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Longspine sandbur (Cenchrus
longispinus) is a summer annual grass that begins to germinate anywhere from
late May to early July, weather dependent. Seeds will then continue
to germinate up to frost, especially with each new rain fall. It forms a very spiny bur
late
in July or August and it is usually not until this bur is formed that the
plant is identified. This
weed has the potential to spread extremely fast because the bur it
produces almost leaps onto anything passing through or near the plant and
holds on until it is knocked off. It is a lover of very sandy soils
and does not do well when faced with a good stand of grass or other thick
vegetation. We have found the weed in rights-of-ways (railroad and
vehicle), flower gardens, newer lawns, orchards, fields and along many ORV
trails and other pathways.
Working with private landowners,
Public Works, WA DOT, NPS and BNSF Railroad the past several years has greatly
reduced the amount of sandbur in the county. This is the time to be
extra careful not to overlook a property that may be on the outskirts of
the areas we have been treating. It certainly would be a shame to
see sandbur move back into areas that it has been eliminated from because
of a property we weren't aware of or because a landowner ignores the
problem. Please contact us if you have the weed or you have
seen it on a roadside or favorite swimming beach.
Longspine sandbur is relatively
easy to control, once you have identified it. If you do not wish to
participate in our cost share program, you can choose to control the weeds
with your shovel, hoe, gloved hands or over the counter grass killing
herbicides. Or you can hire your own contractor to come in and spray or
otherwise control the weed for you. Proper and timely identification of
the plants is critical. Because sandbur is a grass, it tends to look very
much like many of the other grasses you might find on the same site and it
is not until the prickly burs have formed that the plant is easily
identified. Once the burs are on, the plants need to be removed from the
site (dug and bagged or burned) to prevent the seeds from maturing and
remaining on site. Grass killing herbicides may not stop seed from
maturing in plants that have burs, but if they are caught just as they are
starting to produce burs, we believe the majority of the seeds will not
mature. It is important to be able to distinguish longspine sandbur from
other grasses you may have on site because you don’t want to kill your
desirable, competitive vegetation-ultimately the best means of keeping the
sandbur at bay. We are happy to come out and help with identification
questions during the season-just give us a call.
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Key Elements of
Longspine Sandbur Cost Share
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- Main focus is on use of
pre-emergent herbicides so the timing of treatment is in April
or early May.
- Herbicides to be used: PENDulum™
-pre-emergent, no activity on existing plants and
shrubs, but will keep many plants from germinating that are not
up at time of spraying. Surflan™ -pre-emergent
for orchards.
- LANDOWNERS do pre-herbicide surveying
and plant marking. Walk
your property, including up to the road, looking for and marking
where you see last year’s burs. You probably already know
where you have been stepping on the burs or where you’ve seen
them in your garden or lawn, now you just need to mark them. You
can use ribbon or whatever you devise to make it clear to the
applicator where the plants are. Additionally, a written note
sent to us stating in general where you are finding the plants
would be extremely helpful-i.e., around the mailbox and flower
bed only, in the back yard up to the trees, along the driveway,
etc.
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Longspine sandbur is required to be controlled everywhere it is
found in Stevens County.
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- Weed Board pays for
herbicide, landowner pays for application costs. Coordinating
the treatment program (letters, agreements, hiring
contractor) is done
by Weed Board. The past several years the cost to the
landowners has been minimal-$35-40 per lot or acre.
- Follow-up. Weed Board staff will
make every effort to come through again in July or August to do
some re-treatment of sandbur as necessary. This
will be the other area where landowner participation will be
required. As you find plants that survived the treatment
during the summer, the best thing you could do is to pull them
up and dispose of them. Alternatively, you could do your own
herbicide treatment with a product that will kill grass (such as
Round-up™). We will help treat larger areas as needed.
- Goal: to raise awareness
and participation by landowners to a level that will allow you
to carry on with control measures on your own (or coordinate
with neighbors); and to reduce the amount of sandbur growing in
your area leading to a greater likelihood of success for you
with your continued control efforts.
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