The subject says it all. This weed has invaded my beds and seems impossible to get rid of! There are spots in my grass where you can no longer see the grass any more. I put down a weed and feed, which I don't normally do, about a month ago, hoping it would help. Nothing seems to stop this devil. It was listed on the weed n feed bag as one of the noxious weeds it handles. I've hand pulled it from the beds and that took hours! It's creeping right back in even though I was careful to pull up the root system and throw them away. This is the first year that I've ever experienced such a major influx of the weed. Honestly, I don't recall ever seeing it in my yard before now. I have no idea how it wormed it's way in but it sure took over fast!
Dollar Weed - Anyone Know How to Get Rid Of It?
I was racking the oak leaves off of my grass today and found that this plant is taking over in spots. I have never seen it before in my yard either. The same qwuestion came to my mind today. We are both up late tonight.
htop - you've been in my prayers.....it's no wonder you can't sleep.
I have a night class on Wednesdays and can never seem to wind down afterwards. I sure do pay for it on Thursdays.
So, you have it too and it appeared this year? Wonder where this stuff came from?
knolan, Scott's Bonus S (if you have St Aug) seems to knock the majority of dollar weed right out after given a few days to work. What I recently found out, is that the off brand weed and feeds that are supposedly Bonus S equivalents don't do much to it for whatever reason.
So I switched back to the Scott's.
Just thought I'd mention this on the chance you used one of the off-brands.
Or you could dig up some and send it to CA where I understand they use it for their lawns............
Ann
Knolan, we have an acre of property and several years back, I ordered a load of sand and was shocked to see that it had the dollar weed in it. We used everything possible including Scott's. It did kill some of the weed, but it came back and literally covers the entire acre. If you only have a small amount, you might immediately call a professional to take a look at it. I have never had to contend with anything like it before. It spreads rapidly by it's long white runner roots and by seed. I would think that it is also spread by birds. I had also heard that they use it in CA; thanks for that confirmation, Ann. It is gradually killing out all our St. Augustine. DH put out the weed & feed, and it killed one of our Yew trees, so you have to be very careful of the run-off. I would never ever give anyone a plant from my yard because of it, so that will have to be only cuttings and seeds. I wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy. It likes moist areas and hot sun. Some of the roots here are thicker than a pencil in diameter. Good luck; if you find any product that controls it, please let me know.
Carol
Thanks for all the advice. Yes, I did use an off brand. It was the Ace brand. Geez.....don't know what I'm gonna do.
Please don't yell at me for the suggestion, but have you considered having it instead of grass, or does that just not interest you? It's green, stays low -- you know, a decent groundcover and pretty reliable! It is taking over my ditch and I'm happy as a lark about it.
I won't yell!!!! LOL. Ya know, it isn't an ugly weed...it's just taken over. The biggest problem I have is how it doesn't take any time to get into my flower beds.
What to do, what to do.
Whew. Thanks. It IS invasive. Most of my garden beds are raised and I keep an eye on the stuff to keep it from creeping over, but I don't know if/when it will get out of hand. I just get tired of trying to establish stuff that doesn't seem to want to grow, when this stuff seems to be very eager to please me! A couple of years from now I may be screaming "What was I THINKING!?!?!?!?!"
I don't worry about it, normally when the grass gets going strong the dollar weed will decrease. As for the flower beds a nice thick mulch will keep it from taking hold, and it it does get in it makes it very easy to pull.
Can you spray it with a broadleaf killer?
Kristy...those plants you were going to give me?.....never mind lol
Hahahahaha. Luckily, it's not in my pots or my seedlings. Somehow, it hasn't made it's way to the backyard yet, either.
Thanks, Josephine, the beds out front are mulched pretty good and it still got in there. I found a lot of if under last years mulch too. I had to rake a lot of the mulch out of the beds to remove it.
Brigidlilly - who knows.....you may be starting a new trend!
Actually, I saw it at Lowes in a pot- they listed it as a ground cover. I put it in the buggy as a joke on Dave (I'm battling it too in a couple of areas). I thought he was going to have a heart attack :)
Haha, doesn't Dichondra kind of look like Dollar weed? I don't know if I could tell the difference unless they were next to each other.
OMG - they're really selling it as a ground cover? Maybe it really is a new trend. Think I would have been close to a heart attack too.
knolan, thanks for your prayers. I sure know how difficult it can be to shut your mind off in order to go sleep. I believe I had read years ago that dollar weed was tested out in the U.S. as a lawn grass replacement but it required too much water to keep it looking good.
I wonder what it looks like in full our summer droughts. That would be the test.
Just think: you could pot up all your dollar weed and sell it to unsuspecting people passing thru! Some of us would be rich in a couple of hours if you could convince people to buy that - and I mean that in more ways than one.
Ann
never heard of it but grass in 34 yrs. never grows in back tried all kinds. big back yard this might be for me whats it look like?
no picture in plant files but positve says good so pretty ect.
This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 6:47 PM
This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 6:50 PM
I am not sure i got all the thread, but I use Preen on any ground i don't want weeds on.....it doesn't kill weeds, it just prevents most any weed from coming back....Walmart usually carries the great big bags or you can buy a big container of it at Lowe's for 9.95
So, I agree with Hope, I might have it but don't know it... Got a picture of it?
Hi Pod!
Here it is:
http://www.weedalert.com/weed_pages/wa_dollarweed.htm
Bettygail - do you put Preen on your grass?
Just found this on it too....
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/1999/asian/pennywort.html
interesting.
I got that stuff too. Hmmmm.. eat two leaves a day for arthritis. Bet we could bottle it and sell it!
Preen works by preventing germination of seed, so I'm not so sure how helpful it would be in the case of dollar weed (which is not an annual weed here - and comes back from the root). To kill dollar weed (in grass, w/o killing the grass), a broadleaf weed killer is generally used.
You know....I just might have introduced this stuff myself. A few years ago I was all into herbs (still am) but when I was just starting I would plant any herb I could get my hands on. This was way before Dave's and before I knew anything at all about gardening. I'm wondering if I didn't buy this because I had seen it in an herb book and thought I'd add it to my collection. Banging head on computer screen right now. I'll just bet that that's what I did. Sounds like something I would do.
But, yes, if it's good for arthritis....hmmmm.....$$$$ potential? Hahaha. Okay, I'll eat two leaves tomorrow and a few days afterwards and report back on my hips. Hope it tastes good. I wouldn't be able to eat it all if I lived to be 200.
Kristi ~ I have got to say I suspect some of this stuff comes in some of the potting soils....??!?
I'd bet that you're right on that.
Hope...I'll happily send you as much as you would like.
My husband just said I can get a goat. Wonder if the HOA would be okay with that.
My guess knolan, your HOA would have a cow if you got a goat, lol. Then WHO would be in violation?? Huh?? LOL.
Fortunatly this "Dollarweed, Pennywort", (I call 'Mouse Ears") has only grown in places I haven't utilized yet. I was thinking..Oo..When I get to that section I could put some black weedblock cloth over it and then new soil.,,only cutting through for the plants I want there.
Could anyone here comment on what I could expect doing this? I rather not use chemicals of any kind back there.. (Too close to the Wildlife Garden areas to use them, if it can be avoided.)
I might experiment until then. Wondering also how well the Dollarweed would choke out other more seedy weeds? Hummm
Deb
I like dollarweed because I'm generally crazy about "round" leaves on any kind (nasturiums,geraniums, sea grapes,ligularia come to mind). In areas where I really don't like the way dollarweed looks or there is too much of it, I use broadleaf killer w/ great success.
But also, it seems that regular/frequent mowing seems to do the job and that is all we do in areas where it is less visible or annoying.
I did attend a lecture once where this landscape designer said people were silly for spending $$ (then constantly mowing) St Augustine and that we should just let whatever grows be our lawn material. I don't know if I agree or disagree with this person, but I never forgot her comment on this matter. Also, I understand she was never invited back--must have gotten bad reviews.
Finally, when I initially spent big bucks on St Augustine, I was known to get on my knees and handpick weeds. Then I started adding plants which attracted birds, and as bird population increases, so have the seeds/germination of goodness knows what seeds. So over time, I've decided good cultural practices are good for desirable plants as well as undesireable plants, so figthing weeds is sort of a losing battle. I fight them some, but no longer get on my knees picking any weeds.
Voss, you have D-Mail.
Carol
Does anyone sell seeds i would throw bushel of it out. i have huge back yard has been dirt for 34 35 yrs before me was yard full cars..i have tried lots lots grass seed even plug all kinds. no grass if this woul i would love it. and may be good medcinal herb to..
Twyla
"Herbicide Use:
Use a postemergent broadleaf herbicide appropriately labeled for the turfgrass species. For optimum control, make your herbicide application when pennywort (dollarweed) is actively growing and in the one leaf to flower stage of growth."
Well, at least now I know what's spreading in the lawn. On top of this,
I've also got clover. :o(
Debnes, think twice before you put that weedcloth down. I put down newspapers, many many layers to keep grass out of a bed I was making. For about 6 months everything looks really good. Then I saw a blade of grass. I started digging and discovered that the grass was growing like wildifire under that newspaper and just didn't come up. So by the time I knew I had a problem, it was a big problem. I think the weed cloth would do the same thing unless it didn't let water in. That's not good either for the plants. And when you do go to pull out the grass you tear up your weedcloth. I had to shread my newspaper layers to clean out the grass.
I'm battling this stuff too. I've applied Scott's Weed and Feed for Southern Lawns which is supposed to kill dollar grass. I've put the Scott's on twice this spring already and the dollar grass is thick and green with no signs of dieing. If anyone finds anything that will kill this stuff short of a nuclear attack, please let me know. I've been keeping it hand dug out of the flower beds so far, but I'm rapidly loosing that battle too. The underground runners take root at every leaf axil, so when I pull, one leaf and part of the runner comes off and I now have two plants instead of one. Short of digging up the entire lawn and starting over, I'm lost as to what to do. It's covering a good 10 x 10 foot patch of the front lawn and the St. Augustine is almost gone in that space.
Also have a good growth of this plague on the south side of the house. For the most part in my forty years of tending this same plot of ground I have found that when the grass (St. Augustine is cut high (2 1/2-3"s) I have very little problem with anything considered a weed.
A little early this year for that kind of growth in the grass but have seen it work on many weeds more obnoxious than dollarweed. Have read in the past that it tends to seek low, wet places. I'll let you know how things are going in a couple of weeks as the grass gets higher. Best part....seems no other weeds grow where this plant is.....only have one problem to deal with instead of multiples. Don't care for chemicals for weeds or bugs just let nature guide. (Who decided that dollarweed was a weed and not a desirable ground cover?)
I love all of the differing opinions here.
Beautiful lawn, Lou!
twyla, chances are the soil is poisoned from the cars. I'd slowly work at feeding it for a while, and then maybe broadcast a wildflower mix. Good luck!