The summer is more than half way over but the war on weeds here in Wenatchee rages on. One of my worst enemies in this battle is a nasty little plant called goat head. Also known as puncture vine, this weed thrives in the hot, dry climate east of the Cascades.
Goat head employs several weedy strategies that allows it to thrive here and avoid detection as well as many methods of control.
One strategy it uses to survive is its growth pattern. Using a mower can help reduce several weed species but puncture vine lays low on the ground... well below the level of the mower deck. This growth habit is called prostrate. The plant also spreads runners out for a few inches to several feet in each direction.
Each of these runners carries hundreds to thousands of seed pods: goat head's other menacing strategy and where it picks up its common namesake. Each large seed pod breaks apart into several individual seeds. These seeds have sharp spines protruding from them and resemble a goat's head with horns. The seeds are plentiful and stick into everything! Spines will break off into your skin and cause an irritating and hard to remove sliver. They also commonly pop bike tires, mower tires, an occasional vehicle tire, and are harmful to animals.
The third strategy puncture vine employs is to thrive in terrible conditions. It grows well in the worst of soil and with almost no water. When nothing else is growing... you can bet goat head stands a chance to do very well!
So what can you do to win the war?
Even with all of these survival strategies, goat head has some major weaknesses.
*It only has one little tap root that it does not grow back from so its roots are pretty wimpy.
*There are some weevils that will eat the goat head seed. (You do have to purchase 2 kinds at once, they are a little spendy, and they don't live through the winter in Washington but they do help!)
*Other plants that are healthy can out compete goat head
*Chemical sprays applied directly to the leaves before the plant flowers and produces seed are effective.
I find the most effective method of control is to pull the plants out before they set seed, bag them for disposal, then pick up the seeds from the area. If you do not reduce the amount of seeds present, you will never win the war! Below is a tool I just discovered to help me pull up the tap root without getting stabbed by seeds.
I have heard of people balling up old socks and smacking them on the ground to pick up goat head seed, which works but it takes a lot of time and energy. The best thing I ever tried was to take a worn out, foam mattress topper (the egg shell kind) which I laid down over the area where I had just removed goat heads and walk all over it. That picked up so many seeds that we were able to bag up and throw away!
We have far less puncture vine on our farm then we did even five years ago because we work to manually remove the plant as well as the seeds. We choose not to spray and are still seeing the scales tip in our favor. This is a worthy battle... stay strong and good luck!
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