Eradicating eve\’s necklace volunteer sprouts in the yard and lawn

Question

A couple of years ago we had an epidemic of eve’s necklace seed pod’s sprouting in our lawn and the problem worsened to the point we finally decided we would have it cut back and dug out. Now they are so prolific it is a real pain with these volunteer pod’s cropping up all over the lawn and flower bed’s. The ground is very soft and moist right now due to record rains in the area, but even with that digging them up is not working very well as the root system is very strong and deep and using roundup (even carefull7) has not succeeded in eradicating them. The only thing that did was to kill the grass.

The lawnmower works in the growing season somewhat, but even in the dormant season for grass the sprouts grow like weeds almost and continue to crop up at an alarming rate, especially with our prolific rains the last two months.

I would greatly appreciate your recommendations.

Thank you so much,
Elizabeth Heslep

Answer 1

This can be quite an issue. These can become highly invasive, and very difficult to get rid of, as you have found out.

Aside from poison, which you have already found out also that it will mostly likely just kill your lawn instead, I have found that using boiling water can kill off some of the more vigorous varieties.

Very carefully pour boiling water on the roots, and above ground material of anything that you would like to get rid of. Anywhere you see patches come up, it will destroy them.

This will kill any grass in the area as well, but it will not leave the ground toxic. The grass will recover and take the area over very quickly after.

This will take persistence, until you no longer see any trace of the pest.