Garden Checklist

Today there is no "Garden Checklist" in the Fresno Bee.


"Lawn Burweed Spells Trouble for Pets"--by Elinor Teague (edited)

This picture shows how a burweed grows. It has insignificant flowers and each flower developes into a burr. These burs are quite sharp and stickery, and easily entangle themselves into pet fur. It is painful to walk on, even for the animals. This weed is fairly new to our area. The seeds sprout in the fall, late September and early October. The weeds stay fairly small and are semi-dormant through the winter. In February and March they start to grow rapidly. "The mature plants form a low-growing mat of small, finely-textured leaves, 3 to 4 inches high, that can spread to a foot or more in width." When temperatures go above 90', the weeds will die. The burrs themselves take a long time to decompose.

Treatment to prevent lawn burweed begins in the fall by applying pre-emergent. Burweed goes by many names, "spurweed, stickerweed, sandbur and sandspur", so check labels for these names or the botanical name, Soliva pterosperma. "Successful control for lawn burweed in turfgrasses may require several applications of a 'two-way or three-way' herbicide in the winter months. The herbicide should be formulated with a mixture of 2,4-D, MCPP and dicamba. These products will provide more effective control than 2,4-D alone."

ALWAYS, ALWAYS read the labels before using---know if children and pets need to keep their distance from any chemical applications.