How to remove large amounts of agapanthus?

[Schteph]

Hi Community 

I have a large garden at the front of our house (in between fence and nature strip) that is absolutely rife with agapanthus. Having had no gardening experience prior to purchasing our home two years ago, I’ve only just realised what a pest these plants are, and want to start removing them as we eventually want to renovate the general area (with different plants). I’ve researched removal and digging them out isn’t feasible given the number (and the fact we’re very time poor with two small children). We could hire some sort of machine, but want to avoid costly options if possible. The options I’ve found to poison them have warnings about exposure to adjacent plants, which concerns me as there’s a grapefruit tree, mulberry tree, lemon tree, mandarin tree, mango tree, and some other non fruit trees we wish to keep. Apart from the large trees, there’s some type of mondo grass interspersed with the agapanthus, which we’re ok sacrificing. Can anyone give us a bit of direction on the best approach? 

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @Schteph 

Well  on your  front yard  I would  hire some  one  with a Bobcat and truck to dig the  plants out and take them in one swoop in a half  day.

As digging them all out will create alot of garden waste you will be stuck  with for monthes filling the green  bin.

Another DIY smaller  machine is a   dingo a smaller version of a  bobcat that  is ride on but you will need a skip bin for the waste. YOu will need to hire  this and have it delivered and picked up allow min 24 hour hire.

But  look around a  handy man local may dig them out by hand cheaper. and take them away?

Hope this helps.

[JacobZ]

Hi @Schteph,

Thank you for your question about removing agapanthus from your front garden.

Do you have a photo of the garden that you could share? This would certainly help us come up with a plan for their removal.

As @Jewelleryrescue has mentioned, an earthmoving machine like an excavator or skid steer will make light work of this job, but obviously, this comes at a cost. Our partners at Coates Hire offer this 1.4t Excavator which will make light work of the job. If you want to remove them quickly and easily, this is certainly the way to go. If you weren't confident doing it yourself, an earthmoving company could likely knock the job out in less than an hour and would have a truck or trailer to remove the waste.

Without seeing the state of the garden bed, I'm wary about recommending chemicals. As your research has shown, surrounding plants can be affected by herbicides that are powerful enough to remove large plants like agapanthus. This could be an option, but you would still need to pull the plants out once they have died.

It would be a bit of work, but the option that is likely best is manually removing them by loosening the soil and roots with a garden fork and pulling them out by hand. Some gardening gloves would certainly help with this. You could invite some friends and family around, cook up a BBQ and have a bit of a working bee and knock it out in an afternoon.

Let me know what you think and if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob