mulch not preventing creeping charlie

[mzgarden]

We have tried mulching around berry and raised planting beds and the stuff just seems to grow up the outside of the mulch/landscape timbers and takes over.  For example, we have a 12 foot row of black & raspberries (not in a raised bed).  We mulched the bed last year with grass clippings we let dry after mowing, swept up and piled around the bushes and 1' either side of the row.  We topped that with straw (not hay).  The charlie grew up through and took over the berry beds.   This year, before the weather warmed, we added compost from our compost pile, topped that with 8 inches of straw.  The charlie has grown up the outside of the straw and is taking over.  The good thing is - charlie growing in piles of straw is pretty easy to pull out.  The bad things is - I don't want to have to pull the dang stuff all year.
We have the same problem in the strawberry raised bed and I'm afraid it will go over the sides of the new raised bed for asparagus.

What are we doing wrong to prevent this stuff from taking over?

[puddlejumper007]

good luck, charlie creeps around my place also....someone told me what to spray on it but i forgot to write it down...will be watching for answers....

[Callie]

creeping charlie is worse than bermuda grass. It took over my berry patches too. I moved the berries and put down brown horticultural paper under them this year. Hopefully, that will keep it back enough to kill it. CCharlie is all over in my greenhouse. It's easier to weed it out there though.

[jamiecatheryn]

I do find mulching makes it way easier to pull creeping weeds out, at least. The more thoroughly you pull it the less it comes back. Puddlejumper, I'll bet that spray you used to know involved vinegar and maybe a little soap, people use various recipes of that as a poison free weed killer.

[Deleted]

Any plant that gets it's nutrients from a creeping habit will spread under or over any mulch. The roots may be 10' away from the "plant" you do not want. I find it way easier to make my stand at a perimeter and put all edibles inside that perimeter leaving a wide area to keep bare, either with spray or continual digging. A dry desert area that slows all growth down. I use a soil sterilant 2' each side of my garden fence, applied twice a year....James

[puddlejumper007]

wow 10feet away,,,ok charlie you win, i will just pull it from around my plants ...thanks for the info...i have to pick my battles...lol  i am getting a stirup hoe i think that may help..

[Deleted]

www.scotts.com/smg/goART2/contentArticle/how-to-kill-creeping-charlie/34500011

Control

As is often the case when a plant has this many familiar names, Glechoma is familiar to a large number of people as a weed, a property it shares with many others of the mint family. It can be a problem in heavy, rich soils with good fertility, high moisture, and low boron content. It thrives particularly well in shady areas where grass does not grow well, although it can also be a problem in full sun.

Small infestations can be controlled through hand weeding; repeated weeding is required because the plant is stoloniferous and will continue to spread from its roots or bits of stem which reroot.

Glechoma is unusually sensitive to boron, and can be killed by applying borax (sodium tetraborate) in solution. The ratio is eight to ten ounces (225–275 g) of borax dissolved in four ounces (125 ml) of warm water, diluted to 2.5 U.S. gallons (10 l) of final solution, to be sprayed evenly over precisely 1,000 square feet (100 m2) of lawn "no more, no less". Note that despite being a "natural" treatment, boron is toxic to other plants and to animals at only slightly higher concentrations and, being an element, does not break down; therefore the long-term effects of this technique on soil or groundwater, although not well documented, can be assumed to be unfavorable.[13][14] More recent research discounts the efficacy of borax, primarily because finding the correct concentration for a given area is difficult and the potential for damaging desired plants.[15]

Aside from mechanical removal or borax treatment, the other alternative for Glechoma infestation is use of commercial herbicides. There is some disagreement over the effectiveness of various herbicides, with dicamba (Trimec and Weed-B-Gon) and 2,4-D being described variously as both effective and ineffective by different sources. Some or all of the disagreement may be due to the existence of subpopulations which have differing susceptibilities to different compounds, as well as to differing rates of application. To avoid generating herbicide resistance, the same product should not be used several years in succession; rather, various products should be used in rotation. Triclopyr has also been described as effective, and Clopyralid, MCPP, and quinclorac as ineffective. Fluroxypyr and Confront have also been described as effective, but sales of both are restricted to professionals. Two applications ten to fourteen days apart are necessary; also, the ability of the surviving plants to regenerate after 24 days can require a second treatment four or five weeks later, and even more followups.

In addition, the timing of application may play a role in the effectiveness of the herbicide, as well as the perception of effectiveness. For instance, fall is usually the best time for use of broadleaf herbicides; however, a slow-acting herbicide like triclopyr applied in the fall may not appear to have been effective until the next growing season.

Other techniques reported effective are to fertilize with greater than two pounds of nitrogen per thousand square feet annually, and use of preemergent herbicides, isoxaben. In extremely difficult cases, a short-lived full-spectrum herbicide such as glyphosate is used to kill the entire lawn, and it is reseeded from start.

[Deleted]

Creeping Charlie will root from tiny pieces of stem and root so chopping it up just helps it spread in damp, wet enviroments....James

[whisperwindkat]

we like it because it feeds the rabbits. Using it for feed keeps it under control.

[chickenista]

I leave it be.
It doesn't take many nutrients from the plants it hovers near.
It shades the ground under plants and acts as a living mulch.
Stays nice and low and non-offensive.

I also let wild strawberry, clover and other low growing ground covers stay.

No. No, I don't consider it as losing the battle and just giving up the fight all together.
Why do you ask?