Any benefit to oxalis corniculata - Ask Extension
I have this apparently pesky weed growing in my front yard that I am turning into a small organic, pesticide&herbicide-free orchard. I plan to und...
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Any benefit to oxalis corniculata #320436
Asked May 10, 2016, 2:39 PM EDT
I have this apparently pesky weed growing in my front yard that I am turning into a small organic, pesticide&herbicide-free orchard. I plan to under plant the trees with some sort if meadow/ground cover mixture and I have some creeping wood sorrel already growing in small patches along the driveway border. I think it is attractive but know it is generally considered an invasive weed. Should I get rid of it or will it be okay to let it become part of my meadow?
Multnomah County Oregon
Expert Response
Hello:
Interesting question! I don't think that the creeping woodsorrel will be serious competition for fruit trees as it is a shallow-rooted diminutive plant. It is very competitive however with grasses or other groundcovers and might become dominant. As for benefits, it will form a year-round groundcover and so have the benefits of organic matter addition to soil and reduction of compaction that other plants would have. It is reputedly edible in modest quantities for humans but if you have any livestock can be very toxic to them. I think I would prefer a more robust groundcover in the orchard such as grass (which is the groundcover in our home orchard), or something like clover which is nitrogen-fixing, or a grass/clover mix. Wherever I see woodsorrel I tend to remove it.
Interesting question! I don't think that the creeping woodsorrel will be serious competition for fruit trees as it is a shallow-rooted diminutive plant. It is very competitive however with grasses or other groundcovers and might become dominant. As for benefits, it will form a year-round groundcover and so have the benefits of organic matter addition to soil and reduction of compaction that other plants would have. It is reputedly edible in modest quantities for humans but if you have any livestock can be very toxic to them. I think I would prefer a more robust groundcover in the orchard such as grass (which is the groundcover in our home orchard), or something like clover which is nitrogen-fixing, or a grass/clover mix. Wherever I see woodsorrel I tend to remove it.
