# How on earth do you get rid of spiderwort?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747 "2008-04-24T22:13:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747/1 "2008-04-24T22:13:34Z")

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Spiderwort is my favorite weed in my garden. It’s very pretty, and actually I quite like it. But it’s taking over! It has entirely eaten my big bed of native plants (well, I guess it feels at home there) and I want it gone! I don’t like to dump a bunch of poison on stuff, and anyway when I spray herbicides it seems I always kill the stuff next to what I want to kill (and this is all up in with my actual plants that I paid good money for.) When you try to pull this stuff you never get the roots, you just get this sticky sap on you. It _always_ comes back. It’s also hard to smother. Ideas?

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747/2 "2008-04-25T15:49:04Z")

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Bump?

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747/3 "2008-04-26T04:18:39Z")

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Not taking credit for any secret insider information or personal experience, just facts gleaned from five minutes with Google.

Assuming you’re talking about tropical spiderwort, a.k.a. Bengal dayflower, a.k.a. _Commelina benghalensis_, and not the pretty little _tradescantia_ spiderwort that I’m familiar with.

1. It’s nasty.
2. It’s new.
3. It’s resistant to Roundup.
4. It regenerates from broken plant pieces, so tilling makes it spread.
5. It’s taking over the Southeast.
6. You are not alone.
7. It’s not going to go away easy.

Your best bet is to contact your local Master Gardener program at the County Extension Office and ask them what they do. Most of the stuff online is dealing with control in field crops, which isn’t really relevant.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747/4 "2008-04-26T07:19:13Z")

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I would like to pit my super-invasive morning glory vines against your spiderwort. Hopefully a fight to the death, for both.

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-do-you-get-rid-of-spiderwort/446747/5 "2008-04-26T13:23:26Z")

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No, actually it’s the tradescantia. Like I said, I love it and I think it’s beautiful. However, it’s hard to get rid of.