Horsenettle is an invasive weed that can quickly take over North Texas lawns, creating patches of stubborn weeds that are hard to remove. Professional lawn care treatments can stop horsenettle before it spreads and prevent it from damaging your turf. Detecting this weed early and understanding its growth patterns is the best way to protect your grass and maintain a healthy landscape. Here’s what you need to know about horsenettle, so you can keep this aggressive weed under control.
How to Stop Horsenettle From Taking Over Your Lawn
The extensive root system and ability to reproduce by seeds makes horsenettle weeds a persistent problem in Texas lawns. Though “nettle” is a prominent part of its name, this is something of a misnomer. This plant is part of the nightshade family, just like potatoes and tomatoes. But unlike those helpful plants, no one wants to find horsenettle growing on their property. So if you have a fertilization and weed control program in place, you can keep horsenettle out of your well-maintained lawn.
This invasive weed blooms all the way from May through September, with the majority of the blossoms appearing 30 days after the plant emerges from beneath the ground. Blossoms have five points and may be white, blue or violet. These blooms are reminiscent of potato flowers, but when the fruit begins to emerge it looks more like a tomato, starting out green and transforming to yellow as it matures.
Eventually this fruit dies and begins to rot, and this is the time when the seeds are deposited on the ground to await next year, when they will germinate and take root. A single horsenettle plant is capable of producing 100 fruits in a season, and each of these fruits contains an average of 85 seeds.
Clearly, what begins as a small infestation one year can become a truly serious concern by the next. However, implementing a comprehensive year-round weed control plan can help prevent aggressive horsenettle from taking root and spreading season after season.
The Best Methods for Tackling Stubborn Horsenettle
Horsenettle seeds are usually not distributed by small animals because the fruit is poisonous. Accordingly, animals (including livestock) avoid ingesting it. Horsenettle is mainly able to spread its influence thanks to its impressive root system. In some plants, the taproot may reach as far as 8–10 feet below the soil surface. This makes removing horsenettle by hand-pulling extremely difficult.
Plus, thanks to its prickly spines and hairs, handling horsenettle can be painful and also cause rash and irritation. Frequent mowing is often helpful, especially when it’s done shortly after the blossoming begins, as the plants are at their most vulnerable at that time. However, a properly applied herbicide is the absolute best way to rein in horsenettle. Hiring a team of trained professionals that specialize in weed control and prevention ensures that treatments are applied properly and safely.
Though it may still take time to gain the upper hand, herbicide is the only tried-and-true method for eradicating this stubborn weed.
Reclaim Your Lawn With Professional Horsenettle Control Services From Green Top Lawn Care
If you are seeing the prickly leaves and five-pointed blossoms of horsenettle in your Texas lawn, then give Green Top Lawn Care a call. With our knowledge and experience, we are able to help home and business owners achieve the healthy, thick green lawn they’ve been dreaming of. Don’t let horsenettle take control of your yard—let us take over instead. Call (817) 684-4044 or request a free horsenettle control quote today.
