Well today I learned! Still thorny and poisonous, at least.
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Yes that is a nasty one, sounds like bull nettle was not right either. So much of the stuff I know about weeds starts out with " my grandpa called that" and I think sometimes he made stuff up, lol. What about this one, he called it careless weed, because if you are careless you get stuck.
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I let a couple grow a couple years ago. They look pretty neat actually. They got to about five foot tall with purple flowers on top. That was one of the worst mistakes! I had thistle growing about every two foot or so the next year. What a pain! I had to use round up.
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Ahh…careless weed, aka prickly careless - my grandmother called it both.
I know it as redroot pigweed, Amaranthus retroflexus. Also a potentially toxic plant to livestock - though they rarely consume enough to cause issues - and then, only if there is nothing else to eat.
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My vote is for common goat head or sandburr. You can’t avoid them because you can’t see them until you step on them.
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There were goat heads at my grandparents house in Colorado, sure wasn’t barefoot country.
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Lol…I did the same thing…the finches went crazy; they loved the Bull Thistles last year when I let 2 - only 2! - of these grow…I have lost track at how many of these I now have…it’s a daily battle…is there any enviromentally friendly way to take care of this problem? I’ve dug them up, but it seems like at least 2 grow for every one that I dig up…
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Every time you disturb the soil more seeds will germinate. There’s a new organic herbicide on the consumer market made by Ortho called GroundClear that should take care of small plants. I’ve never used it on bull thistle but it burned down canada thistle pretty well. You want to spray it on a hot sunny day.
Wanted to add, it looks like Ortho brands a glyphosate + imazapyr mixture as GroundClear as well. The stuff that is organic is ammonium nonanoate, also known as pelargonic acid. It is corrosive so don’t get it on your skin, but otherwise safe.
https://www.ortho.com/en-us/products/weeds/ortho-groundclear-weed-grass-killer-ready-use
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I wonder if this would work on my fenceline around the garden? Have others tried this?
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Fencelines usually have some perennials mixed in, so it will only burn those down. The results I’ve been having on these hot and sunny days have been great, most annuals are dead in 5 minutes. But you need to get good coverage also, so anything that is thick enough to shield the lower leaves will need more than one application.
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