Sorrel is a plant valued as a food and medicinal plant in many countries. However, in addition to self-sowing, it is also capable of vegetative root propagation, which can quickly become a pest if the site conditions are suitable.
How can you successfully fight sorrel in the garden?
To effectively combat sorrel, you can remove flowers before the seeds ripen, consistently dig up young plants and avoid fertilizer, as the plant only grows sparsely on poor soil. Chemical agents should only be used with caution.
Fighting sorrel with chemical agents
Farmers used to often tend to destroy sorrel with chemical agents because the plant is not actually eaten by livestock. If you would like to destroy the sorrel yourself with the chemical club, you should only do so in compliance with all safety instructions for the respective product. Although chemical countermeasures against sorrel promise to make work easier, they can also have a toxic effect on vegetables from your own garden or get into the respiratory tract when used.
Killing two birds with one stone when fighting mechanically
The mechanical digging out of sorrel is relatively strenuous due to the relatively deep roots, but specialist retailers also offer special digging forks (€44.00 on Amazon) to make the job easier. The mechanical and therefore purely biological removal of the plants also makes every plant that is cut out usable in the kitchen. If possible, remove the sorrel for consumption in spring, as the fresh green leaves are easier to prepare than the red leaves in summer.
Contain the proliferation and work consistently
If the sorrel stubbornly asserts itself in your garden bed or lawn, you should use the following strategies to destroy it:
- don't let the flowers fruit
- Remove emerging plants for a few years
- Always dig up plants with the whole roots if possible
By removing the flowers before the seeds ripen, you can limit sorrel self-seeding. The removal of emerging young plants must be carried out consistently for several years, as sorrel is a true survivor. If possible, prick the roots completely out of the ground, as injured parts of the sorrel roots can sprout again.
Tips & Tricks
The growth of sorrel can also be regulated by the supply of nutrients. This plant usually only thrives very sparsely on rather poor soils without the supply of fertilizer.
