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I have just discovered I have some Deadly Nightshade plants growing on my property, and I'm not sure of the best way to deal with them. The plants seem pretty well established - they must be about 2 meters high.

My thinking is along the following:

  1. First pick off the berries and dispose of these (i.e. throw them in my tip - I have kids and would prefer these are not around)

  2. Next spray the plants with glyphosate on a sunny morning and leave for a few weeks.

  3. Cut the top half of the plants and burn (or chop into logs and put into tip. Attempt to pull the bottom half of the plants out and burn, along with the roots. If the plants won't come out at roots, cut them off at ground level.

Is this a practical solution - are there better ideas?

Niall C.
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davidgo
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    I have always known nightshade (tomato potato family) to be a tender perennial. Not a tree. The best thing to do would be to pull it out BEFORE those berries turn to seed. Then rake debris up and install minimum 2 " decomposed organic matter on top of area... and 2" minimum thickness will severely weaken any plant. Go thicker but you'd have to be careful about smothering roots of other shrubs and trees. PLEASE SEND A PICTURE OR TWO of this plant!! Thanks, this is interesting. Definitely the less handling the better, but trees? – stormy May 19 '16 at 08:04
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    and please do not spray with glyphosate. huge problem with drift of spray! Gotta see this plant first to make sure we are talking nightshade to nightshade, yes? – stormy May 19 '16 at 08:06
  • I'll try add a picture on the weekend. Its definately a tree, and nothing like a tomato or eggplant (indeed I know a few things about eggplants !) – davidgo May 19 '16 at 08:07
  • @stormy - definately agree on getting a second opinion on the plant. The more I look online, the less convinced I am that this is aa "Deadly Nightshade". It has large clumps of berries. To late to get a picture of it tonight though. (After a fair bit of research I'm unconvinced about the evils of Glyphosate - I hate Monsanto, but have yet to find convincing studies attesting to Glyphosates evil, even bearing in mind how bad Monsanto's behaviour can be ) – davidgo May 19 '16 at 08:29
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    @davidgo - let's not confuse glyphosate with Roundup - the latter is far more pernicious... but just check whether this 'tree' that you think is nightshade (it won't be if its a tree) doesn't have growth from nightshade climbing up into the branches,making it look as if its a tree) – Bamboo May 19 '16 at 12:05
  • Would like to see a picture of this along with flowers/fruits. Bella Donna tree, I gotta see... You'd have to be in a tropical climate where Tomatoes would grow year round for this. – Fiasco Labs May 20 '16 at 02:41
  • I've posted another question a http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/24902/help-identifying-this-plant asking for help identifying the plant, as I suspect it is not a deadly nightshade. – davidgo May 20 '16 at 08:54
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    @bamboo - From what I can gather Glyphosate is the generic for Roundup - I know that various brands add various tweeks to it - like surfactants etc, but the basic product IS the generic of roundup. Wikipedia says [Glyphosate] Monsanto brought it to market in 1974 under the trade name Roundup - and there are a lot of similar sources. Why do you think Roundup is more pernicious ? – davidgo May 20 '16 at 08:57
  • @FiascoLabs - Bela Donna does grow in New Zealand, but its rare - http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=3484 and http://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Taxon.aspx?id=_0d2e742c-5552-4a18-9751-fb0590bc785a&fileName=Flora%204.xml - Is Frost supposed to kill this - I expect to get a bit of frost (-3 to 0 degrees) over the next 3 months ! – davidgo May 20 '16 at 09:11
  • @davidgo - glyphosate has been in use since 1971 - Roundup was formulated later with various surfactants to make it stick better to leaves, and that was the problem, that's what made it more toxic, the combination of ingredients. Reading yesterday, there is a reformulated product, created in the last couple of years, called Roundup something (I've forgotten) which has different surfactants and is purported to be somewhat less toxic, available agriculturally. But you can still buy glyphosate and just add a squirt of washing up liquid as surfactant, if its critical to use glyphosate at all. – Bamboo May 20 '16 at 11:04
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    @davidgo - don't know if you've seen this, its worth a read http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/glyphosa.htm. You may also be interested in this, re glyphosate residues in bread and some cereals, though its about glyphosate generally rather than Roundup specifically http://anhinternational.org/2015/07/01/crops-most-likely-contaminated-by-glyphosate/ – Bamboo May 20 '16 at 11:14
  • I remember this major 'scientist' guest lecturer at these pesticide continuing education seminars, sayin 'heck, you could drink this stuff! glyphosate the generic name, Roundup is glyphosate as far as I know, Bamboo is so knowledgeable that I have to doubt myself...honest!! She's added a few links that I want to check out. Easy to pull out before allowing to go to seed. Manual weeding has always seemed more effective than any chemical weeding anyhoo...I've not heard anything to label this that dangerous a plant. It is but it isn't? Grins. – stormy May 22 '16 at 09:18
  • Shoot, I never believed that anyone should drink that stuff. Just sayin' there's been so many rumors over the decades. This guy was nuts. – stormy May 22 '16 at 09:21
  • I believe I was mis-advised - this turned out to be Wooly nightshade - also dangerous, but not as bad as bella donna. Drilling some holes near the base and injecting with Glyphosate solved my problem – davidgo Jul 06 '18 at 06:56

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Where I live in USDA zone 4 deadly nightshade is weakly climbing vine up to six feet or 2 M. There are patches around the neighbourhood.

It can be eradicated over a few years by hand pulling. If the roots put up a fight a sharp spade will do the job. Dispose of the material by bagging to the garbage.

Follow up every spring to remove seedlings.

kevinskio
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  • Up vote: but I would add that if the quantity is large enough then it would probobly be safer for you to use an herbicide like glyphosate and use gloves! Also, be sure to make as many of your neighbors and those who live in close proximity to you aware of the fact that you found Nightshade growing naturally on your property. – Rob Mar 12 '19 at 20:58
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Personally I would pick up the plant and dispose it as garbage.

Between nightshade and glyphosate, what is the most dangerous? I think the second one.

Additionally I would not burn such plant. I think it could release in the air the active drugs.

Giacomo Catenazzi
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    Deadly Nightshade is, without a doubt more dangerous then glyphosate - it kills - yes, kills, far more people then Glyphosate. While glyphosate may or may not have significant negative affects if applied as directed depending on who you ask, by any reasonable measure its safer for animals and plants it does not directly touch. – davidgo May 19 '16 at 08:18
  • [Citation needed] ;-) I don't remember to have seen men dying from this and other common plants. BTW it is not so dangerous as many other wild (and many garden) plants. In any case I would for sure not use glyphosate for weeks, near kids. A regular use could make the impression to kids that it is not dangerous, so if you forgot to lock it, they could do stupid things with it. – Giacomo Catenazzi May 19 '16 at 08:48
  • According to http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2014/08/18/poisonous_plants_belladonna_nightshade_is_the_celebrity_of_deadly_flora.html it was used with deadly effect as a poison which killed an army of Danes. According to http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/atropa_belladonna.htm this plant has caused more serious then other plants (but no one in Switzerland died from it over the course of the study). – davidgo May 20 '16 at 09:04
  • Is one of you thinking of black nightshade instead of deadly nightshade? – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jul 25 '18 at 04:52
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As others have pointed out, it is important to identify which "deadly nightshade" is the issue here. At least two plants are known by this name, the low growing vining Solanum dulcamara, an innocent little weed that causes panic among some people and the more troubling Atropa belladonna. The first one has the unfortunate property that the berries look like red and green jelly beans when maturing and parents have visions of kids seeing them as edible and randomly picking them and being poisoned. These concerns are not well founded, but it is natural for parents to exaggerate slight probabilities where their kids are concerned.

If the plant in question here is bushy (sounds like it might be) then it is likely A. belladonna, in which case the berries are poisonous and care is needed. These purple berries are not as attractive so present less of an issue. One solution, since this is not an invasive species, is to leave the plants as is as curiosities and take the time to show visitors and children carefully that the plants and berries should not be touched. The children can pass on the message to others.

Kids learn this kind of thing very fast. I recall as kids we had ready access to yew berries, which have a very poisonous seed surrounded by an edible fleshy layer. I don't recall any discussion about eradicating yew trees due to the poisonous seed, even though the berries are attractive.

Colin Beckingham
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