I'm Ron Patterson with Utah State University Extension in Weber and Morgan counties.
Weeds do no recognize property boundaries, and so they really are everybody's problem.
Today's Weed Warrior topic is puncture vine, or goat head.
The puncture vine fruit is this large capsule and it breaks apart into five different goat
heads that are kind of a caltrop-shape structure that will poke into your shoe, into your finger,
into your tires - give you flat bicycle tires.
And each one of these capsules is three to five different seeds and they germinate throughout
the summer.
The main thing is to control goat head, you've gotta keep these from getting onto the ground.
So the seeds that come out of these capsules, they are viable in the soil for up to five
years so after about five or six years, if you've been very diligent about keeping that
from going to seed on your property - as long as you're not introducing new seeds onto the
property - you will have that puncture vine under control.
The cotyledon of the puncture vine is very distinctive, it has this ridge or valley - groove
- that goes right down the middle of the cotyledon, or seed leaf.
The first true leaf that comes out, has that typical feathered puncture vine look to it.
Puncture vine is a low-growing, spreading or sprawling annual plant; it has these long
vines, but it does not root along this vine - it just spreads out a long ways.
It has a yellow flower, and a pinnately compound leaf that are - leaves are opposite each other
on the stem.
It's got a taproot and so all you have to do really to kill the plant is to separate
the top of the plant from the taproot.
So part of the problem with - with controlling puncture vine is that it germinates throughout
the summer; it doesn't matter how hot it gets - it doesn't like the cold at all, if it gets
a frost it'll kill it - but it'll germinate throughout the summer.
It only takes about three weeks to go from germinated seedling to a flowering plant - it's
very quick.
And so, you really need to stay on top of it; your control efforts can't just be once
and done, kind of a thing, you've gotta do it throughout the summer.
Every couple weeks go out and do your control, pull your weeds, whatever it is you're going
to do.
Now if you have a lot of seeds in the...in the ground, and you want to pick some of those
up to kind of eliminate or reduce the amount of seedlings you're going to get, you can
use a soft material.
A piece of styrofoam, or...or even a piece of carpet - an old piece of carpet - put that
down on the- wherever your puncture vine is and walk on that or roll something around
on it, pick it up.
When you're done, throw it away and then those seeds are gone, so then you have fewer germinating
seedlings.
Puncture vine usually gets established in areas where it's been compacted, like along
the sides of roads, in construction sites, new homes that are being built, in corrals
and...and roping arenas, but it also can get established here in pastures.
Usually comes in on the roadways where you come in off from the field with your equipment,
or the animals are trailing in, that kind of an area, and so good pasture management
is very important for puncture vine control.
Let the pasture grow properly, don't overgraze it - also, puncture vine is toxic to sheep.
So what are the control options we have?
As in all cases, prevention is always the best option, the best control that we have,
and so do everything you can to keep the seeds from getting put onto your place.
Watch the tires: if you've been driving on off road places where there's puncture vine,
check the tires of your vehicle.
If you've been walking: go for a walk along the side of the road where there's puncture
vine, check your shoes.
Always check to see if you're bringing those seeds back onto your place.
In the cases where you have it already or it just has to show up - shows up on your
property, you can dig it up, pull it up, that's the best non-chemical option that we have
for these annual weeds - especially puncture vine.
But make sure if it's got any of those caltrops, or seedpods on them, you throw it away.
Because of it's low-growing, matty nature, puncture vine does not respond well to mowing;
you can't mow it up.
But there are some non-chemical options - the easiest and best for all annual weeds, if
you can get to it, is to pull it up and throw it away.
But there some other options as well: a propane torch that you can spr-spray, or flame, onto
the seedlings will control those, but it won't control the seeds, and another option is solarization.
A thick mulch, placed on top of where your puncture vine has been coming up will also
help to keep it under control.
There are some biological controls that work on puncture vine; they survive down in the
St. George area, but we haven't found a strain - yet - that will survive in Northern Utah.
So the option would be then to bring it in every year and there are some...there are
some entities that do that.
They'll bring that stem weevil and the seed weevil in and let it onto the places where
there's puncture vine.
It helps, but they don't survive and so you don't get them carried over from one year
to the next.
Now herbicide options would include - for the homeowner - a pre-emergent type product
such as treflan, or sonalan, or bonalan, any one of those type of products help, but they're
not 100% control.
But they would help to control it, just keep in mind that it creates a chemical barrier,
if you disturb the soil you break that chemical barrier so you have to put it down again;
so that's an option.
Spray options - for a homeowner again - would be 2,4-D or...or dicamba, banville type product;
those need to be done when the wea-temperature's not going to be hot.
Roundup of course, is a non-selective herbicide and that will also work.
There are a lot of herbicides that will kill puncture vine, the problem is it's germinating
throughout the summer, so you have to do it over and over and over again.
For a pasture type situation, Telar, or...or Perspective would be a good product to use
in that type of a situation.
So, check your labels, check your information on herbicides, I will have information on
herbicides that have been researched and...and...in the description part down in the bottom of
the video.
But that's some of the options we have as far as the chemical approach.
The problem with spraying puncture vine and then just leaving it there is that if you
get it too late in it's growth, you will leave the goat heads lying there and then they'll
get stuck in your shoe, and you carry that and spread the seeds to another location.
So puncture vine is controllable, but it will take several years of diligent effort on everybody's
part to get this weed under control.
Be a good neighbor: be a Weed Warrior.