Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua)

Generally annual plants although short-lived perennial variants exist particularly where irrigated; leaves curve upward at the tip like the bow of a boat; spreads on the ground or forms dense clumps 5 to 20 cm tall
One of the earliest grasses to grow in the spring. Not well adapted to acid soils

Annual Sedge (Cyperus breverfolius)

Green Killinga is a perennial sedge. It is capable of forming dense mats due to its development of rhizomes. The leaves are dark green and grow up to 6 inches in height. The seedhead is round and has three leaves below it. It is primarily found from Georgia to south Florida, west to Texas and California.

Cultural Practices:
It can adapt to most mowing heights. It develops best in damp low areas. Irrigation should be monitored to prevent areas from becoming excessively wet. Soils should also be modified to prevent excessive moisture.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to green kyllinga that is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum)

Bahiagrass, a coarse-textured warm-season perennial with rolled vernation, ligules which are membranous in nature with short hairs on the back of the ligule. Has distinctive "V" created by the 2 slender spiked racemes. Bahiagrass has an extensive deep root system with short rhizomes and stolons and is very drought tolerant.
Bahiagrass produces seedheads from June through November. Found from southern Virginia to Texas and in California.

Cultural Practices:
Grows best in slightly acidic sandy soil, will not tolerate shaded, can not be removed very efficiently by hand.

Herbicide Use:
Mid-summer for a postemergent application of metsulfuron in Bermudagrass. For renovation of areas containing bahaiagrass, use a glyphosate product.

Barnyardgrass (Echinochcoa crus-galli)

Barnyardgrass is a summer annual grass that germinates from seeds throughout the summer. Stems of young barnyardgrass plants often grow outward along the ground before turning upward. Stems are flattened near the base making it difficult to cut was a mower. Flower heads often droop slightly with lower flower branches further apart than upper ones.

Cultural Practices:
Use mulch in flower garden. Thick turf also hinders growth

Herbicide Use:
Preemergent of benefin, bensulide, or DCPA. Multiple applications may be required for complete eradication.

Bedstraw (Galium Aparine)

Bedstraw, also called catchweed, is a winter annual. The leaves of bedstraw are formed in whorls containing 6 - 8 leaves around square stems. The leaves are narrow to lanceolate in shape with bristles along the edges. Spines at the base of leaves allow bedstraw to cling to objects. The stems of bedstraw are weak. The bedstraw flower contains 4 white petals formed on stems originating from leaf axils.

Cultural Practices:
Bedstraw is more of a problem in high-mowed or infrequently mowed areas, prefers moist soils, high in nutrients and organic matter. Regular mowing at lower heights helps and is fairly easy to remove by hand.

Herbicide Use:
Make your herbicide application to bedstraw that is young and actively growing.

Beggarweed-creeping (Desmodium incanum)

Creeping beggerweed is a perennial weed that develops from a large taproot. Creeping beggerweed has many branched runners capable of rooting at nodes along the stems. Leaves are composed of three leaflets of varying sizes. The leaflets are elliptic in shape, pointed at the tip and rounded at the base. Both the stems and leaves are hairy.

Cultural Practices:
Has deep rhizomes makes it difficult to remove> It tolerates close mowing, but dense turf with good irrigation helps control it. Has jointed seedpods

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application when it is young and actively growing.

Bindweed (Convolvulus arvesis)

It is a summer perennial member of the morning glory family. The leaves of field bindweed are arrowhead shaped and appear alternately on long creeping stems. Field bindweed has an extensive root system which may extend up to 15 feet underground.

Cultural Practices:
In turf situations a postemergent herbicide is generally recommended. Small infestations of bindweed in non-turf areas may sometimes be controlled by covering with mulch and not allowing any green plant material to emerge.

Herbicide Use:
Control is best achieved when plants are actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth. Multiple applications may be required for complete eradication.

Black Medic (Medicago lupulina)

Black medic is shallow rooted with multi-branched slender, prostrate, slightly hairy stems spreading 12 to 24 inches. The alternately arranged, dark green leaves are compound with three, oval leaflets. The center leaflet is stalked and the side leaflets occur close to the stem.

Cultural Practices:
Black medic can be hand pulled.

Herbicide Use:
Apply postemergence broadleaf herbicides during periods of active growth from late spring through early summer and again from early through mid autumn.

Broadleaf Plantain (Plantago rugelii)

This is a shallow mostly fibrous rooted perennial. The leaves which develop in a rosette are large oval shaped, 3-6 inches, have wavy edges and predominant veins. Broadleaf plantain is similar to several other plantain species, but does not have the purple color at the petiole of the leaves. June through September.

Cultural Practices:
Can be physically removed. Be sure that roots are thoroughly removed. Close mowing prevents seedhead formation. Good soil pH (6.5 to 7) will help to prevent infestations.

Herbicide Use:
Broadleaf herbicide in mid-spring after seed germination in the rosette to flower stage or in the fall when active growth has resumed.

Buckhorn plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

A slender fibrous rooted perennial. The leaves develop in a basal rosette. They are long slender leafs approximately one inch across. The leaves have distinctive parallel venation. The main growth period for buckhorn plantain is from June through September. The stalks can be hard to cut with mowers. Buckhorn plantain spreads by seeds and shoots from the roots. Buckhorn is found throughout the entire US.

Cultural Practices:
Can be physically removed. Be sure that roots are thoroughly removed. Close mowing prevents seedhead formation. Good soil pH (6.5 to 7) will help to prevent infestations.

Herbicide Use:
Apply a selective broadleaf herbicide in mid-spring after seed germination in the rosette to flower stage or in the fall when active growth has resumed.

Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

It is a biennial. The leaves are alternate; blades are simple and form in a rosette, are unlobed to pinnately lobed. The bladetip is pointed and the margins are toothed with spines. The root is a fleshly taproot the first year and a fibrous root system forms the second year.

Cultural Practices:
Individual bull thistle plants can be physically removed by cutting below the crown in early spring prior to bolting and flowering to prevent seed development and distribution.

Herbicide Use:
Thistles that are actively growing and in the rosette to flower stage of growth can be controlled with a postemergent herbicide application.

Thistle - Canadian (Cirsium arvense (L) Scop.)

is a perennial that reproduces from seed and by an extensive root system. The root system of Canada thistle allows the plant to spread rapidly once it has become established in an area. Canada thistle produces toxic substances that are released into the soil and inhibit the growth of certain plants. It can be controlled by chemical, mechanical and biological methods.

Cultural Practices:
Individual bull thistle plants can be physically removed by cutting below the crown in early spring prior to bolting and flowering to prevent seed development and distribution.

Herbicide Use:
The two most effective times for herbicide application to Canada thistle are at the bud stage and during regrowth in the fall. The following can be used for chemical control: Banvel, Roundup, Stinger and Glean/Telar

Thistle - Musk (Carduus nutans)

is a perennial that reproduces from seed and by an extensive root system. Musk thistle is also called nodding thistle because the mature flower bends over and nods it's head. A problem mostly of perennial crops and roadsides

Cultural Practices:
Individual plants can be physically removed by cutting below the crown in early spring prior to bolting and flowering to prevent seed development and distribution.

Herbicide Use:
The two most effective times for herbicide application are at the bud stage and during regrowth in the fall. The following can be used for chemical control: Banvel, Roundup, Stinger and Glean/Telar

Burning nettle (Urtica urens)

Burning nettle is a winter annual in interior valleys but grows throughout the year on the California coast. It has entire, rounded seed leaves with a small notch at the tip. The first true leaves are opposite, stalked and distinctly toothed. Mature plants are 5 to 24 inches (12.5 - 60 cm) tall, with stems branching from the base. Small greenish white flowers are clustered in the leaf axils. Both leaves and square stems have stinging hairs. It is especially troublesome in coastal counties of California where it grows all year. A related species, U. dioica, stinging nettle, is taller and has less round leaves.

Burweed/spurweed (Soliva)

Lawn burweed (spurweed) is a low growing winter annual which forms mats due to branching. The leaves are opposite and divided into narrow segments or lobes. The flowers are small and inconspicuous. The fruit forms in the leaf axils with sharp spines.Lawn burweed reproduces by seed.
Lawn burweed is found in the coastal plains regions from Florida to Texas.

Cultural Practices:
Use of good turf management programs, including a sound fertilization program, to form dense stands of turf grass will assist in prevention of lawn burweed infestation.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to lawn burweed that is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus)

Creeping buttercup is a perennial which has fibrous roots; dark green leaves, often with white spots, are divided into 3 leaflets and are hairy and deeply obed; hairy stems root at the nodes; bright yellow waxy flowers long stolon-like stems. Bulbous buttercup is also a perennial but forms a rosette instead of having runners. The flowers of both plants are yellow, with 5 shiny petals. The flower of creeping buttercup is larger than bulbous buttercup.

Cultural Practices:
If buttercups are a problem, improve soil drainage. Physical removal is not recommended, just be sure that all plant fragments are removed. A dense stand of turf and make it difficult for buttercups to become established.

Herbicide Use:
To control buttercup, make your herbicide application to plants that are actively growing and in the rosette to flower stage of growth.

Buttonweed (Diodia teres)

Buttonweed is a creeping, spreading annual. Its long, narrow leaves make it particularly difficult to distinguish in lawns with broad-bladed grasses. They are opposite each other, attached directly to long, trailing stems and generally covered with soft, inconspicuous hairs. Round button-like seed capsules are formed at the junction of the leaf and the stem. Four white petals give the buttonweed flower a star-like appearance.

Cultural Practices:
Since the Virginia buttonweed plant prefers moist wet conditions, avoid excessive irrigation. Be sure to dispose of all stems or roots.

Herbicide Use:
Herbicide may be required to eliminate it. Select a postemergent broadleaf herbicide. For optimum control, applications should be made when Virginia buttonweed is in the 2-leaf to flower stage of growth. In St. Augustine grass lawns, dicamba (Banvel) or products containing dicamba (Trimec) provides some control with two or more applications in spring and summer.

Carolina geranium (Geranium carolinianum)

Wild geranium, also called Carolina geranium, is a semi-erect winter annual. The erect stems are branching and covered with hair. The alternate leaves are on long petioles and are divided into segmented leaflets which are blunt toothed.
The flowers have 5 white to pink petals and form in clusters. The seed forms in a fruit capsule that forms a "storks bill".
Carolina geranium is found throughout the United States.

Cultural Practices:
Individual wild geranium plants can be removed by pulling or digging. Removal should be performed prior to flower and seed formation. Follow good turf management practices to create a dense competitive stand of turfgrass.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to wild geranium that is actively growing and in the rosette to flower stage of growth.

Carpetweed (mollugo verticullata)

Carpetweed is a summer annual with smooth prostrate branching stems forming circular mats. The leaves are light green in color, being widest in the middle of the leaf and narrow at the tip and base. The leaves form in whorls containing 3 - 8 leaves.

Cultural Practices:
A summer annual that germinates much later than other summer weeds, and may be missed by early treatments. Once it germinates, it grows very quickly. It does best on thin turf. It can usually be found in new spring plantings that have not matured prior to entering the summer.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to carpetweed that is young and actively growing.

Chickweed-Common (Stellaria media (L.) Cyrillo)

Chickweed is a low spreading winter annual with a weak, shallow root system. The prostrate stems often root at the nodes. Its spreading growth covers adjacent turf and seriously impedes turf growth. Chickweed often forms extensive, dense patches. Leaves are opposite, oval in outline and tapered to a point. Stems have vertical lines of hairs. Small white flowers have five deeply-notched petals and, though small, are quite noticeable.

Cultural Practices:
Pulling the weed is usually successful.

Herbicide Use:
Use preemergent. As a post emergent use a herbicide containing dicamba, dichlorprop and triclopyr.

Mouseear Chickweed [ Cerastium vulgatum L.]

Mouseear chickweed acts as a perennial. It has a vigorous prostrate growth habit. Leaves of mouseear chickweed are opposite, oblong, dark green and, in contrast to common chickweed, covered with soft hairs. Hairy stems may creep along the ground and take root at nodes touching the soil. The small, white flowers have five slightly notched petals.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Chicory is a taprooted perennial with milky juice, growing low growing rosette leaves resemble dandelion but are hairy; blue flowers (occasionally pink or white) usually close by midday leaves are used as a salad and roots when dried are used as a coffee substitute.

Clover-Red (Trifolium)

Crimsom clover is a cool-season annual. It grows to a height of 12 - 20 inches. The flower is a showy crimsom/burgundy flower. The flower head is approximately one inch in length and consists of 40 - 50 individual flowers. Crimsom clover spreads by seed and is found throughout the Southeast.

Cultural Practices:
Mowing is the best cultural practice to prevent the establishment of crimsom clover.

Herbicide Use:
For optimum control, make your postemergent herbicide application when young and actively growing.

Clover-White (Trifolium repens L.)

White clover is a perennial with creeping stems rooting at some nodes. Leaves have three leaflets with a long erect petiole that is surrounded at the base by a membranous sheath. Leaves are widely ovate, usually with a white, crescent-shaped mark near the base of the upper surface of each leaflet. The flowering heads are borne on long stalks arising from the stems and usually above the leaves.

Herbicide Use:
For optimum control, make your postemergent herbicide application when young and actively growing.

Cocklebur (Xanthium sp.)

Common cocklebur is a coarse, bushy summer annual that infests pastures and other moist areas. Cocklebur is toxic to mammals, and its burs lower the value of wool.

Cultural Practices:
General use of hose is often successful.

Herbicide Use:
Use preemergent of 2,4-D

Common mullein (Verbascum)

Common mullein (woolly mullein) is an erect biennial most commonly found in pastures and along roadsides and will invade landscape beds. It grows three to six foot tall the second year. Leaves are elliptic to oblanceolate, covered with gray woolly hair. The five-petaled flowers of common mullein can be yellow or white. Flowers emerge near the top of the plant where they are crowded along the stalk. Common mullein spreads from seed.

Cultural Practices:
Will not mature in mowed turf areas, but may invade landscape beds which are not treated with a preemergent herbicide.

Herbicide Use:
Use a preemergent herbicide labeled for use in ornamental landscape beds. If using a postemergent herbicide, best control will be obtained when mullein is young and actively growing, preferably while still in the first year rosette stage.

Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Summer annual. Cotyledons linear and hairless. True leaves are opposite with each pair rotated around the stem 90 degrees from the previous pair. Leaves are wedge- shaped, tapering toward the base. Leaves are thick, fleshy and glabrous. Stems are prostrate and reddish.

Corn Speedwell (Veronica)

Corn Speedwell is a winter annual that germinates in mid-fall. Speedwells have a short tap root to fibrous root systems and branching upright stems. The lower leaves are near round with toothed margins. The upper leaves are more pointed. The plant is covered with fine hairs.
Corn Speedwell is distributed throughout the United States.

Cultural Practices:
The competitiveness of Corn Speedwell can be reduced by maintaining a dense stand of turfgrass. Fertilize in the fall and maintain good disease and insect control programs.

Herbicide Use:
Chemical control may be needed to eliminate invading Corn Speedwell, especially in turfgrass areas which are thin, or in newly seeded areas. Use a selective postemergent herbicide taking care to follow spray intervals for newly seeded areas. For optimum control, make herbicide applications to actively growing speedwell in the four leaf to flower stage.

Crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis)

Crabgrass is a summer annual that germinates when soil temperatures reach a consistent 55 degrees F and is generally killed at the first frost. Crabgrass leaves are rolled in the bud; the first leaf appears short, wide and blunt-tipped.

Cultural Practices:
A slightly raised mowing height may help prevent the establishment of crabgrass by providing shade. When crabgrass is going to seed, lower the mowing height and collect clippings to prevent seed establishment.

Herbicide Use:
Use a preemergent herbicide when soil temperatures reach 55 degrees F for a period of four days. For crabgrass control after germination, use a postemergent selective grass herbicide.

Crabgrass-Large (Digitaria sanguinalis)

Summer annual. Leaf sheath and blade (both surfaces) densely hairy. Membranous ligule. No auricles. Leaf blade is short and wide compared with blades of most other grasses.

Crabgrass-Smooth (Digitaria ischaemum)

Summer annual. Leaf sheath and blade hairless or sparsely hairy. Membranous ligule. No auricles. Similar in appearance to large crabgrass.

Cudweed (Gnaphalium uliginosum)

It is much branched annual with wooly stems; grayish-green soft hairy leaves; very small flower heads clustered in groups of 3 to 10. It produces 100 to 500 seeds per plant; prefers damp, acid soils.

Curly Dock (Rumex Crispus)

Curly dock is a winter perennial. It contains a deep fleshy tap root. In a turf situation the leaves appear in a rosette form. The flowers are long green spikes which turns reddish brown on maturity. Curly dock is found throughout the United states

Cultural Practices:
Individual curly dock plants can be physically eliminated from turf areas quite easily, so long as at least 2/3 of the tap root is removed.

Herbicide Use:
For larger infestations, generally in areas requiring renovation, a postemergent herbicide application can be made. Make your application when curly dock is young and actively growing for optimum control

Dallisgrass (Paspalum dilatatim)

Dallisgrass is a warm season coarse perennial which is light green in color. The leaves are rolled in the bud, flat and wide (1/2"). Dallisgrass has hairs on the lower portion of the leaf near the ligule. The seedhead contains 3 - 6 spikes, with seeds on both sides of the spike. Dallisgrass can from short thick rhizomes, but spreads upright in clumps. This highly invasive plant germinates in soil temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees F and thrives in the hot humid conditions of the southern states.

Cultural Practices:
Pull by hand. Avoid core aeration when seed is germinating.

Herbicide Use:
Use a preemergent herbicide when soil temperatures become sufficiently warm for dallisgrass germination. A preemergent herbicide is recommended even if some dallisgrass plants have germinated. Use an appropriate post emergent herbicide.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Dandelion is a winter perennial, has thick fleshy tap root which often branches. Leaves form in a rosette, are deeply lobed, with the lobes pointing toward the base. Both the leaves and flower stems contain a white milky fluid. Its long, narrow leaves are variously lobed or serrated. The tips or points of these lobes are usually opposite each other and point back toward the center of the rosette. Yellow blossoms soon mature into round, white puffballs full of seeds.

Cultural Practices:
Dandelions can be physically removed, but it is very important to remove the taproot. Use the appropriate digging tool to get at the root.

Herbicide Use:
Dandelions are a perennial and are readily controlled by 2,4-D, if applications are made in fall or early spring when plants are young and actively growing before the plants begin to flower. After flowering begins, 2,4-D will twist and curl the leaves and flower stalks, but the plants often survive the treatment. Its strong taproot penetrates the soil from two to three feet and the above-ground rosette remains the year round.

Dayflower (Commelinaceae)

Spreading dayflower is an annual with multiple branches that spreads by taking root from nodes along stems. Stems are smooth with lance shaped leaves in sheaths having a few soft hairs. Flowers have three blue petals, two of which are partly fused. Flowers last one day, giving the plant its common name. Dayflower prefers rich, moist soil conditions. Dayflower is found from Massachusetts west to Kansas and south to Florida and Texas.

Cultural Practices:
Dayflower plants can be physically removed when small. Care must be taken to remove all stem fragments to avoid reestablishment.

Herbicide Use:
For optimum control, make your herbicide application to dayflower that is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Deadnettle (Lamium pupureum)

Purple (or red) deadnettle is a winter annual often confused with henbit (Lamuim amplexicaule). Both weeds have square stems and belong to the mint family. The leaves of purple deadnettle are triangular in shape and less deeply lobed than henbit. The upper leaves of deadnettle are red to purple in color. The leaves are triangular with scalloped edges. The lower leaves are longer than the upper leaves.

Herbicide Use:
Use a pre-emergent herbicide of dicamba. Keep grass cut now.

Dichondra (Dichondra repens)

Dichondra is a low-growing perennial plant sometimes used as a ground cover but which also becomes weedy in some lawns. It spreads by creeping stolons and forms a dense mat. Leaves are kidney-shaped and alternate along the trailing stem. Flowers are inconspicuous.

Herbicide Use:
Use a postemergent herbicide of 2,4-D or Dicamba.

Dog fennel (Eupatorium capillopholium)

Dog fennel is a short-lived summer perennial. The leaves of dog fennel are divided into thread-like segments, giving a fern like appearance. The leaves will omit a foul odor. The stems of dog fennel are reddish in color, hairy and arise from a woody base.
The flowers of dog fennel are small and white in color. The flowers are numerous and are borne on branched panicles. Dog fennel spreads by seed, and regrowth from the woody base.
Dog fennel is found from New Jersey to south Florida, west to Texas and Arkansas

Cultural Practices:
Dogfennel usually does not do well in thick established turf. It does not tolerate low mowing due to its upright growth habit. It is usually found in low maintenance turf. Good fertility and cultural practices that encourage thicker turf will reduce dog fennel.

Herbicide Use:
For optimum control, make your postemergent herbicide application to dogfennel that is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Dollarweed (Hydrocotyl umbellata)

Pennywort, also called dollarweed, is a summer perennial weed. The leaves are round, 1 inch in diameter, glossy dark green, with scalloped edges. Dollarweed is an aquatic, or water-loving, perennial that thrives in warm, temperate regions. Freely branching stems creep and spread by rooting at the nodes. Leaves are tiny, with five star-shaped white petals.

Cultural Practices:
Pennywort thrives in wet areas. Improved drainage helps.

Herbicide Use:
Use a postemergent broadleaf herbicide appropriately labeled for the turfgrass species. For optimum control, make your herbicide application when pennywort (dollarweed) is actively growing and in the one leaf to flower stage of growth.

Fescue-Tall (Festuca arumdinacea)

Tall fescue, a perennial, forms clumps with upright leaves. Leaf blades are wide, coarse with rasplike margins and prominent veins, and radiate from a central clump. Flower stalks lie flat during mowing, resulting in ragged-looking turf. Used for turf when planted thickly in many areas. Both fescues can be differentiated from dallisgrass, which forms loose bunches instead of clumps when mature and has flatter broader leaves and seed stalks.

Herbicide Use:
Cut under root crown and pull out. Can use glyphosate, but use with care around other plants.

Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)

Annual fleabane has leaves that alternate, and are simple, oblanceolate to linear and has a fibrous taproot. Flowers in the spring through the summer, consisting of white ray flowers with yellow centers (similar to a daisy), and form in clusters. Annual fleabane reproduces by seed.

Cultural Practices:
Found in dry open areas such as roadsides and waste areas. Due to its upright growth habit, regular mowing will prevent flower formation and seed development, preventing the spread.

Herbicide Use:
Post-emergent herbicide when it is young and actively growing.

Goosegrass (Eleusine indica)

Goosegrass is a prostrate-growing summer annual. The leaves are folded in the bud. Goosegrass grows in a clump with the base of the leaves being distinctively white to silver in color. The ligule is toothed, membranous, and divided at the center. Goosegrass contains hairs only at the base of the leaf.

Cultural Practices:
Competitive during hot summers, and can out-compete desirable grasses where soil is compacted. Single plants can be physically removed with a knife.

Herbicide Use:
Preemergent, generally within two weeks after soil temperatures have reached a consistent 55 degrees F. After germination, use a post-emergent herbicide prior to tillering.

Ground ivy (Glechama hederacea)

Ground ivy is a creeping winter perennial. The leaves are round to kidney shaped with round toothed edges, opposite on long petiole attached to square stems that root at the nodes. Ground ivy will form dense mats which can take over areas of turfgrass. The flowers are blue to lavender and grow in clusters in the spring.

Cultural Practices:
Ground ivy is a highly aggressive plant species which will quickly invade turf areas.

Herbicide Use:
Use postemergent broadleaf herbicide, generally in sequential applications every three to four weeks, but at least in the spring and fall. Optimum control will be obtained on ground ivy that is actively growing and in the 2-leaf to flower growth stage.

Hawkweed (Hieracium spp.)

Hawkweed is a pest of turf areas. The flower resembles dandelion. One species, Hieracium pilosella, is rhizomatous and grows in circular patchs with flower stems about six inches high. Hawkweeds are an indicator of infertile soil and are not usually a problem in well managed turf.

Cultural Practices:
It is a highly aggressive plant.

Herbicide Use:
They resemble dandelion and are resistant to 2,4-D,

Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)

Henbit, a member of the mint family, is an upright winter annual that blooms in the spring. The leaves are rounded on the end with rounded toothed edges, deeply veined that grow opposite one another on square stems, 4 to 12 inches tall. The flowers are trumpet-shaped and pale purple, tubular shaped and form in the whorls of the upper leaves. Henbit spreads only by seed. See notes on Nettleweed.

Cultural Practices:
highly competitive and thrives in cool, moist areas. Improve drainage, especially in shady areas.

Herbicide Use:
Products containing dicamba, MCPP and 2,4-D have demonstrated effective control in the fall and early spring. In dormant bermudagrass, glyphosate, diquat or metribuzin will control henbit. Optimum control will be obtained when henbit is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Horsenettle (Solanum Carolinenese)

Horsenettle is a erect perennial weed. The leaves alternate on stems that contain spines, up to seven inches in length and 1 – 2 inches wide with wavy to coarsely lobed edges, veins contains spines. Horsenettle spreads by rhizomes and seeds. The flowers are purple to white in color in clusters on spiny flower-stalks. Horsenettle is found in pastures, orchards and landscape beds

Cultural Practices:
Regularly mowing. Take caution of thorns when pulling. All parts of the plant contain alkaloids and should not be eaten.

Herbicide Use:
Make your post-emergent herbicide application to horsenettle that is young and actively growing.

Horseweed/marestail/fleabane (Conyza canadensis)

Horseweed is an annual weed, winter or summer, depending on location. Horseweed can reach 4 - 5 feet if not mowed. Horseweed grows in a basal rosette. The leaves are 3 - 4 inches in length, alternate and have toothed margins with stems simple and unbranched, and covered with hair. Horseweed has a taproot.

Cultural Practices:
Horseweed is found mostly in thin turf and can occur following seeding. Keep the weeds mowed and prevent the seedhead from developing.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application when horseweed is young and actively growing.

Jimsonweed (Datura stramon)

Jimsonweed, a broadleaved annual, prefers warm growing areas. Leaves have an unpleasant odor when slightly bruised. Cotyledons are long and narrow. First true leaves are spade shaped and have many veins and may be somewhat puckered. Mature plants are erect, 1.75 to 4 feet tall and have elliptical to egg-shaped leaves that are uneven at the margins and show puckering between the veins. Showy white trumpet flowers are 2 to 4 inches long. A four-segmented pod opens from the tip when ripe, exposing, many dark, pitted seeds with tiny wrinkles. It competes severely for water and grows rapidly. Plant has alkaloids that are lethal to animals and sometimes humans

Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)

Japanese Honeysuckle is fast-growing trailing or climbing woody vines capable of covering large areas of ground or extending into the tops of trees

Cultural Practices:
Hand-pulling with complete root removal is effective in small populations of both Japanese honeysuckle and Asian bittersweet. Mowing may also be effective in reducing the size of the plants.

Herbicide Use:
.herbicides such as Roundup®, Glypro®, Garlon 3A®, or Garlon 4®) on cut stems or as a foliar spray.

Johnsongrass (Sorgum halepense)

Johnsongrass is one of the most troublesome of perennial grasses. It reproduces from underground stems and seeds. The mature plant grows in spreading, leafy patches that may be as tall as 6 to 7 feet (1.8 - 2.1 m). Leaves have a prominent whitish midvein, which snaps readily when folded over. The flower head is large, open, well-branched, and often reddish tinged. Underground stems are thick, fleshy, and segmented. Roots and shoots can rise from each segment. The ligule consists of a fringe of dense, fine hairs.

Cultural Practices:
Mowing weekly.

Herbicide Use:
Pre-emergent herbicides like benefin and DCPA.

Knotweed/prostrate knotweed (Polygonum arenastrum)

Common knotweed (prostrate knotweed) is a summer annual weed which can thrive even on poor and compacted soil. The seed leaves are long, very narrow, rounded at the tip and light green with a white cast. The true leaves are much broader, emerging from an encircling, membranous sheath at the leaf base. The mature plant grows prostrate to erect with slender, tough stems, which are extensively branched, giving it a zigzag appearance. The tiny, green flowers with white or pink margins sit in clusters of 2 to 5 on short stalks in leaf axils.

Knawel or German Moss (Scleranthus annuus)

Usually a winter annual but occasionally a summer annual that forms dense, prostrate mats. Knawel is commonly mistaken as a grass and is primarily a weed of lawns, turfgrass, and small grains.

Cultural Practices:
Knawel is distributed throughout the eastern United States. Stems: Grow prostrate along the ground, branched, forming dense mats outward from a central plant.

Lambsquarter (chenopodium album)

Lambsquarter is an erect summer annual. The leaves are lanceolate, 1-2 inches in length and about 1 inch wide, toothed edges, pointed tip, covered with a white mealy substance on the underside of the leaf, alternate on stems. The root of lambsquarter is a branched taproot. Lambsquarter spreads by black seeds that germinate in the late spring to early summer.

Cultural Practices:
Found in low-maintenance turf situations. Proper mowing will usually control lambsquarter.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to lambsquarter that is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Lespedesa or Japanese Clover (Lespedeza striata)

Lespedeza is a dark green, wiry annual with trifoliate leaves. Several wide-spreading, prostrate branches come from the slender taproot. It grows close to the ground and is seldom cut by a mower. It is a very common summer weed, choking out thin turf. Hairs grow downward on the stem. Leaves are composed of three leaflets. Stipules are light to reddish brown. Identifying Characteristics: Trifoliolate leaves with lance-shaped stipules, hairs along leaf margins, and pink to purple flowers. Common lespedeza is often confused with Black Medic.

Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Tall perennial wildflower, thick patches, extremely agressive. Seed to reproduce. No branches. Milky white sap. Milkweed is a highly sought nectar source for many other butterfly species. Milky sap from leaves and stems are poisonous Part of plant.

Herbicide Use:
Use hoe to remove manually and treat stumps with glyphosate.

Mistletoe (Pharadendron flavescens)

Large-leaf mistletoes are evergreen perennial plants that grow on woody plants, extracting moisture and nutrients from their host. Leaves are thick and nearly oval. Plants often develop a roundish form up to 2 feet (60 cm) or more in diameter. Mistletoe seeds are dispersed by birds. They also spread by sticking to birds' feet and beaks or on equipment people use to trim trees.

Herbicide Use:
Herbicides like benefin and DCPA.

Morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea)

morning glory is an annual vine with beans and flowers. Heart shsped leaves and flaring funnel shaped blooms are outstanding.

Herbicide Use:
2,4D.

Nightshade (Solanum sp.)

Nightshade is vinelike, woody stems, 10 feet long with star shaped purple flowers. Some are poisonous..

Herbicide Use:
Cultivation, mowing Cultivate with hoe, grub out and use glyphosate and oxyfluorfen.

Nutsedge (Cyprus esculentus)

Sedges have triangular stems with waxy grass-like leaves which alternate, and are waxy and have an up right growth habit. Sedges are not grass plants, but seedlings may be mistaken for grass. Yellow nutsedge is found throughout the United States; purple nutsedge is primarily found in the warm humid southern states.

Cultural Practices:
Improve drainage of the soil. Keep turfgrass sites free from stress and vigorously competitive with sedges. Keep mowing heights as low as possible in spring and early summer when sedges are most actively growing. Fertilize cool-season grasses in the fall after frost.

Herbicide Use:
Use a post-emergent herbicide when nutsedge is actively growing. For best control results, time applications for nutsedge that is in the three-leaf to flower growth stage.

Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberia)

Nimblewill is a perennial grass. It produces short stolons, but no rhizomes. The leaves are rolled in the bud, the ligule is short, membranous, toothed at the top, and auricles are absent. The leaf blades are narrow and white-green in color. Nimblewill forms patches and is fairly tolerant of shade. The seed head is a loose spike-like panicle.
Nimblewill is found through most of the Eastern United States.

Cultural Practices:
Nimblewill is aggressive where the turf is not fertilized and shaded areas. Mow turf low and keep soil fertilized.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to nimblewill that is actively growing and in the 2 leaf to the flower stage of growth.

Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata)

Orchardgrass is a blue-green perennial grass. The leaves are folded in the bud, the ligule is very tall membranous, and auricles are absent. Orchardgrass only contains tillers, resulting in clumps. The roots are very fibrous and dense, and remains green throughout the year.
The seedhead is a stiff-branched panicle and occur from late spring through mid summer and is found throughout the United States

Cultural Practices:
Orchardgrass tolerates full sun to partial shade, close mowing, does not form large patches, and it does not spread by either rhizomes or stolons. The best prevention is to use clean seed.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to orchardgrass that is actively growing and in the 2 leaf to flower stage of growth. Control is only available with a non-selective control product.

Oxalys/woodsorrel (Oxalis sp.)

Also known as Yellow Woodsorrel, is a summer annual, that can be perennial in some areas. Grows on weak stems that branch at the base and may root at the nodes. The leaves form in groups of three leaflets on long petioles, and are alternate on the stems. Although sometimes mistaken for clover when not in flower, the leaves differ from clover in that they are distinctly heart shaped.

Cultural Practices:
Since seeds may be projected several feet when seed pods mature, it is important to keep oxalis out of adjacent ornamental and flower beds as well as removing from turf areas. Dense, turf areas will resist infestation. Physical removal easily done.

Herbicide Use:
Preemergent herbicide applications can prevent oxalis germination. Spot treatments with a postemergent broadleaf herbicide will clear out oxalis infestations. For optimum control, make your herbicide application when oxalis is actively growing and in the second trifoliate leaf to flower stage of grow.

Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)

Oxeye daisy is a perennial weed. The stems can grow to 10 - 24 inches. Oxeye daisy initially forms a rosette. Leaves are broadest at the tip, deeply notched and grooved, hairless, lobed or toothed on the margin, alternate and decrease in size higher up on the stem. They also give the appearance of being thick and leathery. Oxeye daisy spreads by both seed and by short rhizomes. It forms in clumps or patches. Flowers form in a composite shape with white ray flowers surrounding yellow disk flowersfrom June through August.

Cultural Practices:
Oxeye daisy is found in meadows, pastures, roadsides, nursery crops and waste areas. Mowing prevents the formation of the stems, but cultivation will be needed to remove the basal rosette.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application to Oxeye daisy that is actively growing and in the rosette to flower stage of growth.

Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata)

Pennywort is a perennial with creeping rootstocks. Leaves are 1/2 inch (13 mm) wide and are round or kidney-shaped with wavy or slightly lobed margins. Flowers are small, white or greenish with 5 petals.

Herbicide Use:
Make your herbicide application of 2,4D and MCFPP early. This is especially bad in St. Augustine grass.

Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)

Poison ivy can be an erect woody shrub or a climbing vine. The leaves alternate on red stems. They are glossy and have 3 leaflets 2 - 3 inches long that can be smooth or toothed; leaves turn red in the autumn. As with other members of the Rhus family (poison oak and poison sumac), poison ivy can cause severe skin irritation. Tiny green flowers with five petals are found along slender branches which are formed between the leaf stem and the branch.

Cultural Practices:
Wear gloves. Burning is dangerous. Poison ivy rarely infests mowed turfgrass areas, but could become a problem in infrequently mowed golf course roughs, as well as in fence lines and along rock walls.

Herbicide Use:
Large, well established poison ivy infestations can be a problem to remove. A series of postemergent broadleaf herbicide foliar treatments to poison ivy that is actively growing and in the first trifoliate leaf to flower stage of growth. In these situations an ester herbicide labeled for mixing with oil for a basal stem treatment may be required.

Poison oak/Pacific (Toxicodendron diversilobum)

Pacific poison-oak is a perennial vine or shrub, sometimes treelike in form. It is known for its milky, poisonous oil that can cause a severe skin rash. Plants have three leaflets per leaf that turn bright red in autumn. It is particularly troublesome in the dry sandy soils of the foothills and dry-farmed mountain orchards. It reproduces from underground stems and from seed.

Herbicide Use:
A series of postemergent broadleaf herbicide foliar treatments of triclopyr when it is actively growing and in the first trifoliate leaf to flower stage of growth. In these situations an ester herbicide labeled for mixing with oil for a basal stem treatment may be required.

Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix)

Poison sumac is a woody shrub, 5-25 feet tall. Found near swamps. Leaves are compound with leaflet at end of 6-12 more paired on the stem..

Herbicide Use:
Herbicide foliar treatments of triclopyr and glyphosate.

Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola)

Prickly lettuce, a common winter weed in the Central Valley of California, germinates with the onset of winter rains. Prickly lettuce seedlings have cotyledons that are about twice as long as they are wide. The first true leaves have rounded margins. Leaves are alternate, clasp the stem, and may be lobed or entire with prickly margins. Prickly lettuce grows as an erect annual or biennial. The stem may be prickly near the base. The mature plant bears numerous creamy yellow flowers on branches off the main stems

Herbicide Use:
Use hoe and pull what ou can, then treat with 2,4D and glyphosate.

Puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris)

An annual, branching from the base and spreading along ground to form dense mats; leaves are hairy and grow in pairs on opposite sides of stem; leaf divided into 4 to 8 pairs of oval leaflets; yellow flowers originate in leaf axils; fruit with 5 sections that form tough, sharp sometimes curving spines sharp spines easily penetrate leather, and skin and can flatten rubber tires. Yellow flowers originate in leaf axils

Quackgrass (Agropyron repens)(a.k.a. Elytrigia repens)

Aggressive perennial grass with long slender white rhizomes; rhizome tips are yellowish and sharp-pointed; base of leaf blade with claw-like appendage that clasps the stem; are in 2 long rows borne flatwise to the stem easily regenerates from very small broken rhizome fragments making mechanical control difficult.

Sandbur-Cenchrus longispinus

Sandbur is a summer annual grass, forms clumps due to lack of rhizomes and stolons, but can root at nodes on the stems. The leaves are folded in the bud. The seedhead of sandbur consists of burred seeds and catch on clothing or animal fur. Summer annual in thinner turf. Sandbur is most aggressive in lighter sandy soils.

Herbicide Use:
Apply when actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage.

Smartweed (Polygonum lapathifolium)

Pale smartweed is an annual broadleaf weed that grows in moist soil. Plants may be erect, up to 4 or 5 feet (120 - 150 cm), or creeping with weak, ascending stems. Stems are red and swollen at the nodes (joints in stem). The leaves are long and narrow, tapering at the tip with whitish undersides. Flowers range in color from white to pale pink; they are borne in stalks on long (1 - 3 inches, 2.5 -7.5 cm), dense, drooping spikes. Individual flowers never open.

Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis)

Perennial sow-thistle is a creeping rooted perennial, stems branch near the top; leaves with weak marginal prickles clasp the stem; plants contain a bitter milky juice; upper stalks and flower bracts usually covered in gland-tipped hairs; yellow flowers often confused with annual sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) (Provincial Noxious) which is taprooted and has much smaller flowers or spiny annual sow thistle (Sonchus asper) which has sharp, spiny leaves and smaller flowers.

Spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata)

Summer annual. There are two types. Prostrate spurge roots at the nodes, spotted spurge does not.
The flower is small and green. It germinates in mid spring and flowers from June to September. Both spotted and prostrate spurge reproduce from seed, although prostrate spurge also roots at the nodes.
Both spurges are found throughout the United States

Cultural Practices:
A good healty stand of grass is good prevention. Physical removal of single plants can be easily accomplished. Follow good turf management practices including disease and insect control and proper fertilization.

Herbicide Use:
A pre-emergent herbicide may prevent some spurge germination. Use a post-emergent broadleaf herbicide as needed to eradicate spurge infestation. Make your herbicide application when actively growing.

St. John's-Wart (Hypericum perforatum)

A perennial from underground runners, transparent dots are visible over the surface of the oblong leaves when held to light; bright yellow flowers with 5 petals; plants turn a rusty red colour at maturity. Contains a toxin that causes grazing animals to become sensitive to sunlight resulting in intense skin irritation.

Star-Of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum Umbellatum)

Star-Of-Bethlehem is a perennial weed developing from a bulb. The leaves are thick, waxy, and grass like. The blades are dark green and contain a distinct white-grooved mid-rib and produces a white flower containing 6 petals in late spring. It is found in the Northeast and the Southeast.

Cultural Practices:
It is sold as a spring-flowering garden plant. It does its growth early in the spring when the turf does not compete. It will die back to the bulb after flowering. Physical removal of the bulbs will reduce the plant over time. All parts of the plant are poisonous.

Herbicide Use:
Make your post-emergent herbicide application to Star-Of-Bethlehem that is actively growing and in the seedling to flower stage of growth.

Stinkweed (Thlaspi arvense)

Annual to winter annual in the Mustard Family growing to 0.6 metres; leaves clasp the stem with ear-like lobes; white, four-parted flowers; green, rounded seed pods, surrounded by a broad winged border, become yellow to greenish-orange at maturity young plants when crushed give off a rank, offensive odour; can taint milk and meat of grazing animals.

Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)

Wild carrot, or Queen Anne’s Lace, is a biennial and a member of the parsley family. It forms a flat, many branched rosette during its first year. During the first year, lacy fern like leaves develop in a basal rosette form. The leaves are compound with multiple leaflets, finely branched, "lace-like" foliage. Wild carrot has a slender woody taproot. Flowers are small and white, center flower is usually purple. The flower forms in flat umbrella shaped clusters, producing a cluster of flowers that lie flat on the ground.

Cultural Practices:
It is usually found in low-maintenance or abandoned areas on well drained to dry soils. Proper mowing will prevent the establishment and production of the seedhead in the spring.

Herbicide Use:
Apply postemergent herbicide when actively growing and in the rosette to flower stage of growth.

Wild Oats (Avena fatua)

An annual grass with hollow erect stems; leaves of seedlings twist counter-clockwise when viewed from above; yellow to black seeds with a a bent, twisted bristle (awn); seeds with a circular scar (sucker mouth) at the base. Seeds can remain viable in soil for over 10 years. Cultivated oats lack the circular scar on the seed and either lack an awn or the awn is straight

Wild strawberry (fragaria virginiana)

Low trailing winter perennial, spreading by stolons. The leaves are similar to cultivated strawberries, trifoliolate on long hairy petioles with toothed margins. The flowers from April to June are white with yellow stamens and pistils, and contain five petals.

Cultural Practices:
Because it reproduces from runners, it is difficult to physically remove plants, but single plants can be pulled or hoed from loose soil. Be sure to get all plant parts.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide when actively growing and in the 4 trifoliolate leaf to flower stage of growth.

Wild onion (Allium canadense)
Wild garlic (Allium vineale)

Wild onion and wild garlic are both winter perennials. The leaves are waxy, upright and needle shaped growing 8-12 inches long, are hollow and round and have a strong odor, are solid and flat and appear directly from the bulb. Both plants grow from underground bulbs. The membrane-coated bulbs of wild garlic are flattened. Wild onion does not have a stem. Both wild onion and wild garlic spread by bulbs, seed and bulblets. Both plants flower from April through June.

Cultural Practices:
Keep cut short, even if the turf does not yet require mowing to weaken the underground bulbs and prevent flowering.

Herbicide Use:
The early spring, cool weather growth of wild onion and wild garlic will likely require the use of an ester postemergent herbicide for control. Apply when plants are actively growing and two to twelve inches tall.

Witchgrass (Panicum capillare)

Summer annual. Leaf blade (both surfaces) and sheath densely hairy. Hairlike ligule. Leaf midrib prominent. No auricles. Seed smaller and less persistent than that of wild-proso millet.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Yarrow is a summer perennial. The leaves are alternate, are lanceolate and divided multiple times into narrow segments, appearing fern-like, are strongly scented. The root system consists of extensive rhizomes with fibrous roots. Germination occurs in mid-spring. Reproduction is by seeds and spreading rhizomes.

Cultural Practices:
You can attempt to physically remove yarrow, but be sure to get all of the rhizomes. Mowing alone will not remove yarrow, as it adapts to different mowing heights, although it becomes less competitive under lower mowing heights. Yarrow usually grows best in poor, dry, sandy soils.

Herbicide Use:
Make your postemergent herbicide application when actively growing and in the rosette to flower stage of growth.

Yellow Nutsedge(Cyperus esculentus)

Perennial. Not a grass species. Stem is triangular. Leaves are smooth, hairless and deeply keeled. Whole plant is yellowish to pale green. Tubers (nutlets) usually present at tips of rhizomes.

Yellow Rocket (Barbarea vulgaris)

Winter annual or biennial. Cotyledons and early true leaves are round to ovate and are borne on long stalks or petioles. Cotyledons have a slight notch at the tip. Older leaves are pinnately lobed with a large terminal lobe.