Just a question about a weed. This is a Cockle Burr I pulled up yesterday. The plant was around 3 inches tall. These guys had about overtaken my garden a few years ago and so I went to war against them. Evidently their seeds are able to last 2 years. Three years ago, I began to eradicate them, but there was to many of them. Last year, it was nip and tuck but I thought I had prevailed. I pulled them up and burnt them. I laid the disk harrow to them. I mowed them. This year, I had more than I expected, but so far none have made seed. Until now. In the summer, these plants will grow to about knee high before they make seeds. A plant that size is not difficult to spot and remove, unless your garden is over run with weeds. But as the end of growing season nears, these plants only grow about 3 inches tall before they commence to grow burrs. Does anyone here have any ideas, theories or knowledge as to how or why they do this?
2-4D. Spray your garden now with this pre-emergent herbicide. Turn it after 3 or 4 weeks, spray again. Do this 3 or 4 times over the winter & that should take care of it. Note: 2-4D will hare-lip corn and many other garden plants, so be sure to allow enough time for it to go inert before you plant this coming spring. You probably need to treat the area around your garden too in order to get wind-borne seeds. That's what I would try. The whole burning thing seems too scattershot for me.
They are tough. I was just wondering if anyone knew why they make seeds when they are only a couple of inches tall when cold weather nears.
