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How to Get Rid of 3 Corner Jacks Weeds

A wet spring and summer means lots of weeds, so which ones do you have and what is the best way to get rid of them?

Hit them hard and hit them before they seed was the tip from weed agronomist Chris Butler.

"One of the [common weeds] has about 3,000 to 4,0000 seeds per plant," Mr Butler told ABC Adelaide's Weekends Talkback Gardening.

He said weeds generally fell into two categories — grassy or broadleaf — which determined how to treat them.

"Generally a broadleaf weed has a single stem and a tap root going into the ground.

"Grassy weeds have leaves that come up and a fibrous root system."

Red root

Red root or amaranthus in a garden.

Red root can be removed by hand if you are careful.( ABC Adelaide: Ashley Walsh )

"If you pulled this up carefully, that's a good way to remove [red root]," Mr Butler said.

"It doesn't set seed very early so you can pull it up effectively and put it in your mulch."

Mr Butler said if the weed was removed when the soil was still moist, a long tap weed would be revealed.

Recommended herbicide: MCPA and dicamba or glyphosate.

Caltrop

Caltrop weed

Caltrop has yellow flowers and seeds very early.( ABC Adelaide: Ashely Walsh )

"[Caltrop] comes up and flowers with a yellow flower," Mr Butler said.

"They flower and seed very, very early."

Mr Butler said if you have large weeds in the garden, they could be removed with a hand trowel as long as the long tap weed was also removed.

"Pick them up very carefully with the seeds and put them in the rubbish bin."

Recommended herbicide: Broadleaf spray with MCPA and dicamba or glyphosate or a mixture of both.

Pigweed

Pigweed or portulaca

Pigweed can be picked and eaten or killed off with boiling water.( ABC Adelaide: Ashley Walsh )

"[Pigweed] is often used as food by some people, it has a fleshy stem and can be eaten," Mr Butler said.

"A kettle full of boiling water will bring them down fairly well."

Mr Butler said the weed sets seed very quickly, so it needed to be acted on quickly.

Recommended herbicide: Broadleaf spray with MCPA and dicamba or glyphosate or a mixture of both.

Goose foot

Goose foot weed growing across soil.

Goose foot spreads quickly but can be controlled with mulch.( ABC Adelaide: Ashley Walsh )

"[Goose foot] seeds prolifically and all of the little white stuff along the stem are seeds," Mr Butler said.

"If you mulch heavily with wheaten straw or pea straw or bark chips you can generally control this."

Recommended herbicide: MCPA and dicamba or bromoxynil and MCPA, or adding either to glyphosate.

Crab grass or summer grass

Crab grass growing near a footpath.

Crab grass is a prolific seeder, but can be removed by hand if done carefully.( ABC Adelaide: Ashley Walsh )

"You can see from the photo [crab grass] is a prolific seeder," Mr Butler said.

"It's one that is not that hard to pull up if you get to it early."

Recommended herbicide: Glyphosate.

Fleabane

Fleabane weed with flower buds.

Fleabane can quickly spread if not removed properly.( ABC Adelaide: Ashley Walsh )

"This is a massive problem in NSW. It's glyphosate tolerant and takes a big dose to kill it here," Mr Butler said.

"Get to it before it flowers, pull it up ... and put it in the rubbish bin early.

"If you break it off it will tiller and put out lots and lots of side roots."

Recommended herbicide: MCPA and dicamba.

Milk or sow thistle

Milk or sow thistle growing in a garden bed.

With a natural waxy coating, milk or sow thistle is difficult to spray.( ABC Adelaide: Ashley Walsh )

"[Milk thistle] is an absolute classic of a weed that manages its water loss through a waxy coating," Mr Butler said.

"It is particularly difficult to get herbicide into and it is quite glyphosate tolerant in its own right."

Recommended herbicide: MCPA and dicamba mixture, or glyphosate products with penetrant aids.

Herbicide use comes with a warning

Mr Butler warned herbicide mixtures should be made to directions on the containers.

Some chemicals mentioned may only be available for agricultural use or professional contractors.

"Don't ever be heavy handed on these products because there is some soil activity associated with them.

"You only really need to spray the weed. You don't need to spray the ground. It doesn't need to be running off and puddling."

Mr Butler said it was imperative to read the label and warnings and preferable to spray weeds first thing in the morning.

Posted , updated

How to Get Rid of 3 Corner Jacks Weeds

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-15/seven-pesky-summer-garden-weeds-and-how-to-get-rid-of-them/8271548