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Control Burweed in Your Lawn Before it Becomes a Sticky Situation [Image: burweed] [Image: burweed mixed with clover] When springtime arrives and the lawn is getting lush and green, the temptation arises to kick off our shoes and step barefoot on the warm grasses. That's okay until we happen to step on a patch of "stickers." Unfortunately by then, the time to get rid of them has almost past because the weed has completed its growing cycle. The best time to get rid of these pesky "stickers" is in December, January and February; or in other words -- right now! The weed in question is most commonly called lawn burweed (Soliva pterosperma). Other names for this weed are spurweed and stickerweed. Lawn burweed is a winter annual member of the Aster family. The weed germinates throughout thin turf in the fall months as temperatures cool. It remains small or inconspicuous during the cold winter months. However, as temperatures warm in the early spring, or about the same time as spring sports activities begin (such as t-ball and softball), lawn burweed initiates a period of rapid growth and begins to form spine-tipped burs in the leaf axil. It is the fruit or seed that produces the painful bur. Here are some key identification characteristics of lawn burweed:     1.    opposite, sparsely hairy leaves that are divided into numerous segments     2.    small, inconspicuous flowers     3.    spine-tipped burs that are found in the leaf axil (junction of leaf and stem) Early to mid February appears to be the ideal time to use a postemerge herbicide on burweed before it forms the spine-tip burs on the leaf axil. It's also good to have two sprayers. Label one sprayer  "for herbicide use only." The other sprayer can be used for spraying fungicides and insecticides. This will eliminate the chance of accidently using a sprayer that has been used to spray a herbicide, which can damage or kill the plant being sprayed. Applications should be repeated on 10-to-14-day intervals for best control of burweeds. Good control of emerged lawn burweed is achieved by using one of these herbicides:  2, 4-D, atrazine, Dicamba, Weed-B-Gon, Trimec, Spectracide, Bayer Advanced Weed Stop,Southern Weed Killer for lawns and other 3-way or 4-way laawn herbicides. Make sure you read the manufacturer's label on directions of use.  For more information on the use of herbicides on warm season grasses, contact  your local county agent's office or go to lsuagcenter.com.

Last Updated: 2/15/2009 10:36:17 PM