7 Of The Worst Florida Weeds To Watch Out For This Summer

Weeds need lots of warmth and sun to thrive, and Florida has both in abundance. Unfortunately, dozens of weeds plague our lawns, but here is a sampling of the ones you can control with the lawn maintenance program from Land Art Inc.

Goosegrass

This summer annual is also known as silver crabgrass, crowfoot, or wiregrass. Most often, you’ll find it in areas where the turfgrass cover is thin. Goosegrass is a coarse, bunch-type grass that forms a rosette of low-growing flattened stems. The leaves are dark green, and about 12 inches long, and roughly 1/3 inch wide. Stems can be up to 2.5 feet long. It has hairs near the base, and the blades can be either flat or slightly folded. You may notice the appearance of flowers with 2 to 10 spikes that resemble a zipper. Unfortunately, Goosegrass is a prolific seeder – creating as many as 50,000 seeds per plant! As you can imagine, that many seeds make this plant difficult to eradicate once it’s been established in your lawn.

Broadleaved Plantain

Eliminating this weed from your lawn is tricky, not only because it’s a prolific spreader but also because broadleaved plantain is difficult to get with the mower during your regular lawn maintenance routine. Broadleaved plantain has oval leaves that are far wider than the traditional blades of grass. It prefers soil that is moist and high in calcium. The low-growing rosettes produce leaves about six inches long with a waxy coating. It also produces a long, oval-shaped capsule that contains the seeds.

Crabgrass

Crabgrass is one of the toughest weeds to eradicate because it reproduces both via seeds and a root system. “Crabgrass” is a common name for a genus of weeds that can be both annuals or perennials. It can be either a smooth or a hairy variety. It thrives in the summer months because it is so drought tolerant. At Land Art, we use a pre-emergent control early in the season to wipe out this pesky tough weed. But in the event it sneaks through our defenses, we will use a post-emergent control spray.

Bull Thistle

This is a biennial plant that produces the characteristic purple flower. The leaves appear hairy and irregular around the edges. These weeds are hardy, and the rosettes will continue growing even during the winter. These weeds can be quite large – as big as three feet – and removing fully-grown plants can be tricky as they have many spikes. However, they mainly reproduce through seeds, so, like the plantain, they are not as difficult to eradicate as those that reproduce via the root system.

Florida Beggarweed

This summer annual can reach a staggering nine feet in height if left untreated. It produces three elliptic to oblong leaflets about three to four inches in length, and its stems have short, stiff hairs. In addition, it can produce purple or blueish flowers that occur near the top of the plant and segmented seed pods that are notorious for clinging to clothing.

Buttonweed

This weed can grow in both aquatic areas like swaps as well as our yards. This perennial has a robust root system and can tolerate mowing heights of just 1/2″. Consequently, this weed is definitely not something you can kill off by running over it with the mower. It has thicker leaves which are darker green on top and lighter green on the bottom. The flowers it produces are white with star-shaped petals.

Nutsedge

Nutsedge reproduces through the root system, and therefore, like crabgrass, it can be challenging to eradicate. It can produce either yellow or purple flowers, and this weed is similar in appearance to the common turfgrass, so you may not realize you have an infestation until it begins to produce flowers. If you take a close look, nutsedge blades are stiffer than normal lawn grass. It thrives in almost any kind of soil. The yellow flower variety typically emerges earlier in the summer, while the purple variety crops up later. Yellow flower nutsedge also tends to have lighter green leaves while the leaves of purple are a darker green. Lastly, yellow nutsedge tends to be taller – about 12 – 16 inches – while purple nutsedge is usually under six inches.

Find Lawn Care Services

Tired of losing the battle against broadleaf weeds? Give the experts at Land Art Inc. a call for expert weed control. 

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Florida

• Estero
• Fort Myers
• Naples