If you have a smaller patch of snow-on-the-mountain, feel free to use a handheld lawn trimmer. If you want to keep some of the snow-on-the-mountain as ground cover or decoration, just mow the areas you want to remove.
Snow-on-the-mountain grows via rhizomes, which are roots that connect to one another underground. Smothering the ground above the large root system will starve it over time.
The mulch will also keep your yard or garden looking halfway decent while you’re starving the weeds. This process is going to take some time, and you probably don’t want to look out and see a random tarp or fabric sheet every time you hang out in your yard!
You can totally leave the tarp or fabric for a full year if it ends up snowing or freezing before you have a chance to remove everything.
You can use herbicide to spot treat patches of snow-on-the-mountain during the spring and summer if you’d like, but it is unlikely to permanently solve your problem.
Metsulfuron plus will also be efficient at combatting snow-on-the-mountain. [8] X Research source Skip the vinegar. Vinegar works with weeds that are especially young and weak, but snow-in-the-mountain is hardy, and its root system is often very elaborate. [9] X Research source
Read the label carefully before you apply the herbicide to see if you need to wear gloves or follow any specific directions.
You can treat your whole yard if you’d like, but that’s going to kill everything. It’s more efficient to simply treat the snow-on-the-mountain directly and then tackle new growth if/when it appears. So long as you keep killing the leaves and stalks, the roots will die out over time. The next growing season, you shouldn’t see any snow-on-the-mountain growing wherever you treated the soil.
You can also use pavers or gravel to block snow-on-the-mountain from expanding. Snow-on-the-mountain has an elaborate root system, but it doesn’t go particularly deep. Physical barriers should keep the weed from spreading. If you’re looking to propagate snow-on-the-mountain within your landscape edging, simply leave it alone! The bees and butterflies will spread the seeds that grow out of the flowering portion of the plant in the late summer. [13] X Research source To manually propagate snow-on-the-mountain, pick some adult plants up from your local gardening store or flower shop and plant them in shallow, well-drained soil.
Snow-in-the-mountain is invasive, but in the least problematic way possible. This is an invasive weed that only succeeds where other plants can’t grow, so growing grass will solve the problem over time.
The sap inside of snow-on-the-mountain causes dermatitis, a skin reaction that causes itchy irritation and rashes, so don’t rip the plants out with your bare hands. [17] X Trustworthy Source University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension program of the University of California system devoted to educating and improving local communities Go to source This doesn’t really work if there are a large number of stalks. It can just be too difficult to get all of the roots. [18] X Research source
