How to get rid of sand spurs. While various species of sand spurs have adapted to numerous biomes around the globe, one thing that links all varieties is their reputation for producing burrs.
The seeds of these spiny wildflowers are notorious for getting stuck in hair and skin, which can cause an itchy or painful rash. The burrs can also get stuck to clothing and gear.
If you want to make your yard a comfortable place to be without getting pricked by these pesky plants, read on for tips from the pros on how to keep sand spurs at bay.
How to get rid of sand spurs
The best approach to controlling sand spurs is with a timely post-emergence herbicide treatment in late May or early June when the sandworms are about two inches high, actively growing, and after your lawn has greened up.
Using a post-emergence herbicide with the active ingredient of maroquin is safe for all existing grasses.
Remove the sand spurs by hand
This is a great first step in ridding your garden of a rambunctious weed such as bindweed. If you spot smaller patches of bindweed in your lawn or garden, this might be the best method to get rid of them.
However, this action is not the most effective one if your garden is already having a rich growth of this problematic plant. For large areas infested with bindweed, mow it down with a lawnmower as soon as possible.
Gloves and thick gardening gloves will also protect your hands from getting nicked by the sharp spines that grow on this particularly pernicious weed. You can water the area in question before you yank out these plants to make the task easier.
Gather all parasitic weeds and dry spurs safely into brown leaf bags until the desirable conditions are right for their removal or disposal.
Watering and mowing regularly
It’s important to take all of the precautions you can to prevent sand spur from causing you problems once it’s gone. Regular watering will discourage the growth of this weed.
Weeds grow in hot and dry environments, so if your area receives any water then it is probably already soaked in moisture. It’s important not to overwater anything that directly surrounds the plant because damp and cool spaces tend to attract more of these hapless weeds.
Generally speaking, one should mow the grass once a week or even daily if they have time but remember to never let it grow longer than 4 inches tall so as not to encourage any new sand spur growth.
Using a mower with a clippings catcher
If you spot growing sand spurs, it’s a good idea to get a lawnmower which is going to prove to be significantly more efficient at dealing with that problem than pulling out the spurs one by one.
Ideally you are best off trying to find one in the high price range because its built-in catcher of clippings will prove useful not only when it comes to saving you a lot of time and effort but also saving space as well as any future problems with pests or weeds.
Fertilize with nitrogen
Sand spurs are a perennial weed species that can be quite difficult to get rid of. These weeds sprout in a wide range of soils, but they prefer low levels of nitrogen, so adding fertilizer will help prevent them from growing.
Applying one pound of nitrogen fertilizer for every 1,000 square feet should keep your lawn weed-free; this works out to about 4 pounds for a typical ¼ acre lot.
( Alternatively, you can buy mulch.) During the spring you’ll have better luck using this product as sand spur seeds are just getting germinated.
Use eco-friendly herbicides
Corn gluten meal is an organic pre-emergent herbicide that can inhibit the germination of sand spur seeds. However, you should be very careful about the timing you apply. It is not useful to control sand spur weeds once they have their root systems in place.
In most cases, corn gluten meal is applied during the summer months as clover can easily re-grow roots if there isn’t a decent amount of sunlight and heat for it to grow up under.
Special care must be taken if choosing to apply a pre-emergent herbicide, as it could inhibit other plants from growing after the fact if not applied correctly. Evenly spread 20 pounds of corn gluten meal using a rotary spreader per 1000 sq ft.
The post-emergent herbicide
Even when you use beneficial insects and mulches, it can still take time to get rid of the sand spur weeds. This is why a post-emergent herbicide may be your last resort if everything else doesn’t work.
We recommend only using post-emergent on other plants that aren’t fussy – like bush beans, they don’t mind being sprayed with a strong herbicide and will still grow healthily.
You should avoid spraying anything you don’t want to get instantly incinerated, so it’s far better not to spray them on any shady place or on your dahlias.
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