Stickers in your lawn

[bigsumm22]

Best way to get rid of stickers in your lawn? These pesky little things sure do hurt to step on, ouch! I hate them, we can't let our children play in the yard because if so they would be covered in stickers. We have tried using different fertilizers for our grass, as well as watering quite frequently. It seems impossible, any solutions out there? What do you think?

 

[Chuck]

Best way to get rid of stickers in your lawn? These pesky little things sure do hurt to step on, ouch! I hate them, we can't let our children play in the yard because if so they would be covered in stickers. We have tried using different fertilizers for our grass, as well as watering quite frequently. It seems impossible, any solutions out there? What do you think?

The absolute best best remedy for the eradication of grass burrs is a lawn mower and fertilizer. Mow often and do not let them go to seed. Fertilize to rapidly grow your grass. Grass will choke out sticker burrs. Sticker burrs do not like fertile soil either. You will find that they grow best in compacted soil with little or no organic matter in it and few nutrients. Sticker burrs are one of Mother Natures ways to help in soil erosion. Make you grass healthy and thick and you will not have sticker burrs or erosion

 

[CanadianLori]

Very interesting, never heard of these...

Thanks for sharing!

 

[alexiskilgannon]

Oh my goodness I have the same issue! I hate stepping on these things! It's probably the worst feeling I've ever had on my foot. I constantly get stickers stuck in my feet and shoes. As someone said above, I think the lawn mower might be your best bet for getting rid of these pesky things, but even then it's not a one hundred percent cure. I can't seem to rid of them either.

 

[Corzhens]

Oh, so you call it stickers. Okay, I understand that it is also called burr. We have that here right in the extended garden. When it is rainy season, they just grow by themselves. From what we had observed, the burrs here scatter their seeds during summer and they die. But the seeds grow when the ground is wet by rain. What we do is to hire a hand to pull out those weeds with stickers. By the way, we call those stickers Amorseko.

 

[IcyBC]

Like @CanadianLori I have never heard of sticker burr either, but it is good to know.

 

[arthnel]

I've ever heard the term 'lawn stickers' either, but if works for you, then that's cool. I know the term burrs though and these are just weeds that we chop away or pull out by the roots when we get down and dirty. They can be very annoying for sure, especially when you throw your clothes in the machine and these 'stickers' come out still hung tight to them. Nasty little things.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

If you raise you mower just a little and let your lawn grow taller it will choke out the burr plant, I hate pulling weeds out of my lawn so by letting it grow a little taller it chokes out unwanted weeds.

 

[SeniorCitizen]

So you want to talk Sandburs do Ya?
I not only raise elephant garlic but also Sandburs that resemble an elephant and if you have them, in my opinion, the only for sure way to completely rid your property of them is to move to another property where the soil doesn't promote them. Think dark brown rich loam rather than poor sandy soil and dry conditions. In my opinion nature put those seeds in the dirt millions of years ago and we're STUCK with them.

But if you would like to go to battle with them this link may help.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/turf/grassbur.html

 

[Chuck]

So you want to talk Sandburs do Ya?
I not only raise elephant garlic but also Sandburs that resemble an elephant and if you have them, in my opinion, the only for sure way to completely rid your property of them is to move to another property where the soil doesn't promote them. Think dark brown rich loam rather than poor sandy soil and dry conditions. In my opinion nature put those seeds in the dirt millions of years ago and we're STUCK with them.

But if you would like to go to battle with them this link may help.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/turf/grassbur.html

Yep, you have some world class stickers there. And just imagine that whole clump came from just 1 sticker burr. Keep'em mowed or cut down before they make all those seeds and you will eventually get rid of them.

Years ago I bought 30 acres of old worn out farmland. I wanted to grow Coastal Bermuda for hay on it. It was covered in weeds and sticker burrs and had been for a few years. I knew it was going to be a fight but I got the land really cheap. The first year the first thing I did was to shred it. Then I burned it. Then I plowed and disked it under. I let it rest over the winter and spring and then I disked it under again. A lot of weeds and burrs had already sprouted and were up. Then I plugged it with coastal plugs and applied 7 gallons per acre of molasses and the appropriate amount of a balanced fertilizer and let it grow until the burrs and weeds were just about to head out, shredded it again and then I applied 3 gallons per acre of molasses and another fertilizing and let it sit over winter. Come early spring I used a high nitrogen fertilizer and was able to get one cutting of hay before the burrs were about to head again. This was the third year and the hay I baled didn't quite make enough to cover all of the molasses, fertilizer and diesel fuel I had bought. But I persevered on and in the early spring of the 4th year I again fertilized with a high nitrogen fertilizer and by cutting time the coastal bermuda was smothering out almost all of the burrs and a lot of the weeds. By the 6th year I was making a little money and your really had to look to find any weeds or burrs. I kept this land under hay for a total of 12 years before I sold it and for a nice tidy profit. About 15 years ago I happened to drive by and it was still a weed free and burr free hay field.

 

[arthnel]

@SeniorCitizen Your pics are saying a thousand words right there. Those are the ones causing havoc and mayhem. I treat them just as what they are - weeds. The lawn mower idea could really work but a lot of times i find that they do grow back after that. My best method of getting rid of weeds is to get them at the roots. It does take some work but it's a good investment of time and they really don't usually grow back, leaving your lawn and property looking great and burr free.