How to Effectively Get Rid of Mayapple Plants

It’s a unique native flower called mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), and it grows in wooded areas and shady garden beds all over North America. If you let mayapple grow as an accent plant in your garden, its umbrella-shaped leaves and one white flower can give it an exotic look. But if you don’t stop it, mayapple can spread quickly and aggressively through underground rhizomes, making it a tough weed to control. Here, we’ll talk about how mayapple grows and give you both natural and chemical ways to get rid of plants you don’t want.

What is Mayapple?

Mayapple is a perennial wildflower species native to damp, wooded habitats in much of the eastern and midwestern United States Other common names for mayapple include American mandrake, wild mandrake, and wild lemon

Mayapple comes up from a thick network of underground stems and leaves in early spring. At first, each plant only has one leaf with palmately lobed edges that looks like an open umbrella. Later in the spring, a second leaf opens, and the plant grows very quickly. In late spring, the plants make a single white flower that nods under their paired leaves. Later, they make a green fruit in the shape of a lemon that turns yellow in the summer. After fruiting, the plant’s stems and leaves die back completely until the next spring.

While native to shady areas, mayapple can spread aggressively in garden settings via its rapidly expanding root system. When uncontrolled, it quickly crowds out desirable ornamental plants. Manual removal is challenging due to the extensive rhizomes. So what’s the best way to get rid of mayapple? Let’s look at some effective control options.

Organic Methods to Remove Mayapple

For gardeners wishing to avoid chemical herbicides, a combination of manual removal and smothering can help rid beds of mayapple over time:

Manual Removal

• Using a sharp spade, carefully dig out mayapple plants. Try to extract as much of the connecting rhizome system as possible. Discard all plant parts, as broken fragments may resprout. Spring and fall are best times, when the soil is moist and roots are most vulnerable. Repeat regularly to deplete the rhizome network over several seasons.

Covering Plants

• Smother established mayapple growth by completely covering the area with overlapping sheets of cardboard, burlap or heavy landscape fabric. Overlap seams and weigh down the edges with rocks, boards or soil. Leave covered for at least one full growing season. The lack of light will eventually kill the covered vegetation.

Mulching

• For areas where mayapple is just beginning to emerge, spread a 3-4 inch deep layer of mulch in spring to block light and prevent growth. Natural mulch materials like wood chips, pine needles or shredded leaves all work. Maintain mulch depth.

Solarization

• In smaller areas, solarization with clear plastic sheeting can heat the soil and kill plants and seeds. Seal the edges and leave in place for at least a full summer growing season. Repeat if needed.

Plant Competition

• Establishing thick groundcover plants or aggressive perennials may eventually outcompete mayapple. Options include pachysandra, vinca minor, epimedium or ferns. Combine with mulching for best results.

While organic methods require persistence over multiple seasons, the diligent gardener can eventually reclaim beds for ornamental plantings. Next, let’s discuss some faster chemical control options.

Using Herbicides to Kill Mayapple

Systemic herbicides, which kill the whole plant, including the roots, are the best way to get rid of plants quickly. Two options include:

Glyphosate

• This broad-spectrum herbicide, marketed as Roundup and other brands, can provide effective control when applied directly to actively growing mayapple foliage in spring. Use a small brush or foam applicator to avoid contact with desired plants. Glyphosate is absorbed through the leaves and translocated down to the roots. Visible symptoms take 7-10 days but the rhizomes will die. Multiple applications are likely needed.

Triclopyr

• An herbicide sold as Turflon Ester, Ortho Max Poison Ivy Killer and other brands, triclopyr is selective to broadleaf plants and will not harm lawn grasses. As a foliar spray, it damages only the visible upper growth of mayapple but has little effect on the roots. For more complete control, use triclopyr as a cut-stem treatment in summer when fruiting is finished. Simply cut each stem near ground level and immediately apply or drip the herbicide onto the cross-section of the cut stem. This delivers the chemical directly down into the root zone.

When using any herbicide, always carefully follow label directions for correct dosage and safe usage. Herbicides must contact the foliage to be absorbed, so caution is needed around non-target plants. Though faster acting, chemical controls can still take a couple seasons of persistence to fully eradicate established mayapple stands through the rhizome network.

Tips for Preventing Mayapple Growth

Prevention is always preferable to control. Here are some useful tips to avoid mayapple becoming a problem:

• When planting new landscape beds, carefully screen the soil and remove any mayapple roots or sprouts. Discard offsite.

• Keep a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch over garden beds to stop seeds from sprouting and rhizomes from spreading. Replenish as needed.

• Allow garden beds to achieve a dense coverage of desired ornamental plants. Avoid sparse plantings vulnerable to weed invasion.

• In wooded areas, selectively remove only a portion of the mayapple patch each season. Total removal risks erosion issues.

• Monitor the garden perimeter for any new sprouts spreading from neighboring habitat. Remove immediately while small.

With persistence using the control methods described, you can safely eliminate unwanted mayapple over time and reclaim your landscape beds for more desirable plantings. Just remember that totally eradicating this vigorous native plant from adjacent natural areas is generally neither feasible nor recommended. But keeping it in check within your cultivated garden space is very achievable.