Got Weeds? is located in central Vermont, midway between Montpelier and White River Junction. It’s just me, one person, Mike Bald. My preferred approach with work capacity is to partner with other proven, specialized businesses rather than hiring folks myself. So if I’m not the best fit for you or if the calendar is full, we’ll see what the network has to offer.
Your best option for getting in touch is by email: choosewiselyvt@gmail.com . I’m typically out of cell range, but that # is 802-345-8299. Call anytime…. Got Weeds? operates wherever exotic weeds are found, so you can choose wisely even from faraway places like New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Michigan.
Please do let me know in your message if there is a particular urgency to your situation. An example of an emergency would be a never-before-seen, fast-growing vine on your property!
Got Weeds? 
We have been invaded since a few years ago by one of the worse toxic weeds; bishopweed or goutweed. I can’t get rid of it; and am having a hard time keeping up with it. I am disabled so my energy is limited. Don’t know what to do. Can you tell me how to do it? Alot of it is in with my perennial gardens; and don’t want to kill those plants.
Hi Kathleen, and thanks for your comment.
I totally hear you. Goutweed is tenacious… I have not read up much on the toxicity you mention, but nonetheless, a monoculture of goutweed is not what most people envision with their landscape.
I’d invite you to read over the Goutweed Suggestions write-up that I posted last spring. Have you seen that already? I don’ claim to have all the answers, but I think some collective experimentation on the part of many landowners could move us all forward in controlling goutweed. I especially emphasize that the real struggle between the plants is below ground, so holding that space is vital. There are always many variables that impact a site and its associated control effort, so I urge everyone to try some variation of the approach mentioned in the Suggestions. And keep notes, really good notes, that we can learn from later.
Hi, Mike; really looking forward to hosting your presentation here in Springfield VT on 11/20/19!
Hi Mike,
I am in Granville Vermont and have been doing everything I can with a growing infestation of wild chervil. I need some help. I think it snuck in when we had our fields mown by someone who wasn’t aware they’d been mowing chervil in the job before ours.
I know from the ten or so years of frequent mowing, pulling, bagging, blacking-out, and swearing that it may be a losing battle. But I’d be interested in talking to you about what you would or could do.
Thanks.
Hi Tracy, sorry to hear about the wild chervil; it sounds like you’ve put in serious effort.
Wild chervil is one species, like knotweed and goutweed, which requires our full management energy if we want to achieve eradication. I go after it in the spring, of course, but also aggressively during the fall months.
The ground is usually wetter so pulling can be a lot easier, because you really don’t want break-offs.
That said, I am a huge fan of the potato fork; just give a pry on the handle, let the earth open a seam, and then gentle upward pressure on the stem as you close up leaves you holding an intact plant.
Another trick with chervil is to focus on gateways and bottlenecks. This means that by keeping a couple critical areas “clean” you manage to protect an entire field or roadside, for example. It’s hard because it just takes one vehicle or woodchuck or deer to bring in more seed. Success is possible though: I have a two-acre site that I have been pulling on for literally ten years.
There were several years of multiple thousands of plants, but this year I was finally down to just a few dozen hanging on.
Yes, there are places nearby where “ground-distrubing activity like tree installations” has brought in a couple more plants, but my two-acre focus area has not seen a new seed hit the ground since 2013, so I know we’re almost there.
A simpler site would likely have taken perhaps a shorter timeframe, but it’s true that most of these herbaceous species in the parsnip / chervil family have a 5 / 6 / ?…. year seed lifespan. Root fragments add on a year or two for the goal of eradication, because they occasionally re-sprout, often small and difficult to detect, but learning these nuances gets you where you want to be.
Carry on, send an email if you’d like to talk more, and perhaps I can see your project sometime.
Thanks for the comment!