Stop Sticker Problems Now!

Spurweed or lawn burweed

   Every June people call about sticker weeds in their yards and what can they spray. I tell them: Sorry, it’s too late. This weed is lawn burweed (also called spurweed), but is more commonly called sticker weed due to the cluster of tiny seeds with spines on it. At maturity these seeds stick into tender flesh of bare feet, knees, hands, or whatever parts of the body that may come in contact with them.


   Lawn burweed is a low-growing, freely branched winter annual having leaves similar in appearance to tiny carrot leaves. This weed usually germinates in the early fall months, and remains very small, and inconspicuous in the lawn over the winter. As temperatures warm in the spring, it grows rapidly, flowers, and forms seed with a small spur or spine in the leaf axil junction.


   If you did not apply a preemergent herbicide this past fall to control winter annual weeds, and you had lawn burweed in your lawn last summer, then you most likely will have them again this year.

   But there is something you can do now. The trick to eliminating the spiny sticker problem is to control the weed before the spur is formed. If you wait to control the weed after the spur is formed, you can kill the plant, but the spiny sticker will still be there waiting for unsuspecting bare feet or hands.


   To control this weed in lawns, (that have not been over-seeded with a cool season grass) several herbicides are recommended. The ideal time to apply is from December to March, preferably on days with temperatures of 60 degrees F or warmer. The earlier in the season you apply the weed-killer, the easier this weed is to control.


   The following homeowner-labeled herbicides will control this weed and numerous other winter weeds. Choose one of them and mix it at the recommended rate in one gallon of water and spray over a 1000 square feet area: Atrazine @ 1.5 ounces, Weed B Gone @ 3 ounces, Ferti-Lome Weed Free Zone @ 1.5 ounces, 2,4D @ 1.5 ounces, Bayer Advanced Southern Weed killer @ 2 ounces, Trimec @ 2 ounces, or Spectracide Weedstop 2 @ 2 ounces.

   If the clumps have gotten large or the weather is too cool, two applications might be necessary. Wait 10 – 14 days after the first application to make the second one. Do not apply these herbicides around the drip-line of trees or in flowerbeds.


   Timely application of one of these herbicides will eliminate or greatly reduce this ‘sticky’ problem. You can be better prepared next year if you apply a preemergent weed killer next October. Contact your local extension office for a copy of P1322 Establish and Manage Your Home Lawn that contains a list of preemergent herbicides to control this weed.

Mayhaw Spray Alert!

Cedar-apple rust on mayhaw

Spring is springing early this year. Mayhaw trees are leading the way in early blooms. Early bloom is the time to start spraying for cedar-apple rust especially if you had it in previous years.

The only home-owner product labeled to control this disease is Spectracide Immunox (myclobutanil). This fungicide needs to be sprayed every 7 to 10 days but stopped 14 days before harvest.

Keep a vigilant spray program to prevent this disease of robbing you of that wonderful tasting mayhaw jelly!

Caring for Valentine's Day Bouquets

   Were you one of the fortunate ones the received a bouquet of roses or other cut flowers for Valentine’s Day? Here are a few tips will help your flowers last longer, maybe even a few weeks!

   First, recut the stems at least 1 inch shorter than when you got them. Use a sharp knife and cut at a 45-degree angle. Immediately submerge the stems in warm water. Even better is to cut the stems while they are under water.


   Be sure and strip off any leaves that would otherwise be immersed in the vase water. Add a packet of flower preservative to the water. Often this comes with the bouquet. If not, you can purchase these from a florist or from the floral sections of some discount stores. If you do not have or cannot find the floral preservative packets, change the water daily in the vase.

   Avoid displaying your bouquet in a hot room or in direct sunlight. You can make your bouquet last even longer is to put the whole thing, into the refrigerator every night before you go to bed and then take it out in the morning. Putting the bouquet in a cooler part of the house will work to some degree as well.

   Remember, cut flower bouquets do not last forever, so take a picture of you and your bouquet so the memories will last long after the flowers have faded. Or you can press a few of the flowers between pages of newspaper to dry them. They might not be as colorful but the will be a reminder of the good times.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Saucer Magnolia

It's hard to believe it is Groundhog Day.  The weather is so spring-like.  The saucer magnolia is in full bloom.  Enjoy them now cause we have 6 more weeks of winter.  The average last frost date for the Meridian area is around April 6.

Forsythia are also in full bloom.  And buds are swelling on everything.  If the weather does not cool to normal soon, there is going to be a lot of freeze damage on landscape and fruit crops this year.