Foxtails in an ugly mess of laurel, 4th Street between I and J, from the alley
Fox tails
are beginning to ripen their seed all over town, mixed with cheat grass and
other weeds, and infesting lawns. It is
a well-known sticker seed, sticking in pets’ fur and working its barbed seeds
into their flesh. Like cheat, it is a
major fire hazard. Its name describes
the seed heads, looking like a fox’s brushy tail.
Foxtails in boxwood
Like
nearly all annual grasses, it is easiest to see and pull when it has seed
stalks. Unlike many of them, it grows full size-heads
even after being mowed. It stands out
clearly in a lawn as it starts to ripen, yellow-green and ugly against the
darker green of lawn grass.
Foxtails in a Bermuda grass lawn
So does
annual rye, but it is a lot smaller and nicer annual grass whose seeds don’t
stick and can be smothered with an inch of compost because they are small. Fox tail seeds are large and can come up
through several inches of compost; heavy leaves are more effective, and a good
way to stop them in flower beds. But
even light leaves can soften the soil and make it easier to pull weeds.
Foxtails in permeable pavement, at Bimart. How much do you want to bet they will grow there?
It is hard
to pull mowed foxtails when they are dry in dry ground; water it and pull it
before it gets to that point. Gather up
the stalks in each clump and give it a good yank; you will clear it out more
quickly than you would think.
Wild lettuce on city property
Wild lettuce is also starting to bloom all
over. It comes in several
varieties, some uglier than others, all looking much like a dandelion with a
tall, thick stalk. It is the ugliest of
weeds that spread their seeds on the breeze, and can grow head-high, adding to
fire hazard. The time to stop it, like
all such weeds, is before those seeds ripen and become a nuisance rather than
just an eyesore, spreading those seeds to the neighbors.
Wild lettuce on city property, with ashes, cheat, and dry bitter cress
It sticks
hard in dry ground; to get the root, you will usually need to water the
ground. If you break or cut the stalk
above the crown, it will grow more flowers ASAP.
Canada thistles are also showing up; they are
much like wild lettuce except that they have sharp spines and blue
flowers. These can be cut below the
crown with loppers or even just kicked out of the ground; the spines can make
hand-pulling difficult, but by the time it is sending up flowers, it has little
food in the root; young plants are easy to pull.
Take all
seeding lettuce, dandelion, thistles, and other composites to a commercial
composter; the seeds will continue to ripen and fly after they are pulled.
The best prevention for weeds is leaf mulch, which
doesn’t make a good weed seed bed until it becomes soil. What weeds do grow in leaves are easily
pulled because the soil is fed and loosened.
Leaves should be cleaned off lawns, pavements, paths and buildings, and
spread on soil, to feed and protect it.
