our current house last year at the height of the COVID home buying rush and paid top dollar with no inspection. Beyond having to put on a new roof right away, replace 20+ year old furnace, among all the renovations we have done (new kitchen, bathroom, flooring), I have found this plant in many areas of the extensive garden beds on this property. (As I later found out, inadvertently transferred rhizomes around the property by former home owner who didn't know what they were doing). I tried digging out a couple of patches myself already this past Spring only to have them come roaring back by fall. Next I was going to try just tarping them and leaving the tarps in place for awhile. Has anyone tried this approach and what is a desirable period to leave tarps down. Guesses? One of the worst patches borders my neighbors property.

Certainly worth a try. The issue is that the damned thing spreads underground. The key, it seems, is getting to it as soon as it appears. I had a bed in the front of my house that, after much vigilance, is mostly rid of the ghastly invader. Be strong, my friend!

O for heavens sake - I have removed loads of this (and Japanese Knotweed, goutweed, trumpet vine and other supposedly immortal plants). Round up definitely does work but I would suggest an awful lot of posters on this thread are not reading the instructions. Multiple sprayings over a few weeks, spraying roots, spraying tiny bits of foliage...and so on. Round up is completely effective when used correctly, at the right time, when foliage cover is at peak growth...which is late spring or autumn. The exceptions usually involve plants with a lot of silicone which will require the cell walls to be ruptured (by crushing) or a direct dosage into the plant capillary system (usually done with knotweed or giant hogweeds). Personally, I find the autumn spray to be more effective as the plant has the maximum amount of foliage and is at the pivot point where top growth/root growth balance is tipping back towards the roots, where we want the glyphosate to do it's nefarious work. It takes up to 6 weeks before the effects of Round Up can even be seen so multiple sprayings is overkill. Using Round Up at incorrect dosages is also a waste - using a stronger mix is no guarantee of eventual success. For a really bad infestation, 2 sprays, one in spring and a later one when there is sufficient regrowth (which is towards the end of summer) will kill 995 of houtynnia. Further vigilance the following season, with careful hand weeding, will finish the problem.

Finally, in the annals of pesticides and chemical use, Round Up is comparatively innocuous, compared to the bad old days of sodium chlorate, DDT and so on. Whilst daily use is obviously undesirable, a timed and targeted spray is not tantamount to the ninth circle of hell...whereas untreated infestations of invasives is a whole lot worse.

Rosaprimula, I agree with you on RU. I am 95-99% organic in my garden, but for the stubborn things, which for me is occassional goutweed, grass growing out of a perennial rootball or between pavers, and controlling (but not eradicating yet) gooseneck loosestrife, I use is 1-3 times per summer. I would think using it when foliage is emerging would be effective. I know the foliage takes it to the roots, and there is not much foliage then, but I wondered if the plant would be more vulnerable as it breaks dormancy.

would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks, sadly the invasion is so extensive on my property that I would be spraying it all over the place. I think I will try my tarping first and see how that goes. My property also borders a creek and wild life area. While some neighbors use pesticides on their lawns I am hesitant to try Round Up.

I haven't had that plant in my garden thankfully, but I did have witch grass which I couldn't get rid of by pulling it out. Every tiny little piece of fragile root left behind would sprout a new plant. And I also made the mistake of using a Roto tiller on it. BIG mistake - It increased the amount of plants I had 10 fold. I gave up my vegetable bed for 2 years. I'm 100% organic and stubborn and haven't been desperate enough to use a chemical. I'd rather give up the vegetable garden for 2 years. [g]

What I finally did that was successful was to use an old ice rink liner - 25ft of clear plastic and covered the area and weighed it down with rocks and bricks. Left it in place for a year. I got lucky that it was a hot and sunny summer. After I pulled up the 3ml plastic liner, I never saw witch grass in the yard again.

The big problem with houtynnia is how far the rhizomes seem to tunnel underground. I still have it popping up in places nowhere close to where the initial infestations were. It went under the driveway to the front yard and occasional sprouts all the way down the side of a 300 foot driveway. I'm now seven years beyond the big eradication and am still finding occasional sprouts in a variety of new places.

I generally only do a late summer spray. Deanna. Works really well for me because the main offenders are still in full flow towards the end of summer. I honestly think you need to whack as much foliage as possible. Also, I find it less risky cos I have removed annuals and cut back a lot of perennials so I can easily protect my non-weedy plants from overspray (making use of fleece, binbags, cloches, upturned pots and so on.

I have been tempted with pre-emptive sprays of emerging bindweed but it is pointless because I end up doing it again, later in the season. With strangling weeds, I train them up canes rather than letting the vines tangle in shrubs or tall perennials.

On old allotment sites, the build-up of pests and disease can be horrendous. Just about every single plot has diseased blackcurrants, virussed raspberries, allium white rot, red-core, asparagus beetle, allium moth, various verticilliums...and a whole lot of 'organic' types which really means 'do-nothing' types. And weeds. A lot of my neighbours harbour some really pernicious weeds...and when all that separates you is 18inches of unreliable (couch-ridden) path (and allotment users who are rarely seen), I have found it absolutely necessary to maintain some sort of cordon sanitaire. I have never been organic as a jobbing gardener either. Lots of people pay lip service to the idea but absolutely balk at the idea of paying someone to handweed - ongoing, relentless and most of all, expensive, so I have always used herbicides and fungicides, as well as stuff like Bt and nematodes.

I've been organic for 40+ years. I learned to garden from someone who had an organic vegetable garden. I don't use commercial products for fertilizer, except organic seaweed fertilizer and organic alfalfa meal. I build up the soil and use cover crops. I am very careful about cleanliness and avoiding disease. I've been on the same property for all that time and I don't have built up diseases and there is some kind of ecological balance - the aphids show up and 2 weeks later the lady bugs have taken care of most of them. The Brassicas have caterpllars show up and the next thing I know, wasps are patroling the bed and no more caterpillars. I buy disease resistant varieties and anything that develops a disease my efforts don't succeed with, gets yanked out. I don't mind some weeding but I do a lot of mulching to avoid it which works well for me and for the soil. It makes me very happy to garden that way. I'm sorry you've had a negative experience about organic growing.