When I pulled up the last the garlic mustard, I ran into this thinking it's a part of the old that was taken down last year. But it's a white fleshy root very easy to cut through and I tossed it to the side to check later. Most the mustard garlic's roots were about the thickness of my fingers, but one of them I dug up was about half this size with those elephant-like markings on it, looked very similar, just smaller.

Can this be part of a root from garlic mustard, can they grow this big? Or what other possibilities? There's generally only common daylilies there and a few phlox from the birds that I leave, grape and trumpet vines that I cut and kill off with a herbacide when I see any growing. Everything else I usually dig out.

My foot (size 9) for a comparison:


Edit to add that I found it maybe 4"-6" down and mostly horizontal.

I'd pot it up and see what grew.
A couple things with similar roots are hibiscus, horse radish, poke...
But doesn't really look like any of them... I'm definitely curious.

I tried searching garlic mustard "tubers", and couldn't get a match.

I didn't think it would grow at all since it was in the ground with nothing growing from it in that piece so I tossed it and trash pickup was yesterday...

It's possible it's a pokeweed though. I've read the roots can get over a foot long and 4" thick. There's a newer pokeweed that popped up the last 2-3 years about 10' from where it was, and the big old one behind the garage is maybe 25' away. Maybe at one time it was in more places behind and along the garage, previous owners killed that one off and that's what was left underground.

This is what the really old pokeweed behind the garage looks like right now, the stalks are at 2" diameter from it. I'm surprised there's nothing coming up from it yet. It's a LOT of clean up in the fall to cut it down and I have to catch new ones sprouting up around the yard, but the birds love it so I keep it.

It woulda grown... I've dug lots of roots and had them to grow when potted.
Amazing the difference in growing season here... my poke is chest high here in GA.

This big one takes a bit longer to wake up because it's in a 9' space between the garage and a 6' fence, so it only gets maybe 2 hrs of direct sun. The baby one by the fence gets almost a full day of sun, so it's already been sending up shoots, but 1" tall right now. I might try and get rid of that small one altogether this year, I don't think my neighbors like it when it hangs over their fence. They prefer just flat grass and nothing else...

My chest high plants are in shade...
checked the ones in full sun yesterday...

More like 7 or 8 ft high...

Nancy, could that be horseradish?

Tiffany, that's possible. I just Googled horseradish roots and they do look like what I had, including how big they can get. There is one plant coming up maybe 5' from where I found it with big wide leaves, I'm pretty sure I didn't pull it yet, I assumed it was just another weed coming up. When it warms up I'll get a pic of it later today and post it.

Horseradish looks a lot like dock, to me. Coarse looking. Not at all shiny like poke

I've never seen the leaves to whatever goes with that root, but here's the pictures of something about 10' from where I found it. It's between a few daylilies.


And this is more from the very center of it. Horseradish? Or?

I'd guess horseradish. It seems to spread.

Do rabbits at least like to eat it? Any flowers for pollinators? Caterpillars that eat it? If not, I'll just yank it now.

Looks like Burdock (Arctium sp), the roots can be big


https://www.wildwalks-southwes...

That looks like the plant for sure and it could also be the big root I found. After reading more about it, especially the seeds that inspired Velcro, I'm pulling it up now while there's only one of them. I get some Bidens coming up that I try to get rid as soon as I see them, but every fall I find myself covered in those seeds and don't want another plant with seeds just as bad.

tofitropic said: Looks like Burdock.

I wouldn't pull it...
Burdock is edible, and I planted it at my house... unfortunately, I can barely keep any of it growing.

https://www.skagitfoodcoop.com...

Lots of things are edible, but do we really want to eat them? I'd like to hear whether they are tasty.

32 recipes:
https://cookpad.com/us/search/...

Must be good.

Seems to have value in the pharmacopeia garden:
https://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk...

Okay, you try those and let me know.

Yeah, me eating it just is not going to happen. I had read that it's edible, but I'm the world's pickiest eater, you couldn't even tempt me to try it.

I've also since read though that bees especially like the flowers, I just might let it stay and see what happens. Hopefully I can cut the seed heads off before they spread.

Stone, where mine is growing is very dry soil that only gets some rain and full sun from about 10am on.

I'd be happy to cook up the burdock, if I could get it to grow...
I've watched Japanese gardening on tv, and they put some effort in coaxing length from those burdock roots...

@Murky Here at my house in the Georgia sandhills... the weather is a lot hotter and drier than Illinois...

I can grow some stuff that you can not, and vice versa.