Ask Extension: Can I get rid of Creeping Charlie without using chemicals?

Creeping Charlie

Q: What's the best way to kill Creeping Charlie in large yards without using harmful chemicals? My concern is the health of my children, and my well and septic system. We have this over a large portion of our lawn.

A: First, a few facts about Creeping Charlie: 

• Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) is a perennial lawn and garden weed that spreads via stolons ("runners") forming a mat, and will regrow from pieces of the plant left in the soil after digging or pulling it.
• Creeping Charlie is highly adaptable, and grows in full sun to full shade, in compacted soil and well-drained soil, and therefore difficult to eradicate once established. 

Ways to manage Creeping Charlie

Small areas of Creeping Charlie can be dug up, but large areas require sod cutting, solarization, broadleaf herbicide treatment or a combination of two or more of these. 

Longer-term management strategies:

• Choose grass seed that is high quality and a blend of species that will grow well in your site conditions. Or, if it's a shady area, plant shade tolerant plants like hostas or ferns where the Creeping Charlie is growing.
• Improve growing conditions to encourage a dense healthy lawn after removing Creeping Charlie by aerating, increasing sunlight to the area if possible, letting grass grow to 4.5 inches before mowing to 3 inches. (These are all explained in the webpages below.)

Even after removing, it is likely that you will need to continue digging / spot treating Creeping Charlie.  And by the way, according to research, Creeping Charlie is not a very good pollinator plant and provides very minimal nectar for bees.

Resources

We have three very good articles about managing Creeping Charlie. 

Become a Smarter Gardener: How to manage Creeping Charlie
Essential Tips for a Healthy Lawn, Part II  (See Tip #7)
Creeping Charlie: Management and Value to Pollinators

Other articles/fact sheets from outside Minnesota: 
University of Wisconsin Horticulture, Division of Extension: Creeping Charlie
Iowa State Extension and Outreach: "Creeping Charlie" (Glechoma hederacea) control