05/06/2020
Public Service Announcement!!! TAKE NOTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a reminder for people who have a spurw**d problem. Now is the time to treat your yards with a pre-emergent.
Timing is KEY TO CONTROL! NOW IS THE TIME!!!
The spurw**d is a winter annual w**d that germinates in the fall, producing a ground-hugging plant with parsley-like leaves. It grows in the fall and winter, blooms with tiny white flowers in late winter to early spring, then sets the seed which is the problematic sticker.
This fall/winter (October, November, December) either use a pre-emergent herbicide, or spray with a post-emergent herbicide with 2,4-D at the end of January through February to kill the w**ds before they set more seeds next spring. It may, in some cases, take an application of both. There are numerous formulations of two and three way mixes of 2,4-D, dicamba and MCPP. Make sure you read the label before purchasing that they are safe for your particular southern grass. For instance, Bermuda tends to be more herbicide tolerant than St. Augustine or Centipede.
Pre-emerget herbicides include products with simazine or atrazine. Metsulfuron (Manor®, Mansion® Blade® or MSM OD25®) or three-ways (MCPP + dicamba + 2,4-D) provide post-emergence control of spurw**d. Metsulfuron or a three-way may be tank mixed with either simazine or atrazine to improve control. NOTE: Metsulfuron will also kill bahia grass so if you have that in your yard and want to keep it, go with an alternative option mentioned above. Also, metsulfuron cannot be applied under the drip line of any trees or around any ornamental you wish to keep.
In summary: you can use a pre-emergent herbicide in mid October to December or you can wait for the w**ds to germinate and then easily kill them with a broad leaf herbicide such as 2, 4-D somewhere in the time frame of end of January through February. OR, you can tank mix a pre-emergent with a post-emergent in that time frame for improved control.
THE KEY IS TO MAKE THE APPLICATION EARLY ENOUGH IN THE WINTER SEASON TO PREVENT SEED SET! If you can do this, you will greatly reduce the population for next year, but if allowed to go unchecked, you will have more and more stickers each year!!!
