Things that interest, involve, irritate, or inspire me
I support marriage equality.
Virginia Buttonweed (Diodia virginiana)
By Jomegat (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia CommonsI hate this stuff. Sure, it may look all sweet and innocent in the photo, but this weed is a tenacious lawn-destroyer. It likes wet areas and started growing next to my birdbath a few years ago. Not realizing how evil it was, I did nothing until last year. By then it had spread out over several feet, and even started growing in a completely separate section of my yard.
I used Bayer’s Weed Control spray last summer, which destroyed everything above ground level but didn’t kill the roots. The buttonweed is back this year and I’ve been trying to remove it by hand, which I read is the preferred method of control.
If anyone has successfully dealt with this weed, please share your experience in the comment box below.
I have tried roundup and 24D, I got a slow kill or though I thought, it killed the heck out of my san augustine grass. A few months later, the virgina buttonweed was back. I talked to a PHD at Texas A&M in College Station and he told me there was no research of which he had knowledge that was being done to eradict virgina buttonweed. I am at the point of pulling my hair out. I do know one thing-if you mulch when you mow you will spread the heck out of it.
@ Billy: I’ve used Roundup over the entire area several times. Last summer was really hot and dry here, and Roundup killed everything in the area. As the buttonweed tried to fill back in, I sprayed it again and it died. In the fall, I planted grass and it filled in quickly. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t see buttonweed coming back up when warmer weather arrives, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
I also have had an outbreak of buttonweed over the past 3 years. The one and only thing I have found that makes any difference is to spray with the Roundup Extended Control, and let it die, spray again (even though it is dead)and give it a week in the sun. And then, this is the kicker, I took and dug 12″ inches of soil down and in each direction from the center of the growth, and I hauled the dirt away, put new dirt in, and put new sod down. I have St. Augustine grass, as many people do in the south. I did that year one, and now two years later, nothing has yet to come back in that same spot. The second year, did it in another growth spot, and once again, nothing as of yet. So last year I did it in the remaining areas that I had the buttonweed, and so far this spring I haven’t seen the DEVIL rear its ugly head yet. It is very labor intensive, due the digging and excavation involved, but it really works, without coming back. The root system in buttonweed is what makes it an impossible weed to kill. It grows up to 10 inches deep, thus why I dug 12 inches down. Anyway, good luck, if you take my advice, it has worked without fail for me.
Go with the first commenter and use Confront. You’ll probably have to order it online and it is very expensive, but it should last you many years due to its concentration.
I should add that my use of Confront *controls* the buttonweed–I have not eradicated it. So instead of having vast areas of the evil weed, I see small plants dotted about my lawn every weekend when I spray. I’m OK with this, as the buttonweed is now just one more target during my weekly spot treatment.
How often do you use weed b gone? Is this the spray on concentrate. The button weed has taken over. I just sodded last year. I wonder if it came with the sod? Just noticed this year. I have pulled the weed and the more I pull the more I see.I live in Georgia and called the Georgia extension service for advice.They said no product would kill the weed without killing my St. Augustine..Must be something to kill this stuff!!
We never had buttonweed here until after Hurricane Katrina – it must have blown it in from somewhere. It’s everywhere now and my only consolation is that it is green – oh well – interesting idea of digging down 12 inches, but my lawn is too far gone at this point. I do check back on this site periodically to see if there’s some new idea out there to kill the stuff.
Weed be Gone won’t touch it.and it spreads over the entire yard by fall.the Arg extension agent said to use confront twice.It will come closer to working better than abything else.
ohmigosh! i have been digging a virginia buttonweed root system that must have been established in my flowerbed for years. for the past several years, i’ve pulled it, but when i get to too large a root, i figured it was coming from the holly bush next to my flower bed, so i would quit & tuck it in. well, this year, i took EVERYTHING out of that bed & began to pull at those roots, while being careful not to break them…so i could get to the root of all this evil… it breaks very easily near the surface of the soil, and leading up to the big fat woody roots. i pulled one that was 1/2″ wide and about 6′ long before it finally broke off! my husband thinks i’ve lost my mind. i’ve been after these roots for 2 months. i’ve gotten to one so fat, i had to cut it, it’s over an inch in diameter!!! but i’m keeping segments of the roots and planting them to prove to him that it is that damn weed! i soaked a cloth with roundup and put it over the cut section of root, put a plastic over it & rubber-banded it…. that killed a portion of it, but there’s more. hundreds & hundreds of tiny sprouts will start up after about a week of digging- from the root AND from zillions of tiny seeds in the ground. i think the roots are why it keeps coming back & i think they are almost impossible to follow. when you pull off the top part of the plant, it just grows stronger underground. and it’s very hard to get all the broken root segments out- they make new weeds, too. i’m obsessed.
You all have me terribly discouraged! Has anyone tried Trimec? Read online that works with repeated applications but have not been able to find it in local stores.
I’ll have to check into Mansion and Confront – thanks! We had our yard professionally sprayed about a month ago (two applications, about 10 days apart). It cost me $150 for the treatments and the devil weed is back. I wasn’t able to get anything at Lowes or Home Depot that would touch it without killing the lawn, too.
Why someone who has this plant would be bothered by it is the question. And a second question is why anyone would use a herbicide to kill a native plant. Enormous waste of resources and a threat to other plants and the ecosystem. We discovered it today in our yard and photographed it and I am considering transplanting it. Mowing is a another huge waste of resources and causes a lot of pollution. Mowing should be allowed only by permit, except for making hay two or three times a year. The manufacture and sale of pesticides should be outlawed. Reading this thread makes me wonder whether all the posters simply work for major chemical companies. Learning more about the value of sustainable yards might make some of you change your mindset and make you a lot happier.
Hi Aubrey,
I agree with you on this one. I HATE Roundup and refuse to use it, even on this weedy beast growing in our yard!
We only use organic products in our yard & garden. I believe it’s way safer for us and when the Grandkids and pets are on the lawn, we don’t need to worry if they’re getting any chemicals from playing on the lawn.
I am a small time business owner in the lawn care business. I treat a variety of invasive species, but Virginia buttonweed is in the top 2. Virginia buttonweed is a problem primarily because it grows in the finer lawn turfs of the south and many of us who care about the appearance of our lawns become distressed when we are attacked by this species. It may be present in other areas. I have tried a variety of treatments ( I have splotches in my own yard) pulling it out,digging, treating with a variety of lawn chemicals. The key is preventing photosynthesis in this plant. You could nuke it out with round up (or other glyphosate products)but you would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. If it is a small area put a blackout over the area (a board, a peice of plastic or something of this nature). A metsulfuron product can be very good if you are persistent such as spraying the affected area on a regular basis for a period of 6 weeks. It can be initially expensive but if you have a small pump up sprayer you may focus the spray specifically on the affected area and make a 2 ounce container last a very long time. In all the strategies I use I try to stop the photosynthetic process. As for you Aubrey, why don’t you try smoking it. You are a very rude disgusting communistic pig of a person who has no consideration for the fine people who post and seem to care about others.
I am a self employed lawn care professional spraying lawns in coastal Ga. for 14 years. Try ronstar in Feb. as a preemergent then image @ so. trimec at the lower rates after greenup. This will help control it in st. aug. @ centipede with out injury. Be careful!
I am also having a big problem with Virginia Buttonweed. I live in coastal Georgia. Where can I find ronstar or/and trimec in our area? I have seen image in Home Depot.
It looks like many products treat Virginia Buttonweed;but MARE SURE your St. Augustine is Not “Floratam St. Augustine”. I used Bayer product. It killed Virginia buttonweed for sure…my lawn also. Please read product information first.
Careful, C. Sam. You too could be called “a very rude disgusting communistic pig of a person who has no consideration for the fine people who post and seem to care about others,” by some peddler of environmental poison, as I was a few months ago.
I sincerely do not understand why some people want a monoculture lawn rather than a FREE native-plant yard. Is using herbicides necessary to satisfy some anti-natural desire? On the other hand, the diversity of human beings is as important and interesting as the diversity of plants and other animals on our planet.
Weird when someone MAKING MONEY off his poison sales calls a purist a name that some may consider derogatory. Sounded like someone from the Cold War Era who doesn’t know it is over.
grass is a natural part of the enviroment a free turf as you say can be made up of poison ivy poison oak would we all like that in our lawn or how about burr’s though a free lawn may be envormentally freindly round up is only poisonious till it drys then its no more it evaporates and only infecting the area it has touched you must do research before you say its all about the money when in fact i HAVE YET TO MEET VERY MANY RICH GROUNDSKEEPERS and if you do meet a rich grounds keeper tell him to get in touch with me so i can work for him :)
I googled my way to this website trying to find a permanent solution for my V.B. problem. My neighbors have been hit harder by this pest that I have, and I’ve had some success with a product called “Weed Free Zone”. It will definitely damage your turf grass if you get to aggressive. So be careful. Aubrey, relax. Humans are part of nature too. Try to think of it this way. We are just trying to take care of our nests like birds and fish and snakes. Have you ever seen what beavers or muskrats do to their environment. If you had a job with an evil corporation, and earned obsene salaries enabling us to rape and pillage the planet by caring for our unfairly obtained large, evironmentally unfriendly “nests”, as most of us posters do, you might understand. Forget Virginia Buttonweed. Does anyone have product or method that will work on Aubrey???
Well I have read all of the above comments and recomandations and have come to the conclusion that it is here to stay and there4 is nothjing that can be done to eleminate it, only to control it. I am a 69 year old and retired and hsve found it very relaxing to go out in the cool of the late afternoons here in Alabama and pull the virginia buttonweed that grows im my zoyza lawn. I guess is about as good as anything I have read thus far. As for Aubrey, he seems to be some kind of a weird dude who has alot to say about something he knows nothing about, is probably one of these very liberal pot smoking democrats and graduated from Al Gore university.
I am also going to turn 70 years of age before the end of this year. I am a Methodist, a Democrat and have a master’s degree from a university in the deep south.
I became a conservationist and accept being called an environmental conservationist after growing up fishing and hunting and witnessing the damage done to the cypress swamps and pristine bayous of north Louisiana in the 1940s and fifties.
I notice that Christianity is a subject of some threads on this site. Any of you guys ever read up on a group called Caring for Creation? Its site is worthy of a visit, regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof.
Would the creator want human beings to destroy His work. I think not.
Those little native plants are so persistent because in a natural woodland or prairie, they would be fighting many other native species to survive. They don’t require watering or mowing. Just enjoy them.
And consider learning about native U.S. species and learning the many reasons to admire them ann allow them to occupy a part of your “nesting space.”
And please consider actually planting some native wildflowers and watch the annual succession of flowers that rise from their roots each year and others that seed themselves naturally.
Please consider learning about the interdependence of native insects and other animals and the native plants.
The life cycle of the monarch butterfly is one of the most widely publicized. But all the benefiicial insects depend on native plants for their existence.
A patch of ground without native plants such as turf grass or any kind of popular yard grass creates a monoculture where only a few native species, plant or animal, exist.
The Walmart doesn’t pollinate the plants on which we depend for food. Historically, the native pollinators did the job quite well. American agriculturists imported the honeybee from Europe to supplement the work. Now the honeybees are dying off and areas such as your carefully tended lawns don’t support enough native bees and related pollinators to support agriculture.
So please consider allowing the dandelions and the clover to grown and all the native plants you like enough to add. Reduce your mowing (which wastes fuel and pollutes the air), reduce your watering, reduce your expenses.
Don’t fight nature, learn to look at a tallgrass prairie and appreciate it. Learn to be at peace with nature. You are a part of it. Accept that reality and relax!
Mal…don’t mix MSMA with anything, you will most likely turn it into a chemical torch. MSMA is good for one thing, torching dallasgrass it will brown the bermuda and kill centipede, augustine and zoiysa upon contact. MSMA is extreme and contains trace arsenic and will pulled from the marketplace in 2010.
So far after talking with my father whos lived on the Gulf Coast for years and has dealt with nothing but ST Augustine grass, mansion seems to be the best bet for controlling buttonweed.
Aubrey, Hayfever (the pollen that comes with weeds), the native insects that live in the native plants, and I love the smell of freshly cut grass, and having a nice non natural species lawn to relax in keeps me in this business.
“Love ye not the things of the world, for they shall let you down”
Oh and the reason we got so many oil wells in the middle of the ocean that cant be fixed a mile down, is guys like Aubrey voted to have areas like anwar shut down.
The polar bear you just saved may be the one that just ate you…..
has anone tried this product?
CRABGRASS KILLER By Garden Weasel AG – One 2 lb Powder
it is supposed to control this little menace. i haven’t tried anthing yet, but i need to do something.
Please read “Bringing Nature Home: How you can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.”
I will bet it changes you thinking about your monoculture lawn if you dare read it. It was written by Douglas W. Tallamy, a professor of entomology.
On this site, I read nothing that indicates the posters or the landscape “professionals” who post here have ever thought for a moment about our world’s beneficial insects or any of the value of native species of plants and wildlife.
I read about your herbicides and pesticides and, in fairness, would hope that you all would consider alternative ideas.
Indiana lists the buttonweed as threatened and New Jersey lists the “larger buttonweed” as endangered.
The solution to the “problem” you guys describe may be planting native species of tallgrass and native forbs and vines and enjoying what your ancestors found when they came to this continent. The buttonweed won’t even compete well with a wide variety of native species and you will learn to appreciate it with all the butterflies and other native pollinators that will soon appear in your yard. Please consider the wonder reality if you stop living in a mono-cultural desert.
Just curious about how to eliminate buttonweed, but, of course, became interested in the drama between Aubrey and… just about everyone else. I am loathe to spread poison on my lawn and planted areas (no matter how quickly it “evaporates”) and it fascinates me how quick people are to rationalize the act of contributing to the destruction of the environment. Why so threatened by Aubrey’s position? He seems quite educated about maintaining the natural world and we should all be so open-minded about what can be considered a beautiful yard. We homeowners have truly been brainwashed to think that only perfect, green rectangles and contained plant beds are acceptable. I am guilty of this, too, and feel that Aubrey has given me a bit of an education.
On buttonweed I’ve tried Round-up (lovely but temporary kill) and I’ve tried digging it up after it reappeared. Had no IDEA I neede to excavate down a foot! Scott’s lawn service can’t eradicate it, even though I’ve identified it for them. (Wonder if I should fire them?) I don’t want this INVASIVE weed. (I don’t want KUDZU either, Aubrey!) Va Tech has a study on 4 different products that can be used on it & found Confront (used at least twice) had the best results (76% eradication). For those of us who live in towns or cities, we can’t GO with a lawn of long grasses[Aubrey] because the city or town will fine you, if it isn’t kept CUT short.
My aunt tried to let her lawn go natural & they threatened if she didn’t cut it within so many days, they’d HIRE a company & she would get the bill. And she didn’t even have a homeowner’s assoc. to deal with – unlike many of us.
Please read up on the benefits of planting native and then lobby your city council to create a natural-lawn ordinance. You really don’t need to put all that time and money into trying to create an unnatural monoculture.
Lobbying my town or city will take a lot longer than “hit” I am going to take out on the buttonweed in my lawn (which I happen to HATE). And the homeowner’s associations for sub-divisions have their OWN rules & can fine you daily or put a LIEN on your proterty if you don’t follow them, including keeping your grass cut & what type you can have – in some cases. (Talk about silly!)
BTW, the VA buttonweed is NOT on any endangered list. It is rampant thru the south & as this list proves…hard to kill. But I will take it on, as a new MISSION in life. BTW, for those of you who do want to eradicate yours, vs turning the other cheek: while it is flowering, is an excellent time to use herbicide, according to another article I just read. Vinegar & orange oil don’t work as “natural” solutions on this weed. You can try up to 20% stength on the vinegar & Buttonweed (key word WEED) will laugh at you.
Mrs. Owens, with all due respect, where exactly do you see this “destruction”. My yard and all my neighbor’s yards seem to be very healthy. Nowhere around me can I find evidence that my environment has been destroyed. The water in my neighbor’s pond has never looked as clean, the air around me has never appeared as clear, and my pet, according to the vet, is as healthy as ever. However, I have read recently that mosquito borne illnesses are on the rise and millions suffer needlessly as a result of the overzealous regulation of certain pesticides. I think that some of us forget that humans are part of nature, too. (Top of the food chain, luckily.)
As far as feeling threatened by Aubrey, are you kidding? Please don’t confuse the formulation of a rational rebuttal with a reaction bred from a perceived threat. I’ve learned that fear is most often actually born of ignorance.
I assure and you that none of us wants to destroy the environment. But, I did like my environment more before Buttonweed invaded it. I’m also not a big fan of dollar weed and crabgrass. Luckily, humans have at least some control over their immediate environment (at least in the U.S. and at least for now). I like to walk barefoot (naturally) through my nice, cool, green, PURE centipede.
Back to V.B. “Weed Free Zone” WILL kill your turf grass if sprayed broadcast style BEFORE temps cool down for good in the late fall. But this product will affectively inhibit the re emergence of V.B. the next season. An effective warm weather alternative (but will still stunt the turfgrass a bit) is a product called “Clear Pasture”. Must be diluted heavily, however. Something like 1/8 teaspoon per gal.
NO EASY WAY..PULL IT OUT BY,THEN SPRAY,I SPRAYED WEED MASTER MIXED WITH CLEAR PASTURE.1 QUART WEED MASTER ,1/2 OZ CLEAR PASTURE TO 10 GALLONS WATER.IN THIS HOT WEATHER IT WILL BURN GRASS.IT TAKES 3 TO 4 TREATMENTS.IT LOOKS UGLY THIS YEAR,BUT NEXT YEAR WILL LOOK GOOD.SPOT TREAT.
Born on a north Louisiana farm in 1912, my father enjoyed good health until he gained weight in retirement and discovered a swelling on this right leg in his 70s. He showed the ugly growth to his doctor, who asked. Mr. Shepherd, when you were working the cotton field on your family’s farm, where did you carry your pesticide bag?
“It always hung from my belt loop on the right side.”
The doctor said, “so it slapped against your leg every step you took?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Dad said to the doctor.
You get the idea, I hope. It took decades to see the damage done by the pesticides and herbicides of the first half of the 20th century;. You may not know the damage the much-discussed “safe chemicals” some of the posters on this site are using until you are 70 years old and go to your doctor with a problem. Is destroying a tiny wildflower really worth the risk?
Aubrey, can you just shut up a minute. Treehuggers and Greenpeace all have a place in the world as far as I’m concerned………but…2nd try…has anyone tried this product on Buttonweed
CRABGRASS KILLER By Garden Weasel AG – One 2 lb Powder
apparantly some other bloggers say it kills buttonweed.
Wayne, my neighbor and I both had the same type experience. After a slow start last this spring due to last year’s late summer chemical warfare on V. B., our lawns are now finally blossoming into the proud “monoculture” of turfgrass we once had. spot treatments seam to be keeping the weed at bay. Not so lucky for several other neighbors. For most people in opur community, this year is worse than last. Btw, NO ONE I know locally had this problem until it showed up about 5 years ago. The greenskeeper at a nearby golf course (sharp dude)said it blew in with Katrina.
Aubrey, I hope your father enjoyed a long fulfilling life. But your dad’s Dr. had a %50 percent chance at his brilliant diagnoses. Luckily, he didn’t carry his pesticide sack around his neck.
Two questions for ya.
1. Does it bother you when Buttonweeed (or any other weed) chokes out other weeds, or do you only have a problem with turfgrasses and plants people actually enjoy?
2. How consistent are you with this chemical free, “native species only”, ala naturale mentality. Forgive me for crudeness, but I’m sure you brush your teeth. But does it bother you when you tamper with your body’s natural flora by “destroying the germs that cause gingavitis”?
Any botanists or zoologists on this blog? I imagine some PR folk who work for chemical companies are on here. In the natural prairie areas that haven’t been converted to fescue and other invasive species in Northwest Arkansas, I rarely find enough buttonweed to be significant. In a natural mix, it doesn’t dominate. Kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle may not dominate in the places from which they were imported.
Thank you Aubrey for you persistence in fighting the people’s unfounded prejudices against Virginia buttonweed. I love this plant. I think it is beautiful, and don’t understand why people are trying to eradicate it. A lawn made up entirely of buttonweed would be much more attractive than bermuda grass, in my opinion. This plant is doing really well, even in full sun and very hot and dry weather (August in Houston,TX) without supplemental watering. It started showing up in my lawn on its own, but I hope it actually takes over the lawn, because it is thick and luscious, and has attractive small white flowers. It also attracts bees/pollinators and other wildlife. It sprawls on the ground, and therefore does not require mowing. why has no one thought about using this plant in the lawn, instead of your typical bermuda grass?
I read your stuff. Read mine if you dare. Converting lawns to tiny bits of native prairie plants is an important part of the effort to bring peace to the earth, reduce the effect of manmade global-climate change and cause me to be a silent ghost when I die. And apparently a lot of you guys are hoping for the final item if not the first two.
“Converting lawns to tiny bits of native prairie plants is an important part of the effort to bring peace to the earth”
…”reduce the effect of manmade global-climate change”
…”and cause me to be a silent ghost when I die. And apparently a lot of you guys are hoping for the final item.”
Oh honey, I’ve already sprayed you (mentally) with 2-4-D. (I’m just waiting for it to work.)
Lulu,
I understand that some of these people fear nature and want to conquer it. And I was in four years of ARMY ROTC and 8 years of Coast Guard Reserve and understand how the urge to make everyone look and act alike can dominate the thinking of anyone who has tried to manage a platoon or keep a ship on course.
I find the Virginia buttonweed a peaceful resident in the remnants of tallgrass prairie on the Ozark Plateau and season sunken wetland near my home but am intrigued by the possibiility of actually encouraging some to replace vinca and other nonnative groundcover in my own yard.
We don’t have to mow but we do want to get as close to purely native as possible. Mostly, we just enjoy whatever nature provides. Or God provides. Some people on this blog may not want to accept what God or nature provide.
I am amazed at the anger they express against PLANTS of any species. If the grass doesn’t grow so they can mow they feel like frustrated drill sergeants with only bald guys in their companies who can’t be intimidated into submission by a weekly head-shaving or crewcut.
Aubrey said: “Some people on this blog may not want to accept what God or nature provide.”
I’ve always had a problem with that argument. What about a child born with a hair lip, or a person with a huge, unsightly mole? Are we supposed to accept both things and blame God?
Aubrey, you make a good point every once in a while, but you are guilty of the exact thing that you are railing against. If you want a natural yard, then have one, but you should stop trying to force your beliefs and views on everyone else. You talk about us wanting to conform to one another’s expectations of what a lawn should look like, while you tell us our lawns should look like yours.
It’s just a freaking weed! Do some research on it and you’ll find that it is listed as one of the most invasive and hard-to-control weeds around. Not to mention that it’s rather ugly when it gets a virus that turns it yellow.
Aubrey, Humans ARE part of nature, “provided by God”, as you say.
If you love Buttonweed, allow it to grow. Feel free. Question: Do you, or do you not, daily, kill the natural germs in your mouth when you brush your teeth or gargle with “evil unnatual man made chemicals? Do you use deordorant? (please say yes). Do you cook your food or just graze? Just How much of a liberal hypocrite are you? Where do you draw the line? How do you decide where to draw the line? Why is the line you draw more righteous than mine? I like St. Augustine in my Louisiana yard, not Buttonweed from VIRGINIA. Can’t you find a more meaningful reason to live????? I really don’t mean to sound so harsh, but SNAP OUT OF IT, MAN!!!!!
I give up! Aubreymania as taken over the discussion on the weeds eradication. I’ll post elsewhere.
Aubrey……….have you tried smoking it? Let us know the result if you have or decide to.
OK all stuff aside people!!! This strand is about getting this weed under control. I live in Southern La and my lawn is almost two acres big. It was cane fields many many years ago and when we worked this land we planted St. Augustine. I love my lawn and this weed has inidated my lawn that took over 15 years to get covered with St. Augustine. We just bought Weed Be Gone Max for southern lawns and will try that. We have wayyyy toooo much to hand pull as it took us too long to figure out what this is and it seems to be the DEVIL of weeds. If this does not work, we will be at a point to simply take our tractor and pull up the WHOLE yard and work it over hauling away the top of the soil and getting trucks of more soil. Now we know what we are facing and took to long to figure out what it is and how to manage it. I would love to know who has actually been able to exterminate this curse of a week in their lawn!!! Every strand and page I have read is detail of how hard this week is to get rid of. HELP HELP HELP……I DO NOT want to uproot my whole lawn to get rid of this! I will let you all know what the Weed Be Gone does. My husband has even hit spots of it with roundup and we know what happens with that!!
I live in SE Tex. No prob w/ this weed before Rita. My “yard” is over an acre. The weed now has a hold in most of it. I applied Ortho Weed B Gon for So Lawn (my lawn is mostly St Aug.). All the flowers dropped, but no other visible effect. Am going to try Ferti-lome Weed Free Zone (2,4-D plus Mecoprop plus dicambra plus carfentrazone) as soon as the temp drops. Weed B gon has the same chems, but at a much reduced strength. Still hoping someone will report complete success – without soil removal.
Thanks Barney. Let me know what the Ferti-lome Weed Free Zone does. My husband mixed a small batch of the Weed-B-Gone Max yesterday and spot sprayed some areas. We will see what happens and will keep posted. There has to be something out there that kills this horrible weed. We may even try to wait till Spring to try again as that is the best time of year to place anything on this weed it seems. The winter temps do not even touch this thing!!!
Perhaps you have read the great e-mail passaround, “God’s thoughts on lawns,” which begins, “What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, bees, and flocks of songbirds.
I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now.
But, all I see are these green rectangles.”
In this story, God is asking Frank (St. Francis) about lawns, and Frank tells him that the tribe, “Suburbanites,” thought of those original plants as weeds and paid dearly to have them poisoned and replaced with grass, which looked best when watered, fertilized, and mowed. He also informed the Almighty that people then bought bags of ground-up trees as mulch to put around the small trees and shrubs they planted to replace the ones they had cut down. God, head spinning, was aghast of course, and mumbled that humans also consider themselves a higher form of intelligent life.
What could have added to God’s confusion as well is that instead of using plants that were naturally adapted to the soil and climate of their special locations, explorers traveled the world to find other plants to grow in place of what was “native.” Like the colors on an artist’s palette, plants have been moved across continents to decorate gardens and yards, but as in most cases when people mess with Mother Nature, this tinkering has thrown a wrench in the works.
Aubrey…with all due respect..this is for us to discuss the issue we are having with Virgina Buttonweed. I respect your beliefs and that is your beliefs, perhaps not all individuals. If you want a natural lawn, that is your choice and totally up to you. Personally, I choose to have my St. Augustine coverd lawn and that is my choice to have. Just like there are lots of “natural” alternatives to maintain our health instead of treatments and medications, individuals choose their course of health care. This is the same prinical. I am looking for help to maintain a lawn I choose to have and not what someone else would say to leave grow there. If you can guide me to get rid of this partiular type of weed, that would be terrific so that I can have my St. Augustine lawn back. This is not about Christianity or going “green and natural”. If we choose to do this (going natural), there are many many resources that can be pulled to do so out there.
Aubry, God said to man in Genesis to “subdue the earth.” I have buttonweed and I am trying to get rid of it too. I was told by the horticulture company who takes care of our yard that this is a VERY difficult weed to control. The best thing to do is pull it up when you see it. We have 3 acres of grass and that is not always so practical. Another idea is if when you cut your grass try to bag it instead of mulching it.
The Weed B Gone Max so far has not produced results. We put it accroding to the directions in spots. The tried stronger mix….still nothing. Now we are at a point where we put a small amount of the stuff full strength just to see what it will do. Sisi-how much of this weed is in your yard? Ours has very large coverage of it. I have not seen anthing yet of a product that actually gets rid of it yet.
Mary, we are in the country and we keep three acres mowed. The part around my house is a little less than an acre and I pull it out by hand and the rest is not really in sight of my house. I’ve seen a 20′x10′ patch with lots of smaller ones out there. My horticulture company says there is nothing on the market that will kill it yet. The only thing is to cripple it some. I hope it freezes back this winter.
We are in the country as well. From what I researched about this weed, the winter does not kill it. We thought the winter would take care of that and here we are at year two and it has inidated most of our acre of land. The Weed B Gone killed the small spot we put it on full strength and now we tried a large patch with the hose hook up mixed to get a more saturated cover. We will see what it does from there and with the St. Augustine grass. When the weather cools here, I may have to go and hand pull what I can for now. Will keep you posted.
If you bring in a normal native plant mix for your area, the
Diodia virginica will be minimized. It dominates plants that are not a normal part of a healthy native mix.
OK, I’ll stop commenting on this thread. You guys are all invited to visit and comment on my sites if you choose. http://aubunique.blogspot.com
You don’t have to agree with me to comment and share your ideas.
If you check my profile, you may even find one of my 50 sites of interest. We surely agree on something!
I find other threads on this site interesting but don’t have to comment to enjoy and learn from reading them.
For those of you with St. Augustine grass —use Fertilome Weedfrees Zone -liquid form. Mix .75 ounces to a gallon of water and spray. Repeat the process in two weeks and you will kill it.
I am going with Weedfree Zone in the liquid form now that temps are down. I was going to use apply closer to 1.5 – 2.0 oz in the first to kill the mat and then reapply smaller dose in 2-3 wks. with application of fertilizer in between. I’ve tried Bayer and Weed B Gone – temporary fixes.a Remember to follow instructions closely for Aubrey’s sake
To Aubrey: I appreciate what you are saying, however, this is not a native species and like Kudzu and extremists are obnoxious and inconsiderate to their surrounding. Your only positive contribution to this conversation was an alternative such as more non-native species to this area and also identified as undesirable. thanks but no thanks!
We found out what this weed was a little late. It has taken over our St.Aug lawn that took years to grow. We have tried many chemicals and have to much lawn to dig up. Has anyone had any luck with the weedfree zone?? This weed is spreading and making us crazy!
T., Diadio is a U.S. native but you may live outside its normal native range. With man-made global warming occurring, it is probably moving north.
I said I wouldn’t comment on this thread, but facts are facts and I am all about facts.
plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DIVI3
We decided to tackle the problem in mid September by digging up (about an inch past the roots) the most offensive areas and laying fresh sod in its place. Followed by a recommended amount of winterizing fertilizer and the purchase of a bagger for the mower (instead of mulching), we’ll how well this works out by next summer. Hopefully this, combined with more digging/patching in, will keep the buttonweed manageable.
Management can we get this idiot Aubry banned so we can learn something. He has destroyed the entire value of this thread. Take a look at all the folks that no longer post here. Many have moved on… Hopefully he can find a life else where once banned from this forum.
I hate this weed I want my pretty yard back. I been pulling it up and it comes back my neighbors have been spray nothing works. I fill bad for the neighbor of the one guy that might not want a natural yard.
Wow! I never expected to see my post above come thru… does that mean Aubrey got banned.. hope so… this is such an interesting and helpful thread I hate to see folks leave the forum cause the got aggravated by comments like that, that do not help us kill button weed which is the reason for this thread.
Well… I have one of the most common commercial yard treaters on contract to get rid of my button weed. Signed up today… The company is a well known Nation wide company but I won’t say the name for fear of getting banned. But if it works I will come back and give you the Company name and how he did it.
But here is the deal… they claim they can rid you of all weeds including button weed, and offer 7 treatments of fertilizer and weed killer… They currently offer a special for the first treatment at $29.95… They also offer a 10% discount if paid all at once.. but I am holding off on that since I suspect I will be cancelling after the second application.
They just put down the first treatment and boy was I impressed… he went from start to finish spraying heavily every single inch of my yard. Now for all I know he was spraying water but he did a good job of covering. I know it had something in it as it had a strong oder. He even offered to come back in two weeks and spray again. He says the weeds (button weed) will be gone or he will spray till they go. I reminded him of the warranty they offer… if unsatisfied, I get refund of the last treatment and they will darken my door never more..
So here is the deal.. I paid $29.95 and for the first treatment and he sprays heavily that day and promised to return in two weeks and do it again(1st treatment)…. then when the next treatment is due, I pay 59.95 and he will call him back many times as necessary to keep the damn button weeds in hiding and before the next treatment is due… if I see one button weed… then if the buttons are still present, after many treatments… I will cancel just before the next treatment is due and Demand a refund of my last payment which is the $59.95 and will be completely satisifed with all that work they gave me and chemical (assuming its not water) for a total of $29.95 it will be worth that much…
I told him I would be posting his name and company on my front lawn if it failed stating “Button Weed” presented by “Buddy” from “His Company Name.” he agreed…. and besides there seed is about one hundred + seed costs and he offered to seed it for me if I just get two bags of seed for $23.00 from my local home depot and leave them in the back yard. Maybe he is just hungry.. but so far I love this guy…. hell if he fails I may even feel so bad that I end up not asking for a refund…. More to come… I will let you know as soon as he gives up.
I hope I cannot get my refund… meaning he was successful….. keep your fingers crossed.
Tom
Check out my website, it may not have any button weed but you will like it…
Clarification: What I meant was they charge a hundred + fifty for seed, but said if I get the seeds he will spread it for free.. and I do not even need to buy his seeds… WOW! managmement probably won’t like that… hope they don’t read this thread.
I wish you folks the best of luck, but as I stated last August, spraying was very temporary despite everything I tried & the MAJOR lawn company tried. Yes, we saw complete DIE BACK, then the darn WEED came back with a vengence!! Excavation was the best answer for me. I immediately bagged the entire plant & “suffocated it” in a black plastic yard bag, and then for further good measure, & to make ME feel vindicated, I left the “remains” in the sun for further degradation in the black plastic, until trash pick-up day. No sense in letting it out wounded, if the bag ever ruptures.
Applications of Weed Free Zone at package recommended rates both Spring and Fall while St. Augustine is actively growing and when below 90 degrees high temps has been progressively successful at controlling/slowly eliminating V.B. in my lawn over time – like three years. I do not wait the full six-weeks between applications recommended – I go with about four weeks between applications and accept some temporary stress in the turf grass. I’ve gone from a gallon pump up sprayer and a wide infestation to spot treating this year with part of a quart spray bottle. Weed Free Zone breaks down and forms a thick scum in the container after a couple/three weeks (using city/treated water) so mix and use what is needed. I tried careful plant-by-plant successive applications of round-up in a control area treating during the same periods and had no better results and thats very labor intensive. It’s a war not a battle.
Well I haven’t dug up my yard and I haven’t tried confront but I have come up with what seems to be some consistencies in treatment.
1. Eradication will be near impossible. removing earth and treatment will only serve to control. It will exist as any other weed and spread through numerous natural methods and end up in a spot in your world and slowly take over again.
2. Fertilome Weed Free Zone controls it. I have not tried Confront, but have confidence in comments by posters that it works. once large clusters are eradicated, then continuous treatment seems to be necessary. I’ve only been monitoring closely for a 1.5yrs. now
3. So What. In South La., every weed known to man will thrive and I find it necessary to spray 2,4-d and Atrazine related products annually, mow regularly, at the right height, and fertilize. Both products cover most weeds with the exception of Bermuda grass and nutshedge.
Next year some damn hurricane will bring in some other trash like Poa Annua.
I am in south Louisiana, last year was a wet one here and the weed was rampant. This year I am praying for less rain. I have tried a few things, Roundup worked but temporarily. Then I tried ORTHO spray (attached to the hose). It worked only to well.. It killed the grass.The good news out of that was there it also killed the buttonweed in that area.. This year I am going with Fertilome Weed Free Zone. There seems to be a small amount of this buttonweed that has popped up this year. I miss my pretty lawn and am afraid to re-sod at this point in the event I have this monster weed return. It’s to much lawn to re-sod and then kill it with weed killers. And so the battles begins this spring. From what I have heard weed free zone should work.. I am trying the spot treatment. Good luck everyone with this pretty but hateful weed.
I live in so. Ala and have had buttonweed for at least 3 years and only discovered what it was last year. In October I used Fertilome Weed Free Zone in one area of my yard and so far this year haven’t seen any buttonweed in that area. In another area where it was so thick, I just dug the weed up and resodded. But it has come back with a vengence. So I am pulling up as much of it as I can and then spraying with Weed Free Zone. It has also spread to other areas and I am spot treating these areas with the WFZ. I maintain about 5 acres of grass, so I have to do something to try and control this monster.
Aubrey
Please go away..
I just came to this site to find out about buttonweed and now have another limp wristed lefty America hatin liberal telling me what to do. If I wanted to hear that crap I would go and watch PMSNBC. If you want to talk about unicorns,rainbows & fairy dust then friend Al Gore on facebook. Better yet, strap on your sandals & your berret, jump in your prius or hop on your moped go to the local coffe shop & read poetry with the rest of the sally’s.
I have to reply to Aubrey’s “man made global warming” comment. Typical liberal complaint. Any literate adult knows that climate change occurs. For example, the Rocky Mountains have been submerged at the bottom of a sea at least 7 times in the life of this planet, which is approximately 4 billion years old. Some climatologists actually suspect that we may be on the cusp of a cooling trend, one that is thousands of years in duration, as is this current trend we are in. Do you realize that the last major Ice Age ended about 9 thousand years ago? The warming trend began about 3000 years before that. According to my math, the warming began 12 thousand years ago. The glaciers melted and retreated, leaving us the Great Lakes up north and the loess hills around St. Francisville down south here in Louisiana. Sea levels around the world gradually rose, giving rise to a great, gradual migration of man around the world and isolating man on the many islands in the Pacific which are now, because of the water level change, separated by hundreds and thousands of miles. As witness to this, many caves showing evidence of ancient human habitation, have been found around the Mediterranean Sea…a hundred feet or more under water. And, this is only the last of the great Ice Ages to have occurred…there are records of several more. Oh, and did I mention that none of the Ice Ages were “anthropogenic”? No one was producing CO2 on an industrial scale, since the Industrial Revolution had yet to occur. So if the climate is indeed warming (the evidence was tainted by leftist researchers with a hard on for western civilization in general) why is it now the result of man’s activities? Oh, of course! The evil, industrialized West, personified by the evil Bush and the evil USA, are responsible for all the cultural and environmental ills of the world and must pay for their transgressions with a Carbon Tax. By the way, I hate Virginia Buttonweed.
I live in Louisana and I’ve found this devil weed in my St. Augustine. I’ve been battling it since late Spring. I’m using Weed Free Zone and have found that it kills the weed, but it comes back. I use a hand sprayer and I walk my yard every couple of days and spray the stuff. I can’t figure the weed out tho. Sometimes it comes back in the next couple of days, sometimes it’s a week, and occasionally it doesn’t come back at all in a spot I’ve sprayed. I continually find new areas where it’s growing. I wonder if mowing my yard doesn’t spread it(?). From what I’ve read here and on other websites, WFZ has the best blend of chemical killers. I think, until someone finds a product that will kill it and it’s roots, I’m going to be fighting a battle just to control it. So far I’ve kept it from taking over plots of my St. Aug like it did last year before I knew what I was facing. I’m spraying even in the Summer heat because otherwise it would take over my yard. The WFZ turns the St Aug a little yellow, but doesn’t kill it; plus the yellow areas help me find the spots I sprayed earlier so I know where to look for the evil one. I’m newly retired so I guess I’ve got my longterm project to keep me busy.
Just today had my vbw identified. Googled and found this site. My extension agent said to use Confront as has been mentioned here. Where do I get it? Help? I’m invaded big time. It’s been coming on for three years now and has taken over my front yard next to a county road. I’m fighting this summer heat to grow a fescue yard, so I water a lot. Now I find out the vbw loves water. My grass will die without water. What a conundrum.
A bad news follow up to my blog above. I just found out that VBW reproduces by seed, roots, and stem fragments. Just as I suspected, I’m probably introducing it into pristine parts of my yard when I mow. This may explain why it shows up in areas where it wasn’t present before. It’s just too hot (in southern Louisiana) to sit in the yard and pull it so I’m going to continue using WFZ. In the Fall and Spring I’m going on the offense tho and spray and pull like crazy. Good luck out there.
Hah, I see this weed in my sleep. I find myself jumping off the lawn mower to pull some only to realize that I am still pulling them out 30min later. When I get home from work I end up stepping out onto the yard and pulling weeds for 15min.
I use one of the larger residential lawncare contractors and they say its pretty much the thing that drives them nuts. My guy says you can slow it down during the summer months (Im in NW FL), but really the only thing you can do is go at it full force in late fall and then again in spring. As has been already stated, this weed reproduces in a variety of ways (seeds, clippings, developed root system) so it’s quite resilient. So anyone reading this thread hoping to find a quick answer, you aren’t going to find one. I cant remember if my contractor said this or I read it somewhere, but as most of us know, you can often times kill the weed, roots included, but the protective outerlayer of the seed quite often shields the internals which then allow the plant to seemingly come back from the dead.
That being said, after reading around the web, and culling as much info as I can, I plan on spot treating with these three products in addition to the lawncare contractor because it is apparent that a consistent course of treatment is the only truly effective one.
*Mansion
*WeedFreeZone
*Confront
I have also seen recommendations for Trimec and Super Trimec, however there is conflicting reports (I have read a lot) that it will kill or yellow out your St. Augustine. So I will save that one as a somewhat last ditch option…my nuclear option. I am unwilling to remove the offending sod since without an effective treatment, it will probably just find it’s way back to your yard from your neighbors.
Funny thing is my guy said that for grasses such as turf grasses for golf courses and such, they have a very good chem solution that will effectively wipe it out…the problem is for us…the money is obviously in the weed killing research for commercial applications and not so much in the home market. And I can understand that, but it doesn’t make it any less painful when I look at my lawn.
I swear those white flowers are both a blessing (because sometimes you can’t see the weeds and the flower helps you locate them) and a curse (because I swear it’s like that stuff is just taunting me, showing me how ineffective my money and efforts have been to this point).
I’ve sprayed 3 straight weeks and have numbed the VBW. Can’t say I’ve killed it, but there are a lot of brown spots now. I used Ortho Weed-B-Gone for Southern Lawns. Will just keep spraying, and spraying, and spraying…….
To get back on topic, Virginia Buttonweed does have some herbicidal enemies. Read through this notice from UT department of Turfgrass Science. It outlines exactly which hebicides to use without killing other species of grass that you may want to keep.
I have a bermuda lawn. My favorite product to use on button weed is lesco’s thre-way. I think it is a combination of 2-4d, mcpp, and dicamba. I have noticed a lot of post about st. augustine and not sure if it is safe for that grass. I have a little over an acre of bermuda and hate button weed. I have skimmed through the posts and havent noticed anyone mention fertilizing. i love to use the lesco three way wait 2-3 days for the button weed to turn black and wither then fertilize that spot. By the time i start to treat the button weed it is usually around a 2-3 square foot area. the fertilizer should help the bermuda grow back quickly and choke the button weed out.
careful with the 3 way. i went by the instructions for my 2 1/2 gallons sprayer and it killed my grass the first time i used it. i took it down to the local golf course and the greenskeeper helped me calibrate it. He put die and water in the sprayer and had me paint a big square. i ended up using half of what the direction said to. he is also the one that gave me the tip about fertilizing afterwards.
DFW, TX area: I have been duking it out with this vile freak weed for 5 years, and consistently losing. One company said Celsius was the only effective treatment they were aware of. The labelling says the treatment is so strong, you’d better take the pets off the street for the day. I had it put down for a spot treatment (wherever we could see those flowers), and I’m not sure enough time has gone by to see if it worked – to any degree. The labelling does advise that a 2nd treatment may be needed. I will report back when I think it’s had a chance to show its results.
This is the most god awful weed in the world. It has taken over large sections of my backyard and some in the front. Do you think your button weed is harmless in the winter? Wrong. If you take a look at it and the ground around it you will see little brownish seeds. These seeds are very light weight and drop during the winter and blow all over your yard, thus causing this devilish weed to pop up anywhere. So even if you think you’ve beat it…you may get it from a neighbor on a windy day and have a bad surprise in spring. It’s best to have them all pulled up(even if you cant get the root) before they go dormant to avoid it spreading its seeds.
Update on VBW in Louisiana. Still fighting the devil weed, but have been at least keeping it from getting out of hand. Tried pulling it last year, but it’s just too hot in LA in the summer to keep that up. I’ve had success by systematically walking my yard a couple of times a week and specifically targeting the weed’s leaves with Weed Free Zone. It kills that particular sprig. It also turns my St. Augustine yellow, but that’s not neccessarily a bad thing. On my next round later in the week, I know where I last sprayed and I can make sure I killed that sprig and look around for other sprigs. I’ve learned that when I find a sprig, I look around that area because there’s probably more close by. Good luck out there.
From Louisiana…what I’ve learned about VBW. I’ve been holding it at bay using Weed Free Zone and spot treating as I see it. Learn to identify it in St. Aug or whatever your grass is. As I walk the yard (about once/week) I try to look past the grass “canopy” to see the new sprouts. If I spot some, I always look in about a 3-4 four ft diameter circle because there’s usually more. In my yard, it likes the low-lying areas that stay a little more wet than the rest of the yard. Also, I don’t find it in shaded areas much at all, i.e. under a tree canopy. It seems to like to have more sunshine. I’ve been able to keep it from taking over my St. Aug, but it’s a weekly battle.
Aubrey is crazy. Buttonweed is extremely slippery when wet. Lets have all tree huggers try to navigate on this wet slippery menace. When it takes over you lawn you cannot even mow it because it clogs up the mower due to the wet slippery content. I have eradicated my entire lawn after Katrina with roundup. Resodded at great expense , No good devil weed back everywhere. I have p reemergence treated, spot treated with weed free zone three times this year. Pulled up garbage bags full all year. It is now Sept. 2012 still fighting.
![By Jomegat (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Diodia_virginiana_4909.JPG)
Comments
Use Confront by Dow to kill it..
i also have virginia buttonweed, i called roundup and they said to use “weed be gone”
it works very well although it doesn’t kill it for good
i use a 2 gallon sprayer for spots spraying
good luck
weed be gone did not work for me. On one LARGE button weed coming up through a crack in the concrete I put it on full strength and it did not kill it.
I have tried roundup and 24D, I got a slow kill or though I thought, it killed the heck out of my san augustine grass. A few months later, the virgina buttonweed was back. I talked to a PHD at Texas A&M in College Station and he told me there was no research of which he had knowledge that was being done to eradict virgina buttonweed. I am at the point of pulling my hair out. I do know one thing-if you mulch when you mow you will spread the heck out of it.
@ Billy: I’ve used Roundup over the entire area several times. Last summer was really hot and dry here, and Roundup killed everything in the area. As the buttonweed tried to fill back in, I sprayed it again and it died. In the fall, I planted grass and it filled in quickly. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t see buttonweed coming back up when warmer weather arrives, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
I also have had an outbreak of buttonweed over the past 3 years. The one and only thing I have found that makes any difference is to spray with the Roundup Extended Control, and let it die, spray again (even though it is dead)and give it a week in the sun. And then, this is the kicker, I took and dug 12″ inches of soil down and in each direction from the center of the growth, and I hauled the dirt away, put new dirt in, and put new sod down. I have St. Augustine grass, as many people do in the south. I did that year one, and now two years later, nothing has yet to come back in that same spot. The second year, did it in another growth spot, and once again, nothing as of yet. So last year I did it in the remaining areas that I had the buttonweed, and so far this spring I haven’t seen the DEVIL rear its ugly head yet. It is very labor intensive, due the digging and excavation involved, but it really works, without coming back. The root system in buttonweed is what makes it an impossible weed to kill. It grows up to 10 inches deep, thus why I dug 12 inches down. Anyway, good luck, if you take my advice, it has worked without fail for me.
Go with the first commenter and use Confront. You’ll probably have to order it online and it is very expensive, but it should last you many years due to its concentration.
I should add that my use of Confront *controls* the buttonweed–I have not eradicated it. So instead of having vast areas of the evil weed, I see small plants dotted about my lawn every weekend when I spray. I’m OK with this, as the buttonweed is now just one more target during my weekly spot treatment.
How often do you use weed b gone? Is this the spray on concentrate. The button weed has taken over. I just sodded last year. I wonder if it came with the sod? Just noticed this year. I have pulled the weed and the more I pull the more I see.I live in Georgia and called the Georgia extension service for advice.They said no product would kill the weed without killing my St. Augustine..Must be something to kill this stuff!!
We never had buttonweed here until after Hurricane Katrina – it must have blown it in from somewhere. It’s everywhere now and my only consolation is that it is green – oh well – interesting idea of digging down 12 inches, but my lawn is too far gone at this point. I do check back on this site periodically to see if there’s some new idea out there to kill the stuff.
Weed be Gone won’t touch it.and it spreads over the entire yard by fall.the Arg extension agent said to use confront twice.It will come closer to working better than abything else.
ihad luck with a spray called Mansion
ohmigosh! i have been digging a virginia buttonweed root system that must have been established in my flowerbed for years. for the past several years, i’ve pulled it, but when i get to too large a root, i figured it was coming from the holly bush next to my flower bed, so i would quit & tuck it in. well, this year, i took EVERYTHING out of that bed & began to pull at those roots, while being careful not to break them…so i could get to the root of all this evil… it breaks very easily near the surface of the soil, and leading up to the big fat woody roots. i pulled one that was 1/2″ wide and about 6′ long before it finally broke off! my husband thinks i’ve lost my mind. i’ve been after these roots for 2 months. i’ve gotten to one so fat, i had to cut it, it’s over an inch in diameter!!! but i’m keeping segments of the roots and planting them to prove to him that it is that damn weed! i soaked a cloth with roundup and put it over the cut section of root, put a plastic over it & rubber-banded it…. that killed a portion of it, but there’s more. hundreds & hundreds of tiny sprouts will start up after about a week of digging- from the root AND from zillions of tiny seeds in the ground. i think the roots are why it keeps coming back & i think they are almost impossible to follow. when you pull off the top part of the plant, it just grows stronger underground. and it’s very hard to get all the broken root segments out- they make new weeds, too. i’m obsessed.
You all have me terribly discouraged! Has anyone tried Trimec? Read online that works with repeated applications but have not been able to find it in local stores.
I’ll have to check into Mansion and Confront – thanks! We had our yard professionally sprayed about a month ago (two applications, about 10 days apart). It cost me $150 for the treatments and the devil weed is back. I wasn’t able to get anything at Lowes or Home Depot that would touch it without killing the lawn, too.
Why someone who has this plant would be bothered by it is the question. And a second question is why anyone would use a herbicide to kill a native plant. Enormous waste of resources and a threat to other plants and the ecosystem. We discovered it today in our yard and photographed it and I am considering transplanting it. Mowing is a another huge waste of resources and causes a lot of pollution. Mowing should be allowed only by permit, except for making hay two or three times a year. The manufacture and sale of pesticides should be outlawed. Reading this thread makes me wonder whether all the posters simply work for major chemical companies. Learning more about the value of sustainable yards might make some of you change your mindset and make you a lot happier.
Hi Aubrey,
I agree with you on this one. I HATE Roundup and refuse to use it, even on this weedy beast growing in our yard!
We only use organic products in our yard & garden. I believe it’s way safer for us and when the Grandkids and pets are on the lawn, we don’t need to worry if they’re getting any chemicals from playing on the lawn.
Susan
I am a small time business owner in the lawn care business. I treat a variety of invasive species, but Virginia buttonweed is in the top 2. Virginia buttonweed is a problem primarily because it grows in the finer lawn turfs of the south and many of us who care about the appearance of our lawns become distressed when we are attacked by this species. It may be present in other areas. I have tried a variety of treatments ( I have splotches in my own yard) pulling it out,digging, treating with a variety of lawn chemicals. The key is preventing photosynthesis in this plant. You could nuke it out with round up (or other glyphosate products)but you would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. If it is a small area put a blackout over the area (a board, a peice of plastic or something of this nature). A metsulfuron product can be very good if you are persistent such as spraying the affected area on a regular basis for a period of 6 weeks. It can be initially expensive but if you have a small pump up sprayer you may focus the spray specifically on the affected area and make a 2 ounce container last a very long time. In all the strategies I use I try to stop the photosynthetic process. As for you Aubrey, why don’t you try smoking it. You are a very rude disgusting communistic pig of a person who has no consideration for the fine people who post and seem to care about others.
I am a self employed lawn care professional spraying lawns in coastal Ga. for 14 years. Try ronstar in Feb. as a preemergent then image @ so. trimec at the lower rates after greenup. This will help control it in st. aug. @ centipede with out injury. Be careful!
I haven’t tried it yet, but I have been told and read reports that Wipe-Out Tough Weed works well although it may take several applications.
I am also having a big problem with Virginia Buttonweed. I live in coastal Georgia. Where can I find ronstar or/and trimec in our area? I have seen image in Home Depot.
It looks like many products treat Virginia Buttonweed;but MARE SURE your St. Augustine is Not “Floratam St. Augustine”. I used Bayer product. It killed Virginia buttonweed for sure…my lawn also. Please read product information first.
Careful, C. Sam. You too could be called “a very rude disgusting communistic pig of a person who has no consideration for the fine people who post and seem to care about others,” by some peddler of environmental poison, as I was a few months ago.
I sincerely do not understand why some people want a monoculture lawn rather than a FREE native-plant yard. Is using herbicides necessary to satisfy some anti-natural desire? On the other hand, the diversity of human beings is as important and interesting as the diversity of plants and other animals on our planet.
Weird when someone MAKING MONEY off his poison sales calls a purist a name that some may consider derogatory. Sounded like someone from the Cold War Era who doesn’t know it is over.
grass is a natural part of the enviroment a free turf as you say can be made up of poison ivy poison oak would we all like that in our lawn or how about burr’s though a free lawn may be envormentally freindly round up is only poisonious till it drys then its no more it evaporates and only infecting the area it has touched you must do research before you say its all about the money when in fact i HAVE YET TO MEET VERY MANY RICH GROUNDSKEEPERS and if you do meet a rich grounds keeper tell him to get in touch with me so i can work for him :)
I googled my way to this website trying to find a permanent solution for my V.B. problem. My neighbors have been hit harder by this pest that I have, and I’ve had some success with a product called “Weed Free Zone”. It will definitely damage your turf grass if you get to aggressive. So be careful. Aubrey, relax. Humans are part of nature too. Try to think of it this way. We are just trying to take care of our nests like birds and fish and snakes. Have you ever seen what beavers or muskrats do to their environment. If you had a job with an evil corporation, and earned obsene salaries enabling us to rape and pillage the planet by caring for our unfairly obtained large, evironmentally unfriendly “nests”, as most of us posters do, you might understand. Forget Virginia Buttonweed. Does anyone have product or method that will work on Aubrey???
Kevin, Aubrey is a good example of the problem I have with this buttonweed in my yard. And like the buttonweed, nothing will completely get rid of it.
i haver bermuda and was told a mixture of 2 4 d and msma will work does any one have comments on this
Well I have read all of the above comments and recomandations and have come to the conclusion that it is here to stay and there4 is nothjing that can be done to eleminate it, only to control it. I am a 69 year old and retired and hsve found it very relaxing to go out in the cool of the late afternoons here in Alabama and pull the virginia buttonweed that grows im my zoyza lawn. I guess is about as good as anything I have read thus far. As for Aubrey, he seems to be some kind of a weird dude who has alot to say about something he knows nothing about, is probably one of these very liberal pot smoking democrats and graduated from Al Gore university.
I am also going to turn 70 years of age before the end of this year. I am a Methodist, a Democrat and have a master’s degree from a university in the deep south.
I became a conservationist and accept being called an environmental conservationist after growing up fishing and hunting and witnessing the damage done to the cypress swamps and pristine bayous of north Louisiana in the 1940s and fifties.
I notice that Christianity is a subject of some threads on this site. Any of you guys ever read up on a group called Caring for Creation? Its site is worthy of a visit, regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof.
Would the creator want human beings to destroy His work. I think not.
Those little native plants are so persistent because in a natural woodland or prairie, they would be fighting many other native species to survive. They don’t require watering or mowing. Just enjoy them.
And consider learning about native U.S. species and learning the many reasons to admire them ann allow them to occupy a part of your “nesting space.”
And please consider actually planting some native wildflowers and watch the annual succession of flowers that rise from their roots each year and others that seed themselves naturally.
Please consider learning about the interdependence of native insects and other animals and the native plants.
The life cycle of the monarch butterfly is one of the most widely publicized. But all the benefiicial insects depend on native plants for their existence.
A patch of ground without native plants such as turf grass or any kind of popular yard grass creates a monoculture where only a few native species, plant or animal, exist.
The Walmart doesn’t pollinate the plants on which we depend for food. Historically, the native pollinators did the job quite well. American agriculturists imported the honeybee from Europe to supplement the work. Now the honeybees are dying off and areas such as your carefully tended lawns don’t support enough native bees and related pollinators to support agriculture.
So please consider allowing the dandelions and the clover to grown and all the native plants you like enough to add. Reduce your mowing (which wastes fuel and pollutes the air), reduce your watering, reduce your expenses.
Don’t fight nature, learn to look at a tallgrass prairie and appreciate it. Learn to be at peace with nature. You are a part of it. Accept that reality and relax!
Mal…don’t mix MSMA with anything, you will most likely turn it into a chemical torch. MSMA is good for one thing, torching dallasgrass it will brown the bermuda and kill centipede, augustine and zoiysa upon contact. MSMA is extreme and contains trace arsenic and will pulled from the marketplace in 2010.
So far after talking with my father whos lived on the Gulf Coast for years and has dealt with nothing but ST Augustine grass, mansion seems to be the best bet for controlling buttonweed.
Aubrey, Hayfever (the pollen that comes with weeds), the native insects that live in the native plants, and I love the smell of freshly cut grass, and having a nice non natural species lawn to relax in keeps me in this business.
“Love ye not the things of the world, for they shall let you down”
Oh and the reason we got so many oil wells in the middle of the ocean that cant be fixed a mile down, is guys like Aubrey voted to have areas like anwar shut down.
The polar bear you just saved may be the one that just ate you…..
has anone tried this product?
CRABGRASS KILLER By Garden Weasel AG – One 2 lb Powder
it is supposed to control this little menace. i haven’t tried anthing yet, but i need to do something.
Please read “Bringing Nature Home: How you can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.”
I will bet it changes you thinking about your monoculture lawn if you dare read it. It was written by Douglas W. Tallamy, a professor of entomology.
On this site, I read nothing that indicates the posters or the landscape “professionals” who post here have ever thought for a moment about our world’s beneficial insects or any of the value of native species of plants and wildlife.
I read about your herbicides and pesticides and, in fairness, would hope that you all would consider alternative ideas.
Indiana lists the buttonweed as threatened and New Jersey lists the “larger buttonweed” as endangered.
The solution to the “problem” you guys describe may be planting native species of tallgrass and native forbs and vines and enjoying what your ancestors found when they came to this continent. The buttonweed won’t even compete well with a wide variety of native species and you will learn to appreciate it with all the butterflies and other native pollinators that will soon appear in your yard. Please consider the wonder reality if you stop living in a mono-cultural desert.
Just curious about how to eliminate buttonweed, but, of course, became interested in the drama between Aubrey and… just about everyone else. I am loathe to spread poison on my lawn and planted areas (no matter how quickly it “evaporates”) and it fascinates me how quick people are to rationalize the act of contributing to the destruction of the environment. Why so threatened by Aubrey’s position? He seems quite educated about maintaining the natural world and we should all be so open-minded about what can be considered a beautiful yard. We homeowners have truly been brainwashed to think that only perfect, green rectangles and contained plant beds are acceptable. I am guilty of this, too, and feel that Aubrey has given me a bit of an education.
On buttonweed I’ve tried Round-up (lovely but temporary kill) and I’ve tried digging it up after it reappeared. Had no IDEA I neede to excavate down a foot! Scott’s lawn service can’t eradicate it, even though I’ve identified it for them. (Wonder if I should fire them?) I don’t want this INVASIVE weed. (I don’t want KUDZU either, Aubrey!) Va Tech has a study on 4 different products that can be used on it & found Confront (used at least twice) had the best results (76% eradication). For those of us who live in towns or cities, we can’t GO with a lawn of long grasses[Aubrey] because the city or town will fine you, if it isn’t kept CUT short.
My aunt tried to let her lawn go natural & they threatened if she didn’t cut it within so many days, they’d HIRE a company & she would get the bill. And she didn’t even have a homeowner’s assoc. to deal with – unlike many of us.
Please read up on the benefits of planting native and then lobby your city council to create a natural-lawn ordinance. You really don’t need to put all that time and money into trying to create an unnatural monoculture.
Lobbying my town or city will take a lot longer than “hit” I am going to take out on the buttonweed in my lawn (which I happen to HATE). And the homeowner’s associations for sub-divisions have their OWN rules & can fine you daily or put a LIEN on your proterty if you don’t follow them, including keeping your grass cut & what type you can have – in some cases. (Talk about silly!)
BTW, the VA buttonweed is NOT on any endangered list. It is rampant thru the south & as this list proves…hard to kill. But I will take it on, as a new MISSION in life. BTW, for those of you who do want to eradicate yours, vs turning the other cheek: while it is flowering, is an excellent time to use herbicide, according to another article I just read. Vinegar & orange oil don’t work as “natural” solutions on this weed. You can try up to 20% stength on the vinegar & Buttonweed (key word WEED) will laugh at you.
Unlike Virginia Buttonweed, maybe if everyone ignores it, (the IT being Aubrey)it will die off.
Mrs. Owens, with all due respect, where exactly do you see this “destruction”. My yard and all my neighbor’s yards seem to be very healthy. Nowhere around me can I find evidence that my environment has been destroyed. The water in my neighbor’s pond has never looked as clean, the air around me has never appeared as clear, and my pet, according to the vet, is as healthy as ever. However, I have read recently that mosquito borne illnesses are on the rise and millions suffer needlessly as a result of the overzealous regulation of certain pesticides. I think that some of us forget that humans are part of nature, too. (Top of the food chain, luckily.)
As far as feeling threatened by Aubrey, are you kidding? Please don’t confuse the formulation of a rational rebuttal with a reaction bred from a perceived threat. I’ve learned that fear is most often actually born of ignorance.
I assure and you that none of us wants to destroy the environment. But, I did like my environment more before Buttonweed invaded it. I’m also not a big fan of dollar weed and crabgrass. Luckily, humans have at least some control over their immediate environment (at least in the U.S. and at least for now). I like to walk barefoot (naturally) through my nice, cool, green, PURE centipede.
Back to V.B. “Weed Free Zone” WILL kill your turf grass if sprayed broadcast style BEFORE temps cool down for good in the late fall. But this product will affectively inhibit the re emergence of V.B. the next season. An effective warm weather alternative (but will still stunt the turfgrass a bit) is a product called “Clear Pasture”. Must be diluted heavily, however. Something like 1/8 teaspoon per gal.
NO EASY WAY..PULL IT OUT BY,THEN SPRAY,I SPRAYED WEED MASTER MIXED WITH CLEAR PASTURE.1 QUART WEED MASTER ,1/2 OZ CLEAR PASTURE TO 10 GALLONS WATER.IN THIS HOT WEATHER IT WILL BURN GRASS.IT TAKES 3 TO 4 TREATMENTS.IT LOOKS UGLY THIS YEAR,BUT NEXT YEAR WILL LOOK GOOD.SPOT TREAT.
Born on a north Louisiana farm in 1912, my father enjoyed good health until he gained weight in retirement and discovered a swelling on this right leg in his 70s. He showed the ugly growth to his doctor, who asked. Mr. Shepherd, when you were working the cotton field on your family’s farm, where did you carry your pesticide bag?
“It always hung from my belt loop on the right side.”
The doctor said, “so it slapped against your leg every step you took?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Dad said to the doctor.
You get the idea, I hope. It took decades to see the damage done by the pesticides and herbicides of the first half of the 20th century;. You may not know the damage the much-discussed “safe chemicals” some of the posters on this site are using until you are 70 years old and go to your doctor with a problem. Is destroying a tiny wildflower really worth the risk?
Aubrey, can you just shut up a minute. Treehuggers and Greenpeace all have a place in the world as far as I’m concerned………but…2nd try…has anyone tried this product on Buttonweed
CRABGRASS KILLER By Garden Weasel AG – One 2 lb Powder
apparantly some other bloggers say it kills buttonweed.
Wayne, my neighbor and I both had the same type experience. After a slow start last this spring due to last year’s late summer chemical warfare on V. B., our lawns are now finally blossoming into the proud “monoculture” of turfgrass we once had. spot treatments seam to be keeping the weed at bay. Not so lucky for several other neighbors. For most people in opur community, this year is worse than last. Btw, NO ONE I know locally had this problem until it showed up about 5 years ago. The greenskeeper at a nearby golf course (sharp dude)said it blew in with Katrina.
Aubrey, I hope your father enjoyed a long fulfilling life. But your dad’s Dr. had a %50 percent chance at his brilliant diagnoses. Luckily, he didn’t carry his pesticide sack around his neck.
Two questions for ya.
1. Does it bother you when Buttonweeed (or any other weed) chokes out other weeds, or do you only have a problem with turfgrasses and plants people actually enjoy?
2. How consistent are you with this chemical free, “native species only”, ala naturale mentality. Forgive me for crudeness, but I’m sure you brush your teeth. But does it bother you when you tamper with your body’s natural flora by “destroying the germs that cause gingavitis”?
Any botanists or zoologists on this blog? I imagine some PR folk who work for chemical companies are on here. In the natural prairie areas that haven’t been converted to fescue and other invasive species in Northwest Arkansas, I rarely find enough buttonweed to be significant. In a natural mix, it doesn’t dominate. Kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle may not dominate in the places from which they were imported.
Thank you Aubrey for you persistence in fighting the people’s unfounded prejudices against Virginia buttonweed. I love this plant. I think it is beautiful, and don’t understand why people are trying to eradicate it. A lawn made up entirely of buttonweed would be much more attractive than bermuda grass, in my opinion. This plant is doing really well, even in full sun and very hot and dry weather (August in Houston,TX) without supplemental watering. It started showing up in my lawn on its own, but I hope it actually takes over the lawn, because it is thick and luscious, and has attractive small white flowers. It also attracts bees/pollinators and other wildlife. It sprawls on the ground, and therefore does not require mowing. why has no one thought about using this plant in the lawn, instead of your typical bermuda grass?
I read your stuff. Read mine if you dare. Converting lawns to tiny bits of native prairie plants is an important part of the effort to bring peace to the earth, reduce the effect of manmade global-climate change and cause me to be a silent ghost when I die. And apparently a lot of you guys are hoping for the final item if not the first two.
“Converting lawns to tiny bits of native prairie plants is an important part of the effort to bring peace to the earth”
…”reduce the effect of manmade global-climate change”
…”and cause me to be a silent ghost when I die. And apparently a lot of you guys are hoping for the final item.”
Oh honey, I’ve already sprayed you (mentally) with 2-4-D. (I’m just waiting for it to work.)
Surely you guys can discuss a weed without resorting to wishing one another dead! ;)
Lulu,
I understand that some of these people fear nature and want to conquer it. And I was in four years of ARMY ROTC and 8 years of Coast Guard Reserve and understand how the urge to make everyone look and act alike can dominate the thinking of anyone who has tried to manage a platoon or keep a ship on course.
I find the Virginia buttonweed a peaceful resident in the remnants of tallgrass prairie on the Ozark Plateau and season sunken wetland near my home but am intrigued by the possibiility of actually encouraging some to replace vinca and other nonnative groundcover in my own yard.
We don’t have to mow but we do want to get as close to purely native as possible. Mostly, we just enjoy whatever nature provides. Or God provides. Some people on this blog may not want to accept what God or nature provide.
I am amazed at the anger they express against PLANTS of any species. If the grass doesn’t grow so they can mow they feel like frustrated drill sergeants with only bald guys in their companies who can’t be intimidated into submission by a weekly head-shaving or crewcut.
Aubrey said: “Some people on this blog may not want to accept what God or nature provide.”
I’ve always had a problem with that argument. What about a child born with a hair lip, or a person with a huge, unsightly mole? Are we supposed to accept both things and blame God?
Aubrey, you make a good point every once in a while, but you are guilty of the exact thing that you are railing against. If you want a natural yard, then have one, but you should stop trying to force your beliefs and views on everyone else. You talk about us wanting to conform to one another’s expectations of what a lawn should look like, while you tell us our lawns should look like yours.
It’s just a freaking weed! Do some research on it and you’ll find that it is listed as one of the most invasive and hard-to-control weeds around. Not to mention that it’s rather ugly when it gets a virus that turns it yellow.
you da man, brian
Aubrey, Humans ARE part of nature, “provided by God”, as you say.
If you love Buttonweed, allow it to grow. Feel free. Question: Do you, or do you not, daily, kill the natural germs in your mouth when you brush your teeth or gargle with “evil unnatual man made chemicals? Do you use deordorant? (please say yes). Do you cook your food or just graze? Just How much of a liberal hypocrite are you? Where do you draw the line? How do you decide where to draw the line? Why is the line you draw more righteous than mine? I like St. Augustine in my Louisiana yard, not Buttonweed from VIRGINIA. Can’t you find a more meaningful reason to live????? I really don’t mean to sound so harsh, but SNAP OUT OF IT, MAN!!!!!
lulu, as a Houston resident, have you considered st. augustine or centipede, as opposed to bermuda?
I give up! Aubreymania as taken over the discussion on the weeds eradication. I’ll post elsewhere.
Aubrey……….have you tried smoking it? Let us know the result if you have or decide to.
OK all stuff aside people!!! This strand is about getting this weed under control. I live in Southern La and my lawn is almost two acres big. It was cane fields many many years ago and when we worked this land we planted St. Augustine. I love my lawn and this weed has inidated my lawn that took over 15 years to get covered with St. Augustine. We just bought Weed Be Gone Max for southern lawns and will try that. We have wayyyy toooo much to hand pull as it took us too long to figure out what this is and it seems to be the DEVIL of weeds. If this does not work, we will be at a point to simply take our tractor and pull up the WHOLE yard and work it over hauling away the top of the soil and getting trucks of more soil. Now we know what we are facing and took to long to figure out what it is and how to manage it. I would love to know who has actually been able to exterminate this curse of a week in their lawn!!! Every strand and page I have read is detail of how hard this week is to get rid of. HELP HELP HELP……I DO NOT want to uproot my whole lawn to get rid of this! I will let you all know what the Weed Be Gone does. My husband has even hit spots of it with roundup and we know what happens with that!!
I live in SE Tex. No prob w/ this weed before Rita. My “yard” is over an acre. The weed now has a hold in most of it. I applied Ortho Weed B Gon for So Lawn (my lawn is mostly St Aug.). All the flowers dropped, but no other visible effect. Am going to try Ferti-lome Weed Free Zone (2,4-D plus Mecoprop plus dicambra plus carfentrazone) as soon as the temp drops. Weed B gon has the same chems, but at a much reduced strength. Still hoping someone will report complete success – without soil removal.
Thanks Barney. Let me know what the Ferti-lome Weed Free Zone does. My husband mixed a small batch of the Weed-B-Gone Max yesterday and spot sprayed some areas. We will see what happens and will keep posted. There has to be something out there that kills this horrible weed. We may even try to wait till Spring to try again as that is the best time of year to place anything on this weed it seems. The winter temps do not even touch this thing!!!
Perhaps you have read the great e-mail passaround, “God’s thoughts on lawns,” which begins, “What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, bees, and flocks of songbirds.
I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now.
But, all I see are these green rectangles.”
In this story, God is asking Frank (St. Francis) about lawns, and Frank tells him that the tribe, “Suburbanites,” thought of those original plants as weeds and paid dearly to have them poisoned and replaced with grass, which looked best when watered, fertilized, and mowed. He also informed the Almighty that people then bought bags of ground-up trees as mulch to put around the small trees and shrubs they planted to replace the ones they had cut down. God, head spinning, was aghast of course, and mumbled that humans also consider themselves a higher form of intelligent life.
What could have added to God’s confusion as well is that instead of using plants that were naturally adapted to the soil and climate of their special locations, explorers traveled the world to find other plants to grow in place of what was “native.” Like the colors on an artist’s palette, plants have been moved across continents to decorate gardens and yards, but as in most cases when people mess with Mother Nature, this tinkering has thrown a wrench in the works.
Aubrey…with all due respect..this is for us to discuss the issue we are having with Virgina Buttonweed. I respect your beliefs and that is your beliefs, perhaps not all individuals. If you want a natural lawn, that is your choice and totally up to you. Personally, I choose to have my St. Augustine coverd lawn and that is my choice to have. Just like there are lots of “natural” alternatives to maintain our health instead of treatments and medications, individuals choose their course of health care. This is the same prinical. I am looking for help to maintain a lawn I choose to have and not what someone else would say to leave grow there. If you can guide me to get rid of this partiular type of weed, that would be terrific so that I can have my St. Augustine lawn back. This is not about Christianity or going “green and natural”. If we choose to do this (going natural), there are many many resources that can be pulled to do so out there.
Aubry, God said to man in Genesis to “subdue the earth.” I have buttonweed and I am trying to get rid of it too. I was told by the horticulture company who takes care of our yard that this is a VERY difficult weed to control. The best thing to do is pull it up when you see it. We have 3 acres of grass and that is not always so practical. Another idea is if when you cut your grass try to bag it instead of mulching it.
The Weed B Gone Max so far has not produced results. We put it accroding to the directions in spots. The tried stronger mix….still nothing. Now we are at a point where we put a small amount of the stuff full strength just to see what it will do. Sisi-how much of this weed is in your yard? Ours has very large coverage of it. I have not seen anthing yet of a product that actually gets rid of it yet.
Mary, we are in the country and we keep three acres mowed. The part around my house is a little less than an acre and I pull it out by hand and the rest is not really in sight of my house. I’ve seen a 20′x10′ patch with lots of smaller ones out there. My horticulture company says there is nothing on the market that will kill it yet. The only thing is to cripple it some. I hope it freezes back this winter.
We are in the country as well. From what I researched about this weed, the winter does not kill it. We thought the winter would take care of that and here we are at year two and it has inidated most of our acre of land. The Weed B Gone killed the small spot we put it on full strength and now we tried a large patch with the hose hook up mixed to get a more saturated cover. We will see what it does from there and with the St. Augustine grass. When the weather cools here, I may have to go and hand pull what I can for now. Will keep you posted.
If you bring in a normal native plant mix for your area, the
Diodia virginica will be minimized. It dominates plants that are not a normal part of a healthy native mix.
Subdue the earth Please provide an exact quotation from the king james version. I don’t remember that verse reading that way. Old age, you know.
I give up as others have done on this site!!!! I will get no where on this dicussion with Aubrey putting in his thoughts. Good luck to all!!!
OK, I’ll stop commenting on this thread. You guys are all invited to visit and comment on my sites if you choose.
http://aubunique.blogspot.com
You don’t have to agree with me to comment and share your ideas.
If you check my profile, you may even find one of my 50 sites of interest. We surely agree on something!
I find other threads on this site interesting but don’t have to comment to enjoy and learn from reading them.
For those of you with St. Augustine grass —use Fertilome Weedfrees Zone -liquid form. Mix .75 ounces to a gallon of water and spray. Repeat the process in two weeks and you will kill it.
I am going with Weedfree Zone in the liquid form now that temps are down. I was going to use apply closer to 1.5 – 2.0 oz in the first to kill the mat and then reapply smaller dose in 2-3 wks. with application of fertilizer in between. I’ve tried Bayer and Weed B Gone – temporary fixes.a Remember to follow instructions closely for Aubrey’s sake
To Aubrey: I appreciate what you are saying, however, this is not a native species and like Kudzu and extremists are obnoxious and inconsiderate to their surrounding. Your only positive contribution to this conversation was an alternative such as more non-native species to this area and also identified as undesirable. thanks but no thanks!
We found out what this weed was a little late. It has taken over our St.Aug lawn that took years to grow. We have tried many chemicals and have to much lawn to dig up. Has anyone had any luck with the weedfree zone?? This weed is spreading and making us crazy!
T., Diadio is a U.S. native but you may live outside its normal native range. With man-made global warming occurring, it is probably moving north.
I said I wouldn’t comment on this thread, but facts are facts and I am all about facts.
plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DIVI3
Just like the United States Aubrey, Multiculture is not working and will not work. EVER!!!!
We decided to tackle the problem in mid September by digging up (about an inch past the roots) the most offensive areas and laying fresh sod in its place. Followed by a recommended amount of winterizing fertilizer and the purchase of a bagger for the mower (instead of mulching), we’ll how well this works out by next summer. Hopefully this, combined with more digging/patching in, will keep the buttonweed manageable.
A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule. -Michael Pollan, author, journalism professor (b. 1955)
Management can we get this idiot Aubry banned so we can learn something. He has destroyed the entire value of this thread. Take a look at all the folks that no longer post here. Many have moved on… Hopefully he can find a life else where once banned from this forum.
I hate this weed I want my pretty yard back. I been pulling it up and it comes back my neighbors have been spray nothing works. I fill bad for the neighbor of the one guy that might not want a natural yard.
Wow! I never expected to see my post above come thru… does that mean Aubrey got banned.. hope so… this is such an interesting and helpful thread I hate to see folks leave the forum cause the got aggravated by comments like that, that do not help us kill button weed which is the reason for this thread.
Well… I have one of the most common commercial yard treaters on contract to get rid of my button weed. Signed up today… The company is a well known Nation wide company but I won’t say the name for fear of getting banned. But if it works I will come back and give you the Company name and how he did it.
But here is the deal… they claim they can rid you of all weeds including button weed, and offer 7 treatments of fertilizer and weed killer… They currently offer a special for the first treatment at $29.95… They also offer a 10% discount if paid all at once.. but I am holding off on that since I suspect I will be cancelling after the second application.
They just put down the first treatment and boy was I impressed… he went from start to finish spraying heavily every single inch of my yard. Now for all I know he was spraying water but he did a good job of covering. I know it had something in it as it had a strong oder. He even offered to come back in two weeks and spray again. He says the weeds (button weed) will be gone or he will spray till they go. I reminded him of the warranty they offer… if unsatisfied, I get refund of the last treatment and they will darken my door never more..
So here is the deal.. I paid $29.95 and for the first treatment and he sprays heavily that day and promised to return in two weeks and do it again(1st treatment)…. then when the next treatment is due, I pay 59.95 and he will call him back many times as necessary to keep the damn button weeds in hiding and before the next treatment is due… if I see one button weed… then if the buttons are still present, after many treatments… I will cancel just before the next treatment is due and Demand a refund of my last payment which is the $59.95 and will be completely satisifed with all that work they gave me and chemical (assuming its not water) for a total of $29.95 it will be worth that much…
I told him I would be posting his name and company on my front lawn if it failed stating “Button Weed” presented by “Buddy” from “His Company Name.” he agreed…. and besides there seed is about one hundred + seed costs and he offered to seed it for me if I just get two bags of seed for $23.00 from my local home depot and leave them in the back yard. Maybe he is just hungry.. but so far I love this guy…. hell if he fails I may even feel so bad that I end up not asking for a refund…. More to come… I will let you know as soon as he gives up.
I hope I cannot get my refund… meaning he was successful….. keep your fingers crossed.
Tom
Check out my website, it may not have any button weed but you will like it…
Clarification: What I meant was they charge a hundred + fifty for seed, but said if I get the seeds he will spread it for free.. and I do not even need to buy his seeds… WOW! managmement probably won’t like that… hope they don’t read this thread.
I wish you folks the best of luck, but as I stated last August, spraying was very temporary despite everything I tried & the MAJOR lawn company tried. Yes, we saw complete DIE BACK, then the darn WEED came back with a vengence!! Excavation was the best answer for me. I immediately bagged the entire plant & “suffocated it” in a black plastic yard bag, and then for further good measure, & to make ME feel vindicated, I left the “remains” in the sun for further degradation in the black plastic, until trash pick-up day. No sense in letting it out wounded, if the bag ever ruptures.
Applications of Weed Free Zone at package recommended rates both Spring and Fall while St. Augustine is actively growing and when below 90 degrees high temps has been progressively successful at controlling/slowly eliminating V.B. in my lawn over time – like three years. I do not wait the full six-weeks between applications recommended – I go with about four weeks between applications and accept some temporary stress in the turf grass. I’ve gone from a gallon pump up sprayer and a wide infestation to spot treating this year with part of a quart spray bottle. Weed Free Zone breaks down and forms a thick scum in the container after a couple/three weeks (using city/treated water) so mix and use what is needed. I tried careful plant-by-plant successive applications of round-up in a control area treating during the same periods and had no better results and thats very labor intensive. It’s a war not a battle.
Well I haven’t dug up my yard and I haven’t tried confront but I have come up with what seems to be some consistencies in treatment.
1. Eradication will be near impossible. removing earth and treatment will only serve to control. It will exist as any other weed and spread through numerous natural methods and end up in a spot in your world and slowly take over again.
2. Fertilome Weed Free Zone controls it. I have not tried Confront, but have confidence in comments by posters that it works. once large clusters are eradicated, then continuous treatment seems to be necessary. I’ve only been monitoring closely for a 1.5yrs. now
3. So What. In South La., every weed known to man will thrive and I find it necessary to spray 2,4-d and Atrazine related products annually, mow regularly, at the right height, and fertilize. Both products cover most weeds with the exception of Bermuda grass and nutshedge.
Next year some damn hurricane will bring in some other trash like Poa Annua.
good luck turf lovers
I am in south Louisiana, last year was a wet one here and the weed was rampant. This year I am praying for less rain. I have tried a few things, Roundup worked but temporarily. Then I tried ORTHO spray (attached to the hose). It worked only to well.. It killed the grass.The good news out of that was there it also killed the buttonweed in that area.. This year I am going with Fertilome Weed Free Zone. There seems to be a small amount of this buttonweed that has popped up this year. I miss my pretty lawn and am afraid to re-sod at this point in the event I have this monster weed return. It’s to much lawn to re-sod and then kill it with weed killers. And so the battles begins this spring. From what I have heard weed free zone should work.. I am trying the spot treatment. Good luck everyone with this pretty but hateful weed.
I live in so. Ala and have had buttonweed for at least 3 years and only discovered what it was last year. In October I used Fertilome Weed Free Zone in one area of my yard and so far this year haven’t seen any buttonweed in that area. In another area where it was so thick, I just dug the weed up and resodded. But it has come back with a vengence. So I am pulling up as much of it as I can and then spraying with Weed Free Zone. It has also spread to other areas and I am spot treating these areas with the WFZ. I maintain about 5 acres of grass, so I have to do something to try and control this monster.
County Agent said he has had problems with VBW in his own yard. He says the ONLY thing that will get rid of it is called “Manor”.
May take 2 applications, but I’m good with that.
Sounds like the plan to me.
…and Aubrey, we know your feelings about this ‘weed’, so go dry up and get a life.
Has anyone tried Bonied Weed Beater Ultra RTS or Bonide Weed Beater Ultra RTU? If so, what kind of result was found?
Aubrey
Please go away..
I just came to this site to find out about buttonweed and now have another limp wristed lefty America hatin liberal telling me what to do. If I wanted to hear that crap I would go and watch PMSNBC. If you want to talk about unicorns,rainbows & fairy dust then friend Al Gore on facebook. Better yet, strap on your sandals & your berret, jump in your prius or hop on your moped go to the local coffe shop & read poetry with the rest of the sally’s.
I have to reply to Aubrey’s “man made global warming” comment. Typical liberal complaint. Any literate adult knows that climate change occurs. For example, the Rocky Mountains have been submerged at the bottom of a sea at least 7 times in the life of this planet, which is approximately 4 billion years old. Some climatologists actually suspect that we may be on the cusp of a cooling trend, one that is thousands of years in duration, as is this current trend we are in. Do you realize that the last major Ice Age ended about 9 thousand years ago? The warming trend began about 3000 years before that. According to my math, the warming began 12 thousand years ago. The glaciers melted and retreated, leaving us the Great Lakes up north and the loess hills around St. Francisville down south here in Louisiana. Sea levels around the world gradually rose, giving rise to a great, gradual migration of man around the world and isolating man on the many islands in the Pacific which are now, because of the water level change, separated by hundreds and thousands of miles. As witness to this, many caves showing evidence of ancient human habitation, have been found around the Mediterranean Sea…a hundred feet or more under water. And, this is only the last of the great Ice Ages to have occurred…there are records of several more. Oh, and did I mention that none of the Ice Ages were “anthropogenic”? No one was producing CO2 on an industrial scale, since the Industrial Revolution had yet to occur. So if the climate is indeed warming (the evidence was tainted by leftist researchers with a hard on for western civilization in general) why is it now the result of man’s activities? Oh, of course! The evil, industrialized West, personified by the evil Bush and the evil USA, are responsible for all the cultural and environmental ills of the world and must pay for their transgressions with a Carbon Tax. By the way, I hate Virginia Buttonweed.
I live in Louisana and I’ve found this devil weed in my St. Augustine. I’ve been battling it since late Spring. I’m using Weed Free Zone and have found that it kills the weed, but it comes back. I use a hand sprayer and I walk my yard every couple of days and spray the stuff. I can’t figure the weed out tho. Sometimes it comes back in the next couple of days, sometimes it’s a week, and occasionally it doesn’t come back at all in a spot I’ve sprayed. I continually find new areas where it’s growing. I wonder if mowing my yard doesn’t spread it(?). From what I’ve read here and on other websites, WFZ has the best blend of chemical killers. I think, until someone finds a product that will kill it and it’s roots, I’m going to be fighting a battle just to control it. So far I’ve kept it from taking over plots of my St. Aug like it did last year before I knew what I was facing. I’m spraying even in the Summer heat because otherwise it would take over my yard. The WFZ turns the St Aug a little yellow, but doesn’t kill it; plus the yellow areas help me find the spots I sprayed earlier so I know where to look for the evil one. I’m newly retired so I guess I’ve got my longterm project to keep me busy.
Just today had my vbw identified. Googled and found this site. My extension agent said to use Confront as has been mentioned here. Where do I get it? Help? I’m invaded big time. It’s been coming on for three years now and has taken over my front yard next to a county road. I’m fighting this summer heat to grow a fescue yard, so I water a lot. Now I find out the vbw loves water. My grass will die without water. What a conundrum.
A bad news follow up to my blog above. I just found out that VBW reproduces by seed, roots, and stem fragments. Just as I suspected, I’m probably introducing it into pristine parts of my yard when I mow. This may explain why it shows up in areas where it wasn’t present before. It’s just too hot (in southern Louisiana) to sit in the yard and pull it so I’m going to continue using WFZ. In the Fall and Spring I’m going on the offense tho and spray and pull like crazy. Good luck out there.
Hah, I see this weed in my sleep. I find myself jumping off the lawn mower to pull some only to realize that I am still pulling them out 30min later. When I get home from work I end up stepping out onto the yard and pulling weeds for 15min.
I use one of the larger residential lawncare contractors and they say its pretty much the thing that drives them nuts. My guy says you can slow it down during the summer months (Im in NW FL), but really the only thing you can do is go at it full force in late fall and then again in spring. As has been already stated, this weed reproduces in a variety of ways (seeds, clippings, developed root system) so it’s quite resilient. So anyone reading this thread hoping to find a quick answer, you aren’t going to find one. I cant remember if my contractor said this or I read it somewhere, but as most of us know, you can often times kill the weed, roots included, but the protective outerlayer of the seed quite often shields the internals which then allow the plant to seemingly come back from the dead.
That being said, after reading around the web, and culling as much info as I can, I plan on spot treating with these three products in addition to the lawncare contractor because it is apparent that a consistent course of treatment is the only truly effective one.
*Mansion
*WeedFreeZone
*Confront
I have also seen recommendations for Trimec and Super Trimec, however there is conflicting reports (I have read a lot) that it will kill or yellow out your St. Augustine. So I will save that one as a somewhat last ditch option…my nuclear option. I am unwilling to remove the offending sod since without an effective treatment, it will probably just find it’s way back to your yard from your neighbors.
Funny thing is my guy said that for grasses such as turf grasses for golf courses and such, they have a very good chem solution that will effectively wipe it out…the problem is for us…the money is obviously in the weed killing research for commercial applications and not so much in the home market. And I can understand that, but it doesn’t make it any less painful when I look at my lawn.
I swear those white flowers are both a blessing (because sometimes you can’t see the weeds and the flower helps you locate them) and a curse (because I swear it’s like that stuff is just taunting me, showing me how ineffective my money and efforts have been to this point).
Good luck
I’ve sprayed 3 straight weeks and have numbed the VBW. Can’t say I’ve killed it, but there are a lot of brown spots now. I used Ortho Weed-B-Gone for Southern Lawns. Will just keep spraying, and spraying, and spraying…….
To get back on topic, Virginia Buttonweed does have some herbicidal enemies. Read through this notice from UT department of Turfgrass Science. It outlines exactly which hebicides to use without killing other species of grass that you may want to keep.
Enjoy!
I have a bermuda lawn. My favorite product to use on button weed is lesco’s thre-way. I think it is a combination of 2-4d, mcpp, and dicamba. I have noticed a lot of post about st. augustine and not sure if it is safe for that grass. I have a little over an acre of bermuda and hate button weed. I have skimmed through the posts and havent noticed anyone mention fertilizing. i love to use the lesco three way wait 2-3 days for the button weed to turn black and wither then fertilize that spot. By the time i start to treat the button weed it is usually around a 2-3 square foot area. the fertilizer should help the bermuda grow back quickly and choke the button weed out.
careful with the 3 way. i went by the instructions for my 2 1/2 gallons sprayer and it killed my grass the first time i used it. i took it down to the local golf course and the greenskeeper helped me calibrate it. He put die and water in the sprayer and had me paint a big square. i ended up using half of what the direction said to. he is also the one that gave me the tip about fertilizing afterwards.
DFW, TX area: I have been duking it out with this vile freak weed for 5 years, and consistently losing. One company said Celsius was the only effective treatment they were aware of. The labelling says the treatment is so strong, you’d better take the pets off the street for the day. I had it put down for a spot treatment (wherever we could see those flowers), and I’m not sure enough time has gone by to see if it worked – to any degree. The labelling does advise that a 2nd treatment may be needed. I will report back when I think it’s had a chance to show its results.
This is the most god awful weed in the world. It has taken over large sections of my backyard and some in the front. Do you think your button weed is harmless in the winter? Wrong. If you take a look at it and the ground around it you will see little brownish seeds. These seeds are very light weight and drop during the winter and blow all over your yard, thus causing this devilish weed to pop up anywhere. So even if you think you’ve beat it…you may get it from a neighbor on a windy day and have a bad surprise in spring. It’s best to have them all pulled up(even if you cant get the root) before they go dormant to avoid it spreading its seeds.
Update on VBW in Louisiana. Still fighting the devil weed, but have been at least keeping it from getting out of hand. Tried pulling it last year, but it’s just too hot in LA in the summer to keep that up. I’ve had success by systematically walking my yard a couple of times a week and specifically targeting the weed’s leaves with Weed Free Zone. It kills that particular sprig. It also turns my St. Augustine yellow, but that’s not neccessarily a bad thing. On my next round later in the week, I know where I last sprayed and I can make sure I killed that sprig and look around for other sprigs. I’ve learned that when I find a sprig, I look around that area because there’s probably more close by. Good luck out there.
Monument herbicide by Syngenta works well. Read label for mixing instructions. It works well on nutsedge as well. Ante up.
From Louisiana…what I’ve learned about VBW. I’ve been holding it at bay using Weed Free Zone and spot treating as I see it. Learn to identify it in St. Aug or whatever your grass is. As I walk the yard (about once/week) I try to look past the grass “canopy” to see the new sprouts. If I spot some, I always look in about a 3-4 four ft diameter circle because there’s usually more. In my yard, it likes the low-lying areas that stay a little more wet than the rest of the yard. Also, I don’t find it in shaded areas much at all, i.e. under a tree canopy. It seems to like to have more sunshine. I’ve been able to keep it from taking over my St. Aug, but it’s a weekly battle.
Aubrey is crazy. Buttonweed is extremely slippery when wet. Lets have all tree huggers try to navigate on this wet slippery menace. When it takes over you lawn you cannot even mow it because it clogs up the mower due to the wet slippery content. I have eradicated my entire lawn after Katrina with roundup. Resodded at great expense , No good devil weed back everywhere. I have p reemergence treated, spot treated with weed free zone three times this year. Pulled up garbage bags full all year. It is now Sept. 2012 still fighting.