Sticker weeds can be such a menace, especially since they’re lethally invasive.
As the name suggests, these weeds are sticky and sharp. They can easily stick on your clothes and, worse, scratch or puncture your skin.
If there’s one thing that’s for certain about sticker weeds, it’s that they’re truly so sickening that no one will dare stand them. Often, the immediate course of action is to get rid of them as soon as you notice they’re in your yard.
Some people control sticker weeds by applying strong herbicides, which kill them almost in an instant. Some opt to dig them out by hand or with gardening tools.
Still, others use natural weed controls that are lethal to the weed but less harmful to the grass hence keeping the structure of the landscape intact.
In this guide, you’ll learn more about the types of sticker weeds, the way to identify them, and the possible control measures that you can take to control them.
Let’s get started.
Contents
What are Sticker Weeds Exactly?
We’ll look at the types of sticker weeds, the way to identify them, and the control measures to take later in this guide.
For now, it’s important that you understand exactly what sticker weeds are.
By definition, sticker weeds are a group of weed plants with sharp pines that easily stick on clothes. Although they can grow in any soil type, sticker weeds thrive well in moist soils with lawn or turf grass.
It’s important to note that sticker weeds don’t grow throughout the year. Often, they’ll start to grow in the cooler season, and then develop fully when the weather gets hot.
What are the Different Types of Sticker Weeds?
Grass stickers, caltrop, puncture vine, bur weed, lawn burs, bur clove plants, goat head, yellow vine, and field sandbur sticker plants are the different types of sticker weeds.
It’s important to note that many of these terms do refer to the same thing, or plants have a closer link to each other.
How do you Identify Sticker Weeds?
The first step to control sticker weeds is to know exactly how they look like. Often, the best way to identify the weeds is by looking closely at their physical characteristics.
More often than not, sticker weeds have bright green, lobbed leaves arranged opposite each other on the stem. In addition to their hairy appearance, these weeds are also sticky and sharp and can therefore stick on your clothes and even pierce through your skin.
Categorized as low-growing plants, sticker winds tend to branch out once they mature. And, in the process, they’ll produce small flowers that develop into seeds. Although the seeds from the flowers are difficult to spot, they’ll mostly have a hard coating and sharp pines that you can easily feel on your skin.
Also read: What herbicide kills weeds but not Bermuda
How to Get Rid of Sticker Weeds Fast
Sticker weeds are perhaps the most stubborn types of unwanted plants, especially since they can be difficult to control once they attack your grass.
But just because they can be difficult to control doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get rid of them. Here are some effective solutions that you can use to control these types of weeds.
1. Mechanical Control
Pulling the sticker weeds is one way to control them, especially if they’re concentrated on a small area of the lawn. While mechanical control is effective to a great degree, manually removing the weed does require some hard work.
You can get rid of the weeds manually by:
Puling by Hands
If sticker weeds haven’t spread to a great extent, or you notice that they’re concentrated only to a small area, then it should be easy to remove them by the means of hand pulling.
- Wear gardening gloves to protect your hands from the sticker weeds. You can get gloves if you don’t have a pair yet.
- Hold the weeds by the center and pull in a single swift movement so that the roots come out with ease.
You can pull the weeds stickers at any time of the day, but we do recommend doing so in the early mornings when the soil is moist at least.
Also read: Top-rated utility carts for garden tractor
Using Gardening Tools
We find pulling weed by hand quite tiresome by any gardening standards. So unless you’re fine with that type of mechanical control, you should consider using a gardening tool to dig up the weed in the lawn.
2. Use Herbicides to Control Sticker Weeds
If you have sticker weeds spread out to a wide area in your yard, mechanical control won’t be a child’s play. That’s because it can take days or even weeks to pull the weeds by hand. It’s for that reason that using herbicides could be the most effective way to control sticker weeds, particularly if you don’t wish to spend a lot of time on the job.
Herbicides are a combination of chemical compounds with the effective power to not only kill sticker plants but also prevent their propagation.
Understand that the type of herbicide you choose matters. Many people prefer to use pre-emergent solutions because they target the sticker weeds while they’re still young or before they sprout, therefore controlling their emergence and spread.
The best pre-emergent herbicides are those that contain Benefin and Oryzalin chemicals.
A good and effective example of an herbicide that we strongly recommend is Roundup. It’s a versatile type of herbicide that can kill the different sticker weeds discussed in this guide, especially the most common ones such as bur weed.
One of the best things about Roundup is that it’s selective in kind. In other words, the solution will kill the weeds without affecting your grass and therefore leave your lawn in good condition.
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There’s no type of sticker weeds that’s of use in your yard. So you need to take the necessary measures to control them fast. You can control the weeds manually or use selective herbicides.
