Please ID invader

9 years ago

What is this weed in my strawberry patch? It has the pretty blue flower with the yellow center. Also, does anybody leave clover in their veggie gardens? Can it be beneficial if it doesn't take over? Isn't it supposed to be a nitrogen fixer? Forgive my ignorance, I have a lot to learn.

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Comments (6)

missingtheobvious
9 years ago
The blue-flowering one with the long teardrop leaves is one of the dayflowers (Commelina).

The "clover" to the right of that is Oxalis, which you want to remove before it goes to seed. It is trying to take over the world....
janleecat
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you missingtheobvious. And here I thought the oxalis could be a friend! Well at least it is easy to pull out. Thank you!
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
i had the blue flower one.... when i moved here 14 years ago ..

i am still pulling out seedlings.. and i have never left it to seed in 12 years ...

a horrible.. horrible weed ...

no clover is good IN a production area ..

if you want to use it as green manure ... you leave the plot fallow for a season.. grow clover.. and till it in in fall ...

otherwise.. it will steal more nutrients from valued plants... than it will ever give back ...

unless you have acreage.. you are better off buying good compost.. and building your soil ...

ken
missingtheobvious
9 years ago
Although it has similarly-shaped leaves, Oxalis/wood sorrel is not closely related to Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens) et al (they're in different orders). Oxalis doesn't fix nitrogen in the soil.

I grew up before the days of broad-leaf weed killers, and do like having Dutch clover in my lawn (violets too). And in this fruit-growing area, clover attracts honeybees to the orchards, which is probably why there's still quite a bit in my pasture (which decades ago was an apple orchard).
alisonoz_gw
9 years ago
Oxalis can't always be removed by "pulling" as, if sufficiently established from seed, it begins to form bulbils and can both spread that way if undisturbed, or spread even faster if manually spread by digging over the soil without capturing them. If your "pulled" plants re-emerge then it would be worthwhile digging up all the soil after your worthwhile plants are finished, and lifting a pocket of soil containing and around the oxalis to capture the bulbils. Don;t compost - bag it in a bin.
The commelina spreads by anchoring roots and can re-shoot from a miniscule bit. Once again, try to carefully lever out every rooted piece, not leaving any stems to fall back on the ground, and completely destroy what you have gathered.
janleecat
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you all! We use no petrochemicals and there is clover in our lawn which does attract lots of pollinators. I should have realized that the oxalis is different since it as of yet is not flowering and now I won't give it a chance to.