Puncturevine refresher
By Steve Godfrey
July 20, 2011
Photo by Steve Godfrey
Don't let these very small and innocent looking puncturevine seedlings fool you. By the end of the growing season, they could well be 6 to 8-feet in diameter and produce literally thousands of individual goat head seeds. But these won't - I dug them up shortly after taking this photo.
Photo by Steve Godfrey
This plant is located along a county road close to Cashmere.
Photo by Steve Godfrey
This photo of a puncturevine plant shows both the pretty yellow flower and the sharp goat head seeds it will eventually produce. Unless, of course, someone comes along and digs this plant up, denying it the opportunity to propagate and wreak yet more havoc down the road.
Most of us here in Chelan County are well aware that we have a serious problem with noxious weeds. It's never too late to grab a shovel and make an effort to rid your own property of the unwelcome and persistent intruders.
Two of the top offenders on my property are knapweed and puncturevine.
The knapweed is now starting to bloom, and that life cycle needs to be interrupted immediately to prevent it from going to seed. A shovel with a long narrow spade works well to loosen the soil around the long taproot. A little work now will pay huge dividends down the road.
Ditto that for the puncturevine. The plants currently range from tiny new seedlings to mature plants several feet in diameter and well into goat head seed producing mode.
Last year about this time Cashmere resident and noxious weed expert Dr. Edgar Meyer posted a timely article on puncturevine. Check out his article here. It's just as relevant now as it was a year ago.
This nasty plant is the dearth of summer fun, causing flat bicycle tires, limping dogs, and crying kids with major owies on their little feet. If you've never had one on the bottom of your foot, consider yourself fortunate.
Puncturevine is one of nature's top ten summer fun offenders - a "kill on sight" noxious weed. Don't give it the opportunity to make exponentially more plants, because it most certainly will. Each plant is capable of propagating thousands of goat head seeds, each of which in turn will either spoil an otherwise perfect summer day, or germinate into a new plant and produce yet more goat head seeds.
You can break the cycle by simply digging up the plant, bagging it, and throwing it in the trash.
Wearing good leather gloves and long sleeves, locate the center of the plant where the taproot anchors it to the ground. Puncturevine starts life very small by sending down a taproot, then it sends out many arms 360 degrees. With a tool - a wide common screwdriver works really well - loosen the soil around the taproot, which is only a few inches long. Carefully but firmly grasp the taproot to slowly lift the entire plant and place it in a plastic garbage bag. It helps to have a second person hold the bag open.
At this time of the year, most puncturevine plants will have mature seeds. It's nearly impossible to lift a plant from the ground without dropping a surprisingly large number of mature dried seeds. Every attempt should be made to retrieve the seeds that drop to the ground. A good way to do this is to take a cloth rag, wad it up in your gloved hand, and wipe over the surface of the ground as if you were cleaning a mirror. The sharp points of the seeds will stick to the cloth, and when you are satisfied that you have picked up all the goat head seeds, simply toss the rag into the bag and throw it all away.
Please do your part to rid your property of these nasty noxious weeds.
Your bike, your pets, and your kids will thank you for it.
