Spring words on weeds

It’s the time of year when I give my spiel on weeds and lawn care. I start getting calls about weeds as the weather warms up, the grass is turning green and needs mowing, and people realize their lawns aren’t as healthy as they would like. Two new-ish weeds are becoming more of an issue for lawn-lovers in our area. Here’s a little more about them, if you see them when you’re out and about in your yard.

Annual Trampweed, botanical name Facelis retusa, is relatively new in Richmond County. I’ve been getting calls about it for about three years now. As weather patterns have changed, and we have somewhat more drought than usual, this weed has tramped west (see what I did there?) from the eastern portion of the state, where it is more common.

Trampweed is an indicator of drought-stressed, low-fertility lawns. I’ve heard it described as looking “sort of” like a dandelion, and indeed the spent flower is a fluffy white seed head similar to that of dandelions. The plant itself looks nothing like the dandelion leaves we are all familiar with. Trampweed is low growing, but instead of the flat, broad leaves of dandelions, leaves are small, narrow, and running perpendicular in alternate formation along multiple stems. Leaves are a dull green with white hairs on the underside.

If you find you have trampweed in your lawn, there’s not a chemical treatment you can apply that will be effective at this time of the year. Annual trampweed is a cool season annual, and in the spring it’s flowering and coming to the end of its life cycle, preparing to die. If you have a mower with a bagger, you can try to remove the seedheads to reduce the amount of seed to grow more weeds next fall.

Trampweed is an indicator that you have some work to do to improve growing conditions for your turfgrass. I recommend taking soil samples (we have boxes and forms at the Extension office), and the service is free, for the next six months or so, from NC Department of Agriculture. The soil recommendation you receive from your sample will give the soil pH (the measure of acidity in your soil) and a fertility recommendation based on your soil and the type of turfgrass you are growing, whether bermudagrass, centipedegrass, etc. After you start working on making your turfgrass healthier, mark your calendar to apply an appropriate herbicide to control trampweed with a postemergence herbicide application first in November and then again in February of next year, to gain control.

The recommendation is to apply a 3- way herbicide or Atrazine (for centipede or St. Augustine grass only), once the small plants are up and growing this fall, when the herbicide will give good control.

Lawn burweed (Soliva sessilis) is another cool season annual weed that has generated calls of concern from homeowners this spring. This winter annual is the gift that keeps on giving. Burweed grows low to the ground in a mound of multiple stems of small, narrow green leaves. The insignificant flower grows in the joint between leaf and stem, and develops into a bur that is painful if walked on in bare feet. Although this weed is preparing to end its life cycle and die once temperatures hit 90 degrees, the burs will remain on the dead plant and will continue to cause painful footsteps for months to come.

Not to sound like a broken record, but the best way to manage this weed is to have healthy turfgrass which outcompetes burweed for water, light and nutrients. So, follow the soil sampling recommendations for trampweed (andconsider it a necessary step for any weed problem you may have). This weed will also be controlled with the herbicides and timing recommended for trampweed above.

Growing turfgrass in the Sandhills is no easy feat. It does take the regular application of lime and nutrients to keep turfgrass healthy. Especially this year with fertilizer prices on the rise, it will cost more money than usual to keep your lawn looking good. While burweed is one of those weeds you definitely want to keep out of your lawn, there’s no need to have a “perfect” lawn, a monoculture of turfgrass. These days, there is a lot of interest in having a “greener” lawn – and by green I’m not talking about the color, but about growing grass using fewer chemicals and water to create a more “earth friendly” lawn, one that has some flowering “weeds” that will attract pollinators or feed birds.

These are good goals, and I believe not incompatible with growing healthy turfgrass as well. There’s a balance in maintaining a yard that can be enjoyed by pets and children, is safe and healthy for them to play in, and encourages pollinators and other beneficial insects as well.