Prickly Lettuce
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Scientific Name:
Lactuca Serriola Common Names: Milk thistle, Wild Lettuce, Horse Thistle Family: Asteraceae General Description: Prickly edged green leaves that can grow up to 4 feet tall with yellow flowers at during bloom time. Related Weeds: Dandelion, Cudweeds, Flatweed |
What is a Prickly Lettuce?
Prickly lettuce grows in full sun and is a weed that is considered exotic to South Carolina. Prickly lettuce starts in late winter as a group of small green leaves and can grow up to 4 foot tall looking like a small tree. During the late summer and early fall it will have mini yellow blooming flowers similar to those of a Dandelion. Prickly lettuce is the wild version of garden lettuce. While it can be eaten it is considered poisonous and can cause an upset stomach.
Controlling Prickly Lettuce Growth:
There are four ways to control Prickly lettuce. We will breakdown the 4 ways with pros and cons of each control method.
1. Pulling or Digging: It is fairly easy to pull or dig up Prickly lettuce, especially when the soil is wet. The biggest concern is that you have to get the entire root for them not to come back. This can be very difficult to do since roots can spread out over 20 inches. This can be time consuming, back breaking, and exhausting. This method will also not prevent the weeds from coming back, but get rid of them after they are have already been established.
2. Spraying with organic herbicides: Clove oil and vinegar spray are both natural organic ways to kill Prickly lettuce. While this method does work it is about repetition. You must treat everyday, and retreat until the Prickly lettuce is dead. This method will not prevent the weeds from coming back, only treat them after they have come up.
3. Spraying with post emergent: You can spray Prickly lettuce with post emergent, such as round up. Again this will not prevent the weeds from coming back, only treat them after they have come up. Another con is this could kill the grass area right around the weed if any post emergent that is not turf friendly is used.
4. Spraying with pre-emergent: This is by far the best method for controlling Prickly lettuce. Spraying pre-emergents at the correct time of year will prevent Prickly lettuce from growing and becoming a problem. Prickly lettuce pre-emergent is best completed in Fall. At Turf Boss you will get the best pre-emergent care for Prickly lettuce as well as many other kinds of weeds. Call 864.777-TURF to get an estimate today.
1. Pulling or Digging: It is fairly easy to pull or dig up Prickly lettuce, especially when the soil is wet. The biggest concern is that you have to get the entire root for them not to come back. This can be very difficult to do since roots can spread out over 20 inches. This can be time consuming, back breaking, and exhausting. This method will also not prevent the weeds from coming back, but get rid of them after they are have already been established.
2. Spraying with organic herbicides: Clove oil and vinegar spray are both natural organic ways to kill Prickly lettuce. While this method does work it is about repetition. You must treat everyday, and retreat until the Prickly lettuce is dead. This method will not prevent the weeds from coming back, only treat them after they have come up.
3. Spraying with post emergent: You can spray Prickly lettuce with post emergent, such as round up. Again this will not prevent the weeds from coming back, only treat them after they have come up. Another con is this could kill the grass area right around the weed if any post emergent that is not turf friendly is used.
4. Spraying with pre-emergent: This is by far the best method for controlling Prickly lettuce. Spraying pre-emergents at the correct time of year will prevent Prickly lettuce from growing and becoming a problem. Prickly lettuce pre-emergent is best completed in Fall. At Turf Boss you will get the best pre-emergent care for Prickly lettuce as well as many other kinds of weeds. Call 864.777-TURF to get an estimate today.
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8 Application Fertilization & Weed Control for Zoysia
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