Horsenettle is a Southeastern native, perennial weed and a member of the nightshade or Solanaceae family. The nightshade family also includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potato. This presents a problem for home gardeners because this weed and other nightshade weeds can serve as alternate hosts for leaf spot diseases, viruses and a host for the Colorado potato beetle. The Colorado potato beetle primarily attacks potatoes and eggplant but will occasionally feed on tomatoes and peppers.
Horsenettle has thorns along the stems, coarsely lobed leaves with spines along prominent veins, and the plant is poisonous. The yellow fruits are toxic and are poisonous to people, horses, cattle, cats, and dogs. The flowers can be either purple or white. This plant is found in dry, disturbed sites like open woods and roadsides.
Horsenettle spreads by seed and by rhizomes. The fruits contain up to 170 seeds each, making each plant capable of producing over 5000 seeds each year. The rhizomes can extend for up to three feet and produce new shoots. New plants can also develop from root fragments left in the soil. Tilling will exasperate this problem, as will hand pulling. Roots can travel down several feet in the soil in the search for water.
Chemical control is the best option to manage this weed. Several broadleaf weed killers can provide effective control. Please consult with your local extension office or contact the HGIC at [email protected] for recommendations specific to your site.
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For those who are looking to buy a home for the first time, the feat can seem like quite the hurdle. With housing prices and interest rates still high, and a competitive market, it’s tough out there! And the number of first-time home buyers are dropping, too, because of those high prices—according to personal finance site WalletHub, 26% off home purchases were made by first-time home buyers in 2022, down from 34% the previous year.
Red sorrel (Rumex acetosella) is a perennial weed that is easily identified by its red flowers and spade-shaped leaves. It is a member of the buckwheat family and native to Europe. The plant produces large quantities of pollen that can contribute to hay fever. The weed is edible, and some people grow it as a green or an herb. The tart flavor is often compared to lemons or sour apples. While the plant is safe for humans, it is toxic to livestock.
Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) is a winter annual, broadleaf weed. It germinates in the fall and actively starts to grow in the cool spring weather when adequate soil moisture is present. Henbit is related to ornamental Lamium and is a member of the mint family. Its purple flowers serve as an early source of nectar and pollen for honeybees and bumblebees.
Florida pusley is a low-branching, annual summer weed. Its pretty, white, star-shaped flowers produce an abundance of seeds, and a single plant can quickly turn into an infestation. This weed is extremely drought tolerant and can easily out compete lawns that are not irrigated during extended dry weather conditions.
Virginia creeper is a native North American, deciduous vine, which can easily climb 30 feet or higher. Its tendrils end in oval shaped disks that adhere to surfaces and can damage stucco, the mortar between bricks, and painted surfaces. This highly adaptable plant grows in full sun to full shade. Grown as a groundcover, it can provide erosion control on slopes. Virginia creeper is very drought tolerant and a vigorous grower. To control the spread of this somewhat aggressive vine, prune, mow, or weed whack in the spring.
Virginia copperleaf is a tall, branched summer annual that can grow three feet tall. It takes its name from the copper colored leaves of its late summer color. This weed is a North American native that is found from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Texas and north to South Dakota. It is a member of the spurge family and is poisonous, but it does not have the milky sap that is typical of other family members. The simple leaves are oppositely arranged on the stems when the plant is a young seedling, but they change to an alternate arrangement as the weed matures.
Common cats-ear (Hypochaeris radicata) is a perennial weed. Its name comes from the dense hairs that cover the leaves. It looks very similar to dandelions, but its leaves are not as deeply notched. It also produces yellow flowers and puffball seed-heads very similar to dandelions. Common cats-ear flowers throughout the summer and most heavily in September. Common cats-ear is native to Europe and Northern Asia and can become quite a problem in thin, open areas. The first step in maintaining a thick, healthy lawn is ensuring that you have selected the best grass for your landscape. For more information on the characteristics of different turfgrasses, please see HGIC 1223, Turfgrasses for the Carolinas.
It’s late summer and crabgrass weeds have invaded some lawns. Unfortunately, crabgrass is very difficult to control with most herbicides once it develops a few tillers or branches. There are several species of crabgrass (Digitaria spp.): tropical crabgrass, smooth crabgrass, India crabgrass, large crabgrass, Southern crabgrass, and blanket crabgrass. All of them are summer annuals that germinate primarily in spring, grow during the summer, set seeds, and then die with the first frost.
Bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) is commonly referred to as highway grass. It’s a tough, drought tolerant, perennial grass that survives in soils with low fertility. Due to its very coarse and open growth habit, bahiagrass is considered a low-quality lawn grass. It is best suited to use as a utility grass for roadsides and erosion control in marginal areas where visual quality is not a high priority.
That bright green, grassy weed in your lawn this month could be annual bluegrass. It is a cool-season, annual weed that grows in moist and compacted soils and even in shady locations. It is a prolific seed producer even when mowed at low heights, with each plant producing over 350 seeds. The first step to getting this weed under control in home lawns is to irrigate the lawn properly. Always apply deep but infrequent irrigation to lawns during periods of inadequate rainfall. This will encourage the turfgrass to have a deeper, more robust root system and help it compete with the annual bluegrass for moisture. Wait until the lawn begins to show symptoms of drought stress before irrigating, especially in the early fall. Annual bluegrass seeds germinate in autumn when soil temperatures drop below 70 °F. Limiting soil moisture near the soil surface reduces the germination rate of annual bluegrass seeds in the lawn.
Smilax vines go by the common names greenbrier or catbrier due to the thorns covering their stems. There are 300 to 350 smilax species worldwide. Approximately twenty-four species are native to North America, with fifteen species growing in South Carolina. Smilax grows well in moist shade and is an important food source and habitat for wildlife, including birds, rabbits, and deer.
Cudweeds (Gamochaeta spp.) are herbs in the aster family that serve as host plants for American painted lady caterpillars. There are about fifty plus species, and all are native to the Americas. Most cudweeds are annuals and can be either winter or summer annuals. They flower in mid-spring to early summer or in early fall. Some cudweeds can be biennial, meaning that they will form a basal rosette that can survive the winter and flower in their second year.