How To Kill Violets In Lawn

What Are Native Wild Violets

Wild violet is an annual weed-like flower found in the northern parts of the united states. It blossoms in spring, and you will start to see them in the cool, humid areas of your lawn.

Dealing with native violets on your lawn can be one of the most traumatic tasks any lawn owner can ever encounter.

These pretty flowers will take over your lawn in a matter of seasons, and once in control, nothing is more tenacious than the violet flower. Eliminating wild violets in your lawn can take years so be sure to have a long-term strategy!

Are you in such a situation? You have done everything, but no matter what you do, they keep coming back? And you are left wondering, is there any form of treatment that one can use to kill these invasive flowers?

Not a very good scenario to find yourself in! Dont worry, there are a couple of things you can use to kill violets on your lawn. The next few paragraphs will have some insightful information on how to deal with these pesky flowers!

Controlling Violets In Beds And Borders

Roundup If the violets are in a spot set apart from perennials and other plants, you can use Roundup . Granted, I prefer not to use garden chemicals, but Roundup is one of the least dangerous for the wenvironment. Its a so-called non-selective weed killer: It doesnt select what plants it kills or damages. So be careful. Use it carefully on a still day when it wont blow and damage nearby plants. And Roundup is not magic. Use it on a sunny, warmer, dry day when it works best. And follow label directions, reapply every few days three or more times as needed.

Hand Weeding Hand pulling or weeding is laborious, but its the best way to control violets. You have to be persistent and do multiple weedings through the spring and summer, when violets are growing fastest. Its also a little tricky since violets have long, thin, spreading roots that are difficult to get all of. And if you leave one little bit in the soil, the violets come back. Unless the soil is very moist and soft, just pulling the violets wont work. Too much of the root will be left in the soil. Use a hoe or weeding tool to hack out most of the violet and then pull and pick any remaining bits by hand from the soil.

Mulching

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Controlling Wild Violet Weeds In The Lawn

One of the most difficult weeds to control in the lawn is wild violet. This native plant may look cute and dainty, especially in the spring when it produces pretty purple flowers. But in reality it is an aggressive weed with an unusual flowering quirk that results in thick mats of leaves that can choke out your lawn.

Wild violets are very tough plants that tolerate drought. But the ideal condition for them is moist soil, which this years above average rainfall has provided. This has resulted in vigorous growth and spreading of this weed.

In spring, wild violets produce their well-known purple flowers, which are often mowed off. But in summer violets can produce a different type of self-pollinating flower that stays below the leaves and produces seeds that are dropped in the surrounding area. These flowers will not be mowed off, allowing for a large amount of seeds to be spread. They also spread by underground stems. Using these two methods, they can eventually create dense colonies.

Wild violets can be controlled, but it does take some effort and repeat treatment. Fall is the ideal time to control wild violets as they will more readily move herbicides into the root system as they prepare for winter.

Selective broadleaf weed herbicides must list wild violet on the label to be effective. Bonide Chickweed Clover& Oxalis Killer is an option, or a product containing dicamba and triclopyr, but again it may take several applications to completely eradicate established plants.

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How To Get Rid Of Wild Violets Organically

There are several organic ways to deal will violets on your lawn. Lets have a look at some of them.

1. Tolerating And Living With The Wild Violets

Even though its a crazy idea its by far the simplest and the most cost-effective way to deal with wild violets. All you have to do is try and enhance grass lawn wellbeing to give it a competing chance against the weeds.

Furthermore, not everybody considers these beautiful flowers a weed, and if managed properly, you can live with them peacefully.

2. Removing Wild Violets by Hand

Fresh and young violets flowers are relatively simple to pull out by hand. For older flowers, you can use opt for a garden fork to help you dig them out. However, this will only work on a small area or if the flowers are scattered across the lawn.

Plus, it is not easy to pull out the flowers completely with their roots, meaning they will grow back again after a short while. It is recommended that you follow up this method with a concrete plan to enhance the health of the lawn to help choke out new weeds.

3. Using homemade Wild Violet Weed Killer

You can also use a homemade weed killer mixture to kill violet flowers on your lawn. Mix horticultural vinegar and water and spray the solution directly to the flowering foliage. This homemade herbicide is believed to have an 80% success rate on wild violet.

Also read: What is the mixture of dawn and vinegar to kill weeds?

How To Get Rid Of Wild Violets In Your Lawn

The Spruce / Grace Kim

• Working Time: 1 – 2 hrs
• Total Time: 2 – 3 wks

• Skill Level: Intermediate
• Estimated Cost: $20

Wild violets are a close relative of violas, pansies, and other garden flowers. While some people view this plant as a fine wildflower, others regard it as a stubborn perennial lawn weed. Wild violets can be removed by hand, especially if you regularly inspect your lawn to control the plant before it spreads. But sometimes this weed calls for the use of chemical herbicides for complete eradication.

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Kill Wild Violets Using Herbicides

Herbicides are the best solution for controlling wild violets, especially if the infestation is widespread. The best wild violet weed killers to use are broadleaf herbicides.

Top examples include those that contain Dicamba, 2,4-D, triclopyr, and MCPP active ingredients. For the best results, I recommend:

• Southern Ag Amine 2,4-D

You can also look for other herbicides that target wild violets in your local gardening shop.

When purchasing these herbicides, it is also a good idea to buy a surfactant . Mix the product with the wild violet weed killer before applying to ensure that it sticks on the leaves of the weeds.

Other tricks that can help improve wild violet control when using herbicides include:

• Spot applying the herbicide with a hand sprayer: this will ensure that you get all the weeds while avoiding spraying of lawn and other useful plants.
• Spraying the plants during fall: during this season, the herbicide will be transported into the root system, as the plant tries to store nutrients and water for the winter period. Therefore, it will have a higher chance of success than say spring or summer.
• Applying the herbicide repeatedly: some weeds may survive the first or even second treatment. However, the repeated application will completely kill off these stubborn wild violet plants.

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What Are Wild Violets And How Do I Control Them

While wild violets may sound like delightful plants and their deep purple blooms are pretty theyre actually an aggressive weed that will happily invade your lawn if left unchecked. Typically found in northern regions of the U.S., wild violets flower in the spring and prefer the damp, shady parts of your yard. Whats more, these are perennial weeds, meaning they will come back to haunt you year after year. But dont despair. Weve got wild violet control tips that can help you conquer this invader.

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What Kills Violets But Not Grass

You can use several herbicides to kill violets, and they wont harm your grass lawn. You can use broadleaf killers like Dicamba and 2.4D to selectively destroy the flowers while not killing the grass lawn.

Drive is another suitable herbicide you can use on violet flowers.

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How To Kill Wild Violet

Find out how to banish this pesky weed from your lawn.

Wild violet is a perennial weed found in many northern regions of the U.S. It flowers in early spring and is usually found in the shady, damp areas in your yard.

Killing wild violets in your lawn can be a difficult challenge, but we can help. One thing to keep in mind: Wild violets are best controlled in the fall as they are preparing to go into winter.

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Why Is Controlling Wild Violets So Difficult

Wild violets are cool season perennials that grow best in shady, moist soil. There are three problems with these tough little plants that make killing wild violets so difficult. Wild violets have two types of flowers the pretty purple ones that children gather for their mothers and the plain, unopened ones that shelter beneath leaves that protect them from most types of wild violet control. The purple flowers may be sterile. The flowers beneath the leaves are not only fertile, but self-fertilizing. They dont need to bloom to reproduce.

Thick clumps of underground stems, called rhizomes, store water so the plants can survive drought. When a gardener tries to kill wild violets in the lawn, the rhizomes survive and send forth new shoots.

Those lovely heart-shaped leaves pose the third problem in controlling wild violets. The waxy coating that gives the leaves their shine also prevents herbicides from penetrating the leaves.

At Last An Easy Way To Kill Violets

Never abandon hope is the lesson I impart today. On a recent Grumpy Gardener page in Southern Living, I sadly broke terrible news to a reader whose lawn and garden was submerged with violets. There is no spray to kill violets, I said. The only control is getting down on your hands and knees and digging nonstop for approximately 18 years.

I can hear the chorus coming from dismayed readers. “Why would anyone want to kill violets? They are beautiful and charming native wildflowers.”

That they are. But common dooryard violets are one other thing too. Extremely invasive. In the lawn or the garden. In the sun or the shade. If you see one this year, next year you’ll see a dozen. Then a hundred. Then a thousand. Then a veritable sea of violets will fill your yard from shore to shore. The fiends nearly choked out my beautiful lawn of native mosses. I dug up buckets of them.

These violets spread so quickly because they’re sneaky. They don’t just develop seeds from the pretty, blue, purple, or white flowers you admire in spring. Most seeds come from weird, pale flowers resembling mung bean sprouts that hide at the soil line under the foliage. They sow seeds all summer without the need for pollination.

Each seed that sprout grows a thick root that looks like a tiny horizontal carrot. Even if you dig it, any piece of the root left in the ground grows another violet. This root also makes the violet resistant to weedkillers available for home use.

Until now.

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Wild Violet Species Identification

From the blue to purple flowers they grow to the underground stems that can cause them to aggressively spread throughout your thick and healthy lawn, wild violets are easy to identify. They tend to be most common in the early spring.

In addition to their deep purple color, theyre also characterized by heart-shaped leaves. But these arent pretty flowers. In fact, theyre among the more challenging weeds to kill. Though they favor moist soil, they can also tolerate drought. And the flowers can drop seeds below the low-growing waxy leaves, which can submerge them in lawns and cause them to spread until there are thick clumps of even more violets in your lawn.

The good news is that they can be controlled and prevented both the flowers and the underground root system. In the forthcoming section, well take a look at how to do it:

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How Do I Get Rid Of Wild Violets In My Lawn

I have an invasion of wild violets in my lawn. What should I do to get rid of them?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but once violets have established a foothold in your lawn, they are extremely difficult to get rid of. Unfortunately, we have no good selective herbicide for violets. The trimec sprays may temporarily slow them down, but they usually bounce right back. Try using Roundup, a nonselective product. If the violets are just getting started, spraying small areas of the lawn and reseeding those areas after the kill is complete is an option. Another option is to paint the Roundup solution on the violets, avoiding the grass as much as possible. Since Roundup is absorbed through the leaves , this is an effective approach that does little harm to the grass. On the other hand, if the violets have invaded a larger area of your lawn, you have to make a decision: 1) kill both the grass and violets and start over, 2) if you are very patient, paint every violet leaf in sight, or 3) learn to live with the violets . The third option may work for naturalists, but lawn purists would be appalled!

Since it is difficult, if not impossible, to hold these violets captive, do not plant them in the first place unless their spread is your goal. If they do escape to your lawn, the earlier you attempt to bring them under control, the more successful you will be in getting rid of them.

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Make Sure Your Lawn Is Healthy

Many homeowners dont take as good of care of their lawn as they should. Feed your grass with fertilizer anywhere from two to four times each year to encourage root growth and a healthy lawn. Fertilizing yourself will only take about a half hour with the right equipment. A thick, healthy lawn will prevent wild violets from growing.

How To Control Wild Violets

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A few wild violets can add a charming splash of color to your garden or lawn, but these weeds can spread quickly and dramatically when left unchecked. You can control violets using both chemical and organic measures, but you should know that both methods will require time and dedication.

Allyn HaneNews

Whats up yall welcome to the very middle of October. Im on the road to the GIE Expo this week but wanted to take some time and drop some tips on you. For you cool season folks Im seeing more and more reports of wild violet and creeping charlie.Especially if you have gotten through your aeration and overseeding and are back to mowing regularly all that watering and fertilizing you have been doing has also encouraged these weeds and now its time to get on top of them.

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Stay On Top Of Things

It may take a couple years to really get a handle on a big crop of violets. Understand that these weeds are very persistent and will try to come back. Dont wait until it is a big problem again to start a major war in your lawn. Plan proactively with a good lawn care program to keep these weeds in check.

It is possible to get rid of violets if you are more persistent than they are. If youre interested in finding out more about how we can provide the weed control treatments, soil testing, aeration, or seeding you need to win your violet war, please dont hesitate to contact us.

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How To Kill Wild Violets Growing In The Yard Without Killing The Grass

21 September, 2017

Wild violet has a reputation of being notoriously hard to kill. But most of that reputation is because of the use of the wrong type of herbicide. Wild violet is only responsive to post-emergent broad leaf herbicides that contains triclopyr and is listed as safe to use on lawns. This type of herbicide is much more effective on wild violets than any other. However, wild violet is stubborn and it will likely take more than one application applied over more than one season to get rid of the plant for good.

Mow your lawn and the wild violet. By cutting the wild violet back, you will force it to start growing rapidly. Perennial weeds like wild violet must be actively growing when sprayed or else the herbicide will not be drawn down into the weeds roots.

• Wild violet has a reputation of being notoriously hard to kill.
• Wild violet is only responsive to post-emergent broad leaf herbicides that contains triclopyr and is listed as safe to use on lawns.

Spray the wild violet once it has grown 3 to 4 inches. Coat all of the plant tissue, but stop just before the herbicide drips off of the plant. In roughly two weeks, most of the wild violet will have wilted and turned yellow.

Spray the wild violet again three weeks after the first application . The second application should kill the majority of this seasons wild violet. If not, spray again as necessary at the intervals specified by your herbicides manufacturer.

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