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an elderly friend has a home a block from the Gulf of Mexico; his lawn has a problem common to lawns near salt water: they are called sand-spurs (Cenchrus echinatus). These things produce spiny barbed seed-pods (in the autumn); they can get imbedded in your sandal-soles or your foot-soles -- they are very painful and difficult to remove (I use pliers!)
I've been in touch with the botany department at the University of Florida and was told by Dr. Bruce Hansen there that he has no suggestions about how to eradicate these things. There have been suggestions of 1] digging up the entire lawn and re-seeding it or putting down sod, 2] applying borax to the plants, and 3] using an electric charcoal-lighting wand to burn them away. None of these suggestions is feasible or practical, and the last 2 seem like overkill, as well as affecting the growth in the lawn in the future.
Does ANYONE have any tried-and-true methods to eradicate these things? I'd be so grateful to know a good one!
Try this web site below for more information. PLANTS Profile for Cenchrus echinatus (southern sandbur) | USDA PLANTS
The only solution I can recommend for your situation is to control the obnoxious weed with Round-up. Round-up (Glysophate) is a non selective, systemic, weed killer that won't ruin the soil. Other weed killers may sterilize the soil where nothing grows.
My best guess is probably for litigation purposes. Many facilities don't want to get held responsible for recommending anything that may go wrong by improper use.
Or, could be whoever you talked to was a meathead, not a plant man. Hard to tell.
The only way I have ever found is to dig them out. You have to get the root or they come right back. If you neighbor has they they come right back as soon as a stray blows into the yard.
They are a hassle to get rid of, but man, you just can't keep them. Especially if you have pets.
Thanks, to both of you -- he definitely wants them GONE, so if he doesn't want me (or his lawnman) to use Round-Up, he'll have to call one of the bigger landscaping companies (there's a great one here that starts with 'H') and hire them to re-sod it.
That sounds like the best method. You dont have to physicaly get down and remove them. Plus you get a nice healthy green lawn that fills in enough to choke out the little spiney bastards! I hate sand spurs!
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Round-Up sounds like a good choice
Hard to tell.
sand-spurs
