Creeping buttercups, also known as buttercups, are common in lawns and considered a weed by many gardeners.
The creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) covers the lawn with a carpet of yellow flowers. This is visually quite appealing. Nevertheless, very few hobby gardeners can make friends with the lush plant and do everything they can to get rid of the buttercup as quickly as possible. In the following we draw a comprehensive plant portrait, whereby we primarily deal with the control of the creeping buttercup.Creeping Ranunculus - Speci alties
The creeping buttercup can reach a height of between ten and fifty centimetres. The name of the plant can be traced back to the creeping foothills that the buttercup forms. The plant can be compared to strawberries. Nodes form on the creeping foothills and new roots can form there.
The popularly known buttercups appear between May and August. The creeping buttercup can push its roots up to half a meter into the ground. The plant prefers to spread in the lawn. The grass area suffers from this, which is gradually being displaced.
Growth conditions and distribution
The plant prefers heavy and nutrient-rich soil. The creeping buttercup loves it moist and sour. Soil compaction is tolerated as well as short-term flooding.
In the garden, the Creeping Buttercup appears as an uninvited guest. Nobody has planted it, nobody wants to cultivate it and yet it asserts itself and takes over entire lawns for itself. The buttercup plant occurs in Europe in more than 600 different species and grows in the Alps up to an altitude of 2,500 meters. In the wild we encounter the creeping buttercup along the way, in meadows or along streams.
Creeping buttercup - weed or wild plant?
In the home garden, very few people can see anything positive about buttercups. Nonetheless, it has its charm. The decorative yellow flower heads set appealing splashes of color on meadows and pastures. In the wild, the robust plant is part of the usual picture and nobody bothersabout it.
The situation changes in the home garden. Since the plant spreads ruthlessly, it is considered a weed and driven away by any means necessary. Not only the lawn is displaced. "The competitor" can also deprive the plants in the bed of their basic nutrition.
Every hobby gardener should decide for himself what value he gives to the plant. Not every weed has to go. Perhaps there is an unused area where the yellow flowers do not disturb and can please the eye.Creeping Buttercup - Propagation
- The creeping buttercup is a specialist when it comes to reproduction. Propagation occurs in two ways. On the one hand, the foothills already mentioned push themselves across the ground and new roots are constantly being formed, which penetrate the ground.
- Nuts develop from the flowers. That's where the seeds ripen. The seeds are dispersed in the environment by the wind and also carried to a new location by birds. If you don't do anything about the buttercup, you will soon come across the yellow flowers almost everywhere on the lawn and in the flower beds.
What damage does Creeping Buttercup do?
This depends on location and spread. The lawn quickly becomes uneven. In the places where the plant spreads, holes appear. The deep roots of the buttercup crowd out the lawn. The growing blades of grass gradually become fewer. If you don't intervene, you'll soon be faced with a sea of yellow blossoms and you'll be looking in vain for your lawn.
If the creeping buttercup appears in beds, it will crowd out the existing plants. The strong roots of the buttercup rob the ornamental plants of the nutrients. The result is weak and ailing plants that lose their willingness to grow and bloom. Here, too, there is an urgent need for action, otherwise the buttercup will take over the entire bed.
Crawling buttercup - how to fight it?
Various methods have proven successful in combating the creeping buttercup:
- Mowing Lawn
- manual removal
- Tillage
- unloved plant neighbors
➔ Lawn mowing control
Keeping your lawn short can prevent seeds from forming on the flowers. This can prevent a type of propagation and the stock is decimated accordingly. However, mowing the lawn is not suitable as a form of sustainable control. The rootsstay in the ground and the buttercup will sprout again quickly.
➔ Manual Removal
Manual removal is difficult and disadvantageous in lawns, because you have to dig very deep to get as many roots as possible. The plants must be completely dug up to prevent the remaining sections from continuing to sprout.
The creeping buttercup cannot be defeated without tools. With a hoe, the roots can be easily reached and exposed in open spaces. To keep the lawn largely undamaged, a weed puller is a better choice.
➔ Control by tillage
As already mentioned, a dense, moist and acidic soil is optimal for the creeping buttercup. To make it more difficult for the buttercup to settle and to minimize an existing infestation, you can change the soil conditions.
You can find out whether the soil is really acidic by measuring the pH value. Corresponding tests are available in every hardware store and garden center.
» Tip: If the value is below 6.5, the soil is acidic.
If the soil is limed, the pH value increases and the soil appears neutral. This means that the creeping buttercup finds rather unfavorable growth conditions. You can loosen the soil further by mixing in sand.
➔ Control through targeted planting
Some plants can help curb the spread of buttercups. Of course, this is only possible in beds and open spaces, but not on the lawn, where eradication of the plant is most difficult.
Plant growth suppression can be achieved by growing Potatoes or planting Lupins. The targeted cultivation of peas or daisies as neighbors in the bed can even drive buttercups away.
If nothing helps - renew the lawn
Clearing buttercups from your lawn is a thankless and time-consuming chore. Often all attempts fail and the Creeping Buttercup has rooted the patch of grass so far that removal is simply impossible.
If the lawn is to be renewed, proceed as follows:
- remove top layer of earth
- Remove lawn completely
- pulling remaining roots out of the ground
- Distribute topsoil
- Reseed the lawn
This allows all unwanted weeds to be completely removed. The new lawn is free of wild herbs. The creeping oneHowever, buttercups can reappear at any time when the wind or birds deposit the seeds on the lawn. Regular checks make sense, because small plants can be removed manually without any problems.