Weeds Weeds Weeds

Is there a forum on weeds and how to deal with them? We have a new construction and I've never worried about the lawn before now. But our new lawn is in covered with weeds. From clovers to lots of unknown type too. We've use broad-spectrum weed killers and it killed all but one now. However that other one is taking over the lawn. Talk about screwed if you do and screwed if you don't. We thought about not watering the lawn but then the grass would die but if water, the weed grows faster than the grass. We are stump on what to do. We've even took the week to the local nursery and they couldn't tell us what it was. They did say that they think it's in the lily family. Any advice other than pulling each one out by hand? I mean we have like a small yard but to get them all by hand, we'd have to dig each out out due to their stupendous tap root. We mow it over but their tap root still keeps growing. And never mind the back yard. That's just a major nightmare right now. Help....

Can you post a picture? You can post here, or it's probably better to post it on the Plant Identification forum, someone there is sure to recognize it. Some weeds respond better than others to weedkillers--unfortunately, if you've already tried some things and they didn't work then you probably need something stronger, but the stronger stuff would probably kill your grass too. So I think there are two ways you can go--one would be to have some landscapers come in, strip off all the old grass that's there along with the weeds, put down some new topsoil, then lay some nice sod. That lets you start from scratch, but might cost more than you want to spend. Second approach is to hand-pull the weeds--if you water first, that'll make the taproot come up easier, but if you can't get it, then just spray some of your weedkiller onto the broken off stalk, that should get it penetrated to the roots quickly and it shouldn't come back. Even the weaker weed killers will be more effective if there's damaged tissue for them to absorb into. Sometimes they will come back anyway, but if you repeatedly pull/spray it, over time you'll weaken it to the point where it won't come back.

A picture would be the best way to help you identify the weed, there are several weeds that just love to ruin a nice lawn, however, IF as you say, the lawn itself is new, then you should try to avoid over use of chemical weed killers as these will weeken the grass roots and sheeths of grass, if you have too many weeds to pull out by hand, the short term solution is to go around and deadhead the weeds so they dont set seeds all over the grass, another way to try, is to deadhead, and as you do, have a container of full strength weed killer and a small narrow headed brush, as you deadhead, paint on the weedkiller to the weed leaves only, NOT THE GRASS, I cant think of a lily family member that has a very deep tap root, but could be wrong, if you do go paint the weedkiller onto the weed leaves, then try bruse the leaf just a little as this slight damage to the leaf will help get the weedkiller down to the roots faster, you should only need the smallest amount of killer on the brush, enough to just stroke the weed leaves and not let it drip onto the grass, because it has a large tap root, you may find it quite persistant and need to do the treatment several times, but this way is better than burning your whole lawn with excesive amounts of chemicals all over it. try send in a picture of the weed to help some others to come into the thread and can maybe help better than I can, if your lawn is new, then one can only assume that the soil must have had these weed seeds in it from the start, if you got the lawn laid for you, get back to the person who did the job and seek help/advice from them. Good luck. WeeNel.

I'll post a picture when I get home next week (on business trip right now). So far, we've use round-up last autumn and turf builder (with built-in weed control) this spring. All we suceeded in doing is killing everything but that weed and the grass. So far the grass seems okay even though we used weed killer on it te first year. We did add additional grass seeds after using the weed killer though. I think we just basically made things easier for this weed by killing off it's weed competitors... Poo.

I'll agree with posting the pic. I do lawn work.

Okay. I'm finally home. Here is a "few" pictures of the weed in question.. Any one know what this "devil" weed is? Tried everything but hand pulling so far... Okay we have hang pulled some out but there's just too many of them... Help............

another angle

baby one

more on the lawn

helpppppppppp

Did you find out any information about this weed? It is taking over my horse pastures

Oh jeez, I'll have to look it up - I see it in bare soil areas only around here. I know regular herbicides have worked on it.

Al

marestail?

lcosden, my advice would be to take your pictures down to your local county extention office and ask the County Extention Agent what in the world it is taking over your yard. I'm sure he/she's familar with it in your area.
If you seeded your new yard, the grass seed may have been contaminated with those buggers.
I am so sorry you've got this problem. I know how frustrating it can be. I'm dealing with a similar demon in my fishing pond.

county exention office? what's that?

I've asked our local nurseries and they are stumped. We've tried two different pesticides (Ortho Weed-B-Gone and Spectracide Weed Stop) and it killed everything else but left that plant. (Okay some of the other weeds are starting to make a comeback but they are mostly gone.) Anyone else have any ideas on what this is and how to kill it?

And I just want to say thank you for all those trying to help solve this mystery. My last hope before my DH spends a forture and re-do our yard. I'd rather use that money elsewhere like a terraced veggie garden...

Your Dutchess County - USDA Cooperative Extension Office is there to help solve these kinds of weed problems.

glyphosate resistant marestail or horseweed?

You may try one of those small propane torches

falling out of the chair... lollll... Great idea there. I can just see it now. My husband running behind me with the fire extingisher... lolll. His little pyro that loves to play with matches, candles and can't stop feeding the fireplace gets her paws on a propane torch. My DH would just love that. lolll...

Think I'll see about checking out Dutchess County - USDA Cooperative Extension Office and hope for the best. Who knows, some lawn guru might still yet show up and save the day..

i'm serious they sell them for that, i'm not sure what they are called. my dad's neighbor used one for the weeds. it should end them for good sort of like a mini prairie burn.

In the PNW~ we called them "flamethrowers!" LOL! And they really work wonders on persistent noxious weeds. Flamethrowers will extinguish many noxious weeds where roundup peters out! One caveat, scotchbroom was the only pesky weed that loved the flamethrower and kept on growing!!

I think that would burn out the lawn that's growing out between the weeds. It's only a few blade of grass there but then again I was trying to avoid re-doing the lawn again. Think that burn off the weeds (meaning the lawn) would also mean re-doing the lawn too. I was really hoping to avoid that.

Your photos look somewhat like young marestail. You might want to look at these and see what you think:

http://www.weedalert.com/weed_pages/wa_horseweed_marestail.htm

http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/cm/news/2005/marestail/

This might be it. Base on what I'm reading... Pesticide resistance, tap root, etc. Thanks. Based on what I'm reading, maybe need 5 rounds of pesticide applications to see any results.. Thanks again for the help.

Hi guy's I have had the weed marestail for years and believe me, blow torches, herbisides and other weed killers wont kill it off, it does'nt look like your picture, Mine looks like tiny Christmas trees, ancient times it was used as a scourer as in pan cleaner, it is prehistoric as in jurasic park stuff, I had my husband try to get to a root and he was down 2 1/2 feet and still root was deeper, it looks more like a weed that grows beside rivers and streems like a form of reed, I have the same thing growing within woodland where the soil gets quite damp in winter, but I cant remember the name, the flower stalks and flower is like little umberellas, anyway, I would say it was either imported with the soil or within the grass seed mix, dont add anymore weedkillers as if they are not working, you will kill off the new grass, will try remember the proper name unless someone else gets to you first, keep looking, WeeNel.

I think it's that marestail cuz the roots are just amazing. And they do look like small x-mas trees. We just keep mowing and trying to pull them out. We've pulled out two black trash bags of the little baby marestail weed.. And it's still grow too.. Since, we're on the road full time for work, everytime we go back, there's always more... And I think the proper name is Conyza Canadensis.

The roots of marestail are one single thread like root, black in colour and snap as soon as you almost touch them, the plant in the picture you sent looks like a young cornflower type plant, I am not saying it is a cornflower, but it is too fleshy for marestail, the marestail is a single very thin stem, has like little branches comming from it with a gap between each little branch, like on a christmas tree
But Marestail or horsetail is called (Equisetum Arvense)it spreads by spores that sit on the tip of the bare stem before any little branches form, after that, in spring, you find the stem and the little branches forming like a christamas tree, with spaces between the branches, there is no flower, needle thin and it grows in bare soil, not in grass, unless the soil was just taken over and sparce weed grass was growing. hope this helps you identify the true marestail or horse tail. if you are finding more weeds everytime you come back from a trip, then it deffinately aint marestail as it dont grow like that, whatever you have, you have an infestation of weed seeds, and marestail/horsetail dont have seeds. WeeNel.

i think they look different when they are young.

I think different people are talking about different mare's tails

Here is Conyza canadensis which lcosden mentioned: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54589/
And here is Equisetum arvense which WeeNel mentioned: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58185/

Ecrane, thanks once again, you came up trumphs as always, I owe Icosden
an appology, we are indead talking different plants, which all seem to have the same name, the weed I have, believe me, nothing will shift it, we have burned it, resorted to weed killer, pulled it and cant get rid, I have had to learn to live with it, I try my best to get out in spring before the spores get a chance to spread, but still it persists, so I just keep pulling it out, to be fair, I dont have it in my lawns, just flower borders, and when the perennels come up, they block it from view as they get taller, I have completely emptied all my borders several times and tried to dig it out, even husband had a go, he got as far down as 2 1/2 feet and still the root was further down, the one I have is said to be prehistoric, so guess it has been around for a while he he he, the trouble with the one I have has a thin root like nylon thread but it breaks very easy and if you leave bits in the soil, it seems to regrow as if from cuttings, also the roots eventually wind their way around tubers like Paeones and strangle them hence another reason why I try to empty and rearange the borders every so often, who said gardening was a pleasure and was good for you, they obviously did'nt have the marestail I have . Only kidding, I love my garden and being outdoors, thanks again, take care. Weenel.

No apologies needed.. My husband agrees with you. He doesn't think it's either.

Basically we have a new construction and this plant seems especially prevalent in our area.. All the non-tended fields are filled with this weed. I think that this plant was around before the house construction. So this was growing at the same time the lawn was being seeded. Think that they mowed over the area during the construction and it's just coming back now. And here are two more pictures and one with roots too.

Hi Icosden, Ecrane is correct, we are talking about 2 different plants with the same name, so please let me say a big sorry to you as I must have confused you no end, I do hope that you can get to grips with it before it flowers as it would appear that it is best to get it while it is still a very young plant and before it flowers., it is heartbreaking, but since it has been confirmed what it is, them hopefully you stand a better chance to treat it, good luck, hope all goes well, and if you can find a cure for MY horse tail/mares tail please, please beg, and beg more, let me know, so I can get rid. Good luck, WeeNel.

another view of these devil weeds.

Cricky Icosden, if I passes that in the garden centre I would think that was a wallflower, now we aint going there I know, he, he, he, but from the pic, it looks like it anyway. wish I could help, are the ones in the fields flowering yet, that might give a clue, but there again if it is the dreaded weed, it means that all the new seedheads will be blown over your way, ask your gov department to get whoever owns the field to get it sprayed or the weeds removed, tell them your alergic to it, or your granny cant visit as she trips over her feet when it's growing or better still, it is turning your husband into a sleepless wreck, oh if only life was that easy eh, good luck anyway, try not to get too stressed, easy to say from me a million miles away, take care, happy weeding. Weenel.

Have you tried posting this one on the ID forum yet? I bet you someone over there would know for sure what it is if it's not one of the plants that people have already suggested here.

I'll try the ID forums too.

There are literally fields and fields of it all over here.. And I think that our development was one of those fields before. People are literally churning and re-seeding their lawn in hope of killing the plants by churning up the dirt. These plants grow faster than grass. Other people have put down sod and looked great until these weeds popped up between the seams. It's been a nightmare here. What ever people do, it just keeps coming back. They all know that I'm try to find answers online so they've been asking me periodically about it. Nothing like a bit of pressure.

I don't think that asking the other field owners are going to help. They're just going to say that our community is surrounded by trees so the weeds can't be coming from their fields. I think that may also be true. I think that these are just the native weeds here before the land was developed.

Ok Icosden, if the whole neighbourhood is suffering the same as you, then why not sugest colectively, club together and get someone down to advise everyone how to tackle the problem, maybe even a groundsman from the local golf club, parks department, something like that, as if just one person gets fed up with all the work you are all doing and these weeds seed in that garden, then you are into a visious cycle, it really is heartbreaking for you all, try not to be put under presure as that will just upset you even more, maybe the gov deptment will be a good starting place as they should have a list of all the things that grow, good and bad, wish I could help you more, keep your chin up, someone somewhere will know this problem and at least you will know what you are dealing with, good luck, be thinking about you in your plight, WeeNel.

Hi Lindy, got your pm. It's not Conyza canadensis and it's not Equisetum arvense. I believe you have a Solidago there. I can't see any of the photos you sent me well enough to tell you which species but since you're in NY, google images for Solidago canadensis. If that doesn't match for you, try S. gigantea. I'm constantly pulling S. missouriensis around me.

There are over 10 of these that are a big pain in the butt and then there are the subspecies which can be hard to identify so if you get close, be happy. No need for chemicals at all. They put up a little bit of a fight but they succumb to hand pulling quite nicely. As far as what you have in the lawn, just mow it. Don't let it go to seed.

I don't think the solidagos enjoy a long seed bank life comparatively speaking. My guess is that lawns that have these popping up didn't use a pre-emergent such as corn gluten meal from an animal feed store (cheap). I use that stuff pretty religiously and low and behold these buggers (and others) find every spot I miss and every area where I forget to reapply it. Dispersal of Solidago spp. is mostly wind with most (note the word most not all) seeds taking root within 10' of the parent plant but as you can see, the seed can travel much farther than 10'. They're coming in on the wind unfortunately. Don't let them go to seed.

I googled the pictures for Goldenrod. It looks like Solidago doesn't have a deep tap root. The pictures I have are small little plants. These plants get to be over 3 feet tall and gets deep tap roots. I don't think I've seen any of the these plants in the wild flower either though. Any other ideas?

Ummm, Solidago has a deep tap root and the leaves on your plant are slightly toothed. I can go and pull one up and take a photo if you'd like, I need to waste a few anyway and the temps are way down today.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SOCA6&photoID=soca6_007_avd.tif

This better illustrates the leaves-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SOCA6&photoID=soca6_001_avd.tif

Here's a quick guide to identifying goldenrods-
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/docs/solidago.html