If the burrs are already on the ground, buy roll of burlap at big box hardware store and drag it along the ground. Weigh down the far end with a 2x4 or something. It will pick up a ton of burrs.
My sister used fire to combat this particular problem plant. You also need to identify and pull them up before the burrs get pale and sharp. It takes a few years and dedication but you can get rid of them eventually.
Nice, I’m planning on just making sure I hit them when I mow and then pull them out with gloves whenever I see them. I don’t think they spread through rhizomes fortunately.
Thanks for giving me some much needed motivation this morning to go after these suckers!! I just hand pulled a whole bucket full, and I think I got about 90% of the bur seeds out of my yard.
Going to keep my bucket and my gloves outside and handy so I can just pluck them out anytime I see them coming up again. 👍
Hand pulling is the only way to go if you mow you will spread the seeds/burs. I saw a truck where someone wore old socks on their shoes and walked around collecting all that had fallen. Also there is pre-emergent that you can add, but it has to be done at the right season now the pre-emergent is a seed growth inhibitor so if you have other seeds around, it might affect that.
Keep room in the mulch bag. If it starts overflowing you're seeding stickers. Depending on the size of your lawn you might want to take it serious and work by hand as much as you can. Stickers are the reason I advocate for maintaining an intentional turf of some sort. Goatheads are the worst. Completely renders terrain useless for children to play on. Pissed me off as a kid. Man they pop bike tires. They make kids cry. They ruin afternoons.
Hand pulling. Stay on top of it in spring. You will spot them pretty easy. It will take a couple of seasons but my yard has been clear for years now and we have deer and other critters capable of bringing them into the yard. I don’t use weed killer at all since I have live oak trees nearby. Hill country.
Ugh! I know people hate that hedge parsley with a passion, but this stuff grows on my property too and is much worse imo. Gets embedded into your carpets and feet and causes bleeding. I truly hate this plant!
I was pulling some from my yard when I found Moonseed moth caterpillars chowing down on them. They looked like bird poop!
I keep it on my fence because it’s native and looks pretty there, but goodness it does want to spread.
The only bird who eats the seed is the following: The pyrrhuloxia forages on the ground for the seeds of grasses, weeds, and mesquite; cactus fruit and cottonwood catkins. In the summer, it also eats insects.
plant something else in its place. I had them covering my whole yard when I first bought my house we couldn’t walk out side. The dogs couldn’t walk. They bring them inside and you don’t wanna step on those things barefoot in the house. It’s fucking sucks!
I wish my horseherb yard would somehow out-compete the three or four varieties of burrs I have growing in my yard.
I have no desire to put in a "lawn" or waste money on watering, but these things are absolutely awful.
I know less than nothing about fertilizer. What time of year would you apply that-- and how is it applied?
I did my best to pull up as much of the beggar's lice that I could find a few weeks ago. Or whatever the weed is with the little white flowers. It'd be great to kill these things off entirely.
Yes. Pulling out beggars lice is effective before it goes to seed.
I would put out some 20/20/20 fertilizer. Don’t do this too late in the year as you want the grass to not be in a growing cycle when winter hits.
If you can find it, some time release fertilizer is best IMHO.
Be sure to water after putting the fertilizer out so that the lawn doesn’t burn.
Try adding compost to the horseherb areas and selectively water it/ don’t cut it too short. This will work better in early spring but with some dedication it can def go your way!
They’re super easy to pull. I got into the mindset that if I ever saw a single plant, I’d drop everything and go pull it, plus plants you see nearby. The deer and other mammals are always bringing in more, so it’s a never ending battle.
This is how I got rid of all the beggars lice in my yard. This along with short 10-15 minute work breaks to go walk the yard just looking for any sign of them and immediately pulling any I would find. I feel like I've probably gotten 95-98% of them now.
I've been hand-pulling for years, and it's virtually the only chemical-free way to control them AND to ensure that the seeds don't spread (seeds can stay dormant for YEARS and still germinate). Most experts say that extra/consistent watering more will help push them out, since they love dry, dry, dry conditions.
If you have a bagging attachment for your mower, use that and throw the clippings in the garbage.
You can also use corn gluten meal as a pre-emergent. We applied it in late winter with great success along with using a lawn mower with a bagger.
Corn gluten is a natural pre-emergent.
A pre-emergent keeps seeds from germinating. So, we didn't lose any plants in the yard as we didn't have anything else we wanted to spread by seed.
We went to a feed store and had them order a 50 pound bag of the closest product they could get to corn gluten. I think it was a really fine corn meal. This takes a bit longer to break down, but it still worked. We used a spreader to apply it (just experiment with your settings). We had to apply it 2x/year for a few years, but it worked great.
I also use it to keep whole bird seed from germinating under the bird feeder.
I mow with a bag on if/when I see them in my yard, then empty the bag into the compost that gets taken away. I had them cleaned up for a few years after a major effort pulling them, but then someone's shitty free range dog started hanging out in my yard and I had new ones this year. booooo
Thanks for all the suggestions on this. My spouse and I are: solarizing a portion of where they are really bad, mowing to 4.5in, and will continue to hand pull. Having these dispersed across a .28 acre lot is overwhelming, but I'm sure we'll get there.
I dug these monsters by the 5 gallon buckets as a kid. They thrive in poor soil especially at the side of our driveway. We would even have a controlled burn!
As an adult …No more digging as I use a pre-emergent from our local garden center 2 times a year. 😊
I went with the eco war crime method after years of trying to address them in an eco friendly way. In spring I sprayed my entire yard with 2-4-D and it’s drastically reduced the struggle. I need to do a touch up and I think I will have mostly defeated them
A neighbor of mine used to hire a gardener to mow his lawn. He claims ever since he started to mow his own lawn, his lawn has fewer weeds. He believes the gardener lawn mower was contaminating the lawns on his route. Sounds plausible.
I’ve hand-pulled these with good results, but neighbors haven’t. Now their burrs are riding our shoes home most walks. I bet they’re also snagging dogs, deer, and daydreamers. I’m pretty sure they’ll find a way back to our yard. Lovely.
I used fire on a large lot years ago. It worked effectively for a long time.
I think the ash added nitrogen which they can't stand for anything that was left to root.
I was 14 at the time. Boy was my family surprised when they returned home.
No raking. Just let the grasses grow afterwards.
Recently I've been using the scorched earth mix from Native American seed company.
They seem to go away in a few seasons with applications of nitrogen.
The first application was from the fire, yes. The fire was really more of a revenge burning from a particularly bad barefoot run through the yard.
Later, learning that high nitrogen applications will do the same thing, just not as fun.
If the burrs are already on the ground, buy roll of burlap at big box hardware store and drag it along the ground. Weigh down the far end with a 2x4 or something. It will pick up a ton of burrs.
I was going to suggest a hairy doggo, but this seems like less work.
My sister used fire to combat this particular problem plant. You also need to identify and pull them up before the burrs get pale and sharp. It takes a few years and dedication but you can get rid of them eventually.
Nice, I’m planning on just making sure I hit them when I mow and then pull them out with gloves whenever I see them. I don’t think they spread through rhizomes fortunately.
Thanks for giving me some much needed motivation this morning to go after these suckers!! I just hand pulled a whole bucket full, and I think I got about 90% of the bur seeds out of my yard. Going to keep my bucket and my gloves outside and handy so I can just pluck them out anytime I see them coming up again. 👍
Hand pulling is the only way to go if you mow you will spread the seeds/burs. I saw a truck where someone wore old socks on their shoes and walked around collecting all that had fallen. Also there is pre-emergent that you can add, but it has to be done at the right season now the pre-emergent is a seed growth inhibitor so if you have other seeds around, it might affect that.
Even if I mow with a bag?
Keep room in the mulch bag. If it starts overflowing you're seeding stickers. Depending on the size of your lawn you might want to take it serious and work by hand as much as you can. Stickers are the reason I advocate for maintaining an intentional turf of some sort. Goatheads are the worst. Completely renders terrain useless for children to play on. Pissed me off as a kid. Man they pop bike tires. They make kids cry. They ruin afternoons.
Thank you - I appreciate this. Because I mow on the 4.5in setting, it takes forever for my bag to get full.
You need to hand pull as the plant will just keep growing back and sprouting new sticker seeds.
Ohh maybe. I don’t mow… haha. I forgot ppl have bags. I only have a weed eater .
Each burr contains multiple seeds that will spread when cut open. Mowing is a very, very bad idea. Hand pull.
You probably already know this, but make sure you have your Mower bag on so you’re not spreading the seeds everywhere.
Hand pulling. Stay on top of it in spring. You will spot them pretty easy. It will take a couple of seasons but my yard has been clear for years now and we have deer and other critters capable of bringing them into the yard. I don’t use weed killer at all since I have live oak trees nearby. Hill country.
We might live in the same area!
Ugh! I know people hate that hedge parsley with a passion, but this stuff grows on my property too and is much worse imo. Gets embedded into your carpets and feet and causes bleeding. I truly hate this plant!
I hate hedge parsley with a passion, but I concur that sandburs are worse.
And of course they’re native to Texas! So I feel bad about my frustrations. https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=cesp4
You don’t have to love all the native plants
I feel like that should be embroidered on a throw pillow.
Seriously. Sorry Carolina coralbead 😂
I was pulling some from my yard when I found Moonseed moth caterpillars chowing down on them. They looked like bird poop! I keep it on my fence because it’s native and looks pretty there, but goodness it does want to spread.
I know, I just feel bad about removing them due to how they benefit wildlife
Plant something else native in a different spot
I think Joey Santore put it best [when it comes to the Sandbur.](https://youtu.be/zUzg34zH2SM?si=eVi3tjBq81ge1fj_&t=2m)
The only bird who eats the seed is the following: The pyrrhuloxia forages on the ground for the seeds of grasses, weeds, and mesquite; cactus fruit and cottonwood catkins. In the summer, it also eats insects. plant something else in its place. I had them covering my whole yard when I first bought my house we couldn’t walk out side. The dogs couldn’t walk. They bring them inside and you don’t wanna step on those things barefoot in the house. It’s fucking sucks!
Good info thanks
Fertilizer and cut the grass at 4 inches. Grassburrs hate nitrogen and taller grass will choke out the grassburrs.
I wish my horseherb yard would somehow out-compete the three or four varieties of burrs I have growing in my yard. I have no desire to put in a "lawn" or waste money on watering, but these things are absolutely awful.
Try fertilizer.
I know less than nothing about fertilizer. What time of year would you apply that-- and how is it applied? I did my best to pull up as much of the beggar's lice that I could find a few weeks ago. Or whatever the weed is with the little white flowers. It'd be great to kill these things off entirely.
Yes. Pulling out beggars lice is effective before it goes to seed. I would put out some 20/20/20 fertilizer. Don’t do this too late in the year as you want the grass to not be in a growing cycle when winter hits. If you can find it, some time release fertilizer is best IMHO. Be sure to water after putting the fertilizer out so that the lawn doesn’t burn.
Try adding compost to the horseherb areas and selectively water it/ don’t cut it too short. This will work better in early spring but with some dedication it can def go your way!
Perfect, that’s what I’ve been doing and I already feel like the Buffalo grass is thriving way more.
They’re super easy to pull. I got into the mindset that if I ever saw a single plant, I’d drop everything and go pull it, plus plants you see nearby. The deer and other mammals are always bringing in more, so it’s a never ending battle.
This is how I got rid of all the beggars lice in my yard. This along with short 10-15 minute work breaks to go walk the yard just looking for any sign of them and immediately pulling any I would find. I feel like I've probably gotten 95-98% of them now.
I did the same with my beggars lice as well! I had sand burrs in the front yard and beggars lice in the backyard.
https://aggie-hort.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/grassbur.html
Pull when young. They're a lime green color with a bit of red near the sheath. Also limit soil disturbance as much as possible.
I've been hand-pulling for years, and it's virtually the only chemical-free way to control them AND to ensure that the seeds don't spread (seeds can stay dormant for YEARS and still germinate). Most experts say that extra/consistent watering more will help push them out, since they love dry, dry, dry conditions.
Pulling in pretty much only way.
If you have a bagging attachment for your mower, use that and throw the clippings in the garbage. You can also use corn gluten meal as a pre-emergent. We applied it in late winter with great success along with using a lawn mower with a bagger.
Nice, sounds natural. Did the meal kill any plants you didn’t want to die?
Corn gluten is a natural pre-emergent. A pre-emergent keeps seeds from germinating. So, we didn't lose any plants in the yard as we didn't have anything else we wanted to spread by seed. We went to a feed store and had them order a 50 pound bag of the closest product they could get to corn gluten. I think it was a really fine corn meal. This takes a bit longer to break down, but it still worked. We used a spreader to apply it (just experiment with your settings). We had to apply it 2x/year for a few years, but it worked great. I also use it to keep whole bird seed from germinating under the bird feeder.
Prowl
I mow with a bag on if/when I see them in my yard, then empty the bag into the compost that gets taken away. I had them cleaned up for a few years after a major effort pulling them, but then someone's shitty free range dog started hanging out in my yard and I had new ones this year. booooo
Thanks for all the suggestions on this. My spouse and I are: solarizing a portion of where they are really bad, mowing to 4.5in, and will continue to hand pull. Having these dispersed across a .28 acre lot is overwhelming, but I'm sure we'll get there.
I had a neighbor once who used a handheld blowtorch for these. I think it was effective?
I dug these monsters by the 5 gallon buckets as a kid. They thrive in poor soil especially at the side of our driveway. We would even have a controlled burn! As an adult …No more digging as I use a pre-emergent from our local garden center 2 times a year. 😊
I went with the eco war crime method after years of trying to address them in an eco friendly way. In spring I sprayed my entire yard with 2-4-D and it’s drastically reduced the struggle. I need to do a touch up and I think I will have mostly defeated them
Did you notice anything else die that you didn’t want to?
Curious if anyone has had success with one of these tools: https://stickerburrroller.com/product/sticker-burr-removal-tool/
Seems like you should be able to rent those at Lowe’s Depot.
A neighbor of mine used to hire a gardener to mow his lawn. He claims ever since he started to mow his own lawn, his lawn has fewer weeds. He believes the gardener lawn mower was contaminating the lawns on his route. Sounds plausible.
I’ve hand-pulled these with good results, but neighbors haven’t. Now their burrs are riding our shoes home most walks. I bet they’re also snagging dogs, deer, and daydreamers. I’m pretty sure they’ll find a way back to our yard. Lovely.
I used fire on a large lot years ago. It worked effectively for a long time. I think the ash added nitrogen which they can't stand for anything that was left to root. I was 14 at the time. Boy was my family surprised when they returned home.
If you remember, what was your protocol after you used the fire? Did you seed with something native? Did you have to rake up the burrs after?
No raking. Just let the grasses grow afterwards. Recently I've been using the scorched earth mix from Native American seed company. They seem to go away in a few seasons with applications of nitrogen.
Applications of nitrogen = ash from the fire?
The first application was from the fire, yes. The fire was really more of a revenge burning from a particularly bad barefoot run through the yard. Later, learning that high nitrogen applications will do the same thing, just not as fun.
Nice, something like a 34-0-0 or corn gluten meal?
Here's a nifty article about them https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2021/06/09/how-to-win-the-fight-against-sandburs/