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Puncturevine (Goathead)

Best Management Practices:

Puncturevine (Goathead)

Puncturevine, also known as “goathead”, is a warm season, annual broadleaf weed. This weed is well known for having seeds that remain dormant for several years; thus, building a seed bank that has to be dealt with for several growing seasons. 

A quality pre-emergent will kill the germinating seeds as they attempt to emerge. A pre-emergent program should include applications in middle February, middle May and middle September, the critical applications for controlling puncturevine are the applications in February and May.  

There are several pre-emergent herbicides that can be used to control puncturevine in most turfgrass sites including Bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, Zoysiagrass, and Buffalograss.  Examples include: Pendulum 2G or Anderson 11-3-11 (Pendimethalin) and Balan 2.5 G . 

If you have puncturevine that was not controlled by pre-emergent, you may need to apply a post-emergent herbicide. These herbicides can be effective if used when the puncturevine is very young/immature and actively growing. Effective products are 2-4-D Amine #4, Weed Freezone, and Trimec Southern. They work very well if used in the correct manner. It may require multiple applications to obtain  control with these post-emergent products. 

Make certain you read the entire lablel when using any pesticide to insure it is safe for the type lawn you have. 

Best Management Practices courtesy of:

Bes-Tex Supply, LLC P.O. Box 664 San Angelo, Texas 76902 Ph. 325-653-1300