Are there lots of the globular pods about the size of a pea? Is the plant about 2-3 feet tall and quickly makes a small forest? Is it prickly or actually barbed like greenbriar?

All of a sudden I got a weed that looks like the above described about 3 years ago. I had never seen it before and I have had several friends that are having the same evil weed show up that they hadn't seen before either. Weird.

And I live in the Norman area as well. I certainly am interested in knowing about the weed I have too. I wonder if Preen would help as it seems to seed and spread all summer long-and fast too.

imp

RoundUp would probably take care of it.

Is it a grassy weed or a broadleaf weed?

If it is a grassy weed, it likely is nutsedge or some other type of sedge, although it is hard to tell without seeing it. If it is a grass, any grassy weedkiller, like Grass-B-Gone, will kill it. If it is a sedge, you have to use a product that is proven effective on sedges, and the only one I've ever heard of as being somewhat successful is Image. If it is a broadleaf weed, any broadleaf weed killer will kill it.

By the way, I remove sedge by digging it out and, if you go that route, you have to dig deep, deep, deep to get the nutlet/tuber.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Nutsedge

I would need a bit more info (or pics). But Dawn did give a great link in another thread a day or two ago which I hope will show below. Does the 'weed' look like anything within that linked site? The description sounds quite like a 'landscape' flower that I allowed to go wild last year, but the plants tend to get close to 3-5' tall or so. The 'seed' definitely is annoying with the 'barbs' attaching to anything that touches 'em. But a number of species have such a mechanism as well, of course.

Here is a link that might be useful: Okie Weed-species ID

We have(had, I hope)something that sounds kinda similar to what Elizabeth described, I think. These were kind of a low growing weed, with little, blueish flowers. Once it bloomed the flowers would die and it seemed like the whole thing turned into flat, tear-shaped barbed stickers.

You could easily fill 1/3 of your foot with stickers if you took a misstep barefoot and the poor dogs couldn't walk in certain parts of the yard without getting their paws full. They were horrible to spread, because they would stick to the bottom of soft soled shoes and of course the dogs carried them everywhere.

I quickly found another use for roundup besides bermuda grass. They would green up before the lawn, so I sprayed anything green in the area where they were thickest and tried to catch them before they bloomed and it seems to have significantly reduced them( I'm very hesitant to say I got them all).

Michelle

can you get a photo of it and post it? i have a book, weeds of arkansas that may help identify it. i am trying to learn the names of weeds as it is.

Here's the area that flowers at first and then turns into these nasty seeds. None of them are blooming right now (I think they come up in the heat of the summer), so all I have are the leftovers from last year that are still standing tall. Didn't take a picture outside because it was 5:45am

That is the exact 'flower' I was referring to above! I have lots of them sprouting at the moment, but for the life of me, I cannot recall the name that was on the seed pack of these particular plants. Definitely capable of reseeding themselves abundantly, and the seed itself is capable of poking through socks, jeans, shirts...most anything other than leather or solid metal, it seems.

I am gonna rack my brain until I remember this species, especially as I am supposed to go clear more new garden area, and I am going to be walking amongst 1000's of 'em trying to grow faster than I can clear them. I keep wanting to say its a windflower-type, but pretty sure that is not correct...gonna bug me until I recall the name (grrrrrr....)

Those look like cosmos....were they orange to start with? They stick EVERYWHERE. In the last summer, everywhere I walk in the yard, I have to pick those off of me later.

Lisa

No, they are not orange. The flower just barely turns yellow (it's still mostly green like the rest of the plant). I should mention that the "petals" themselves (that turn into these seeds) are slightly stickery whenever they are blooming as well.

In no way does this strike me as something that a person would intentionally plant, but then you look at some of our weeds and in other areas of the country people are trying their best to get them growing.

Cosmos is what *I* was referring to (thx, Lisa!), and I remember buying the ~50 cent pack of seed. I would not plant them again knowing what I know now about them, but I guess they have a valid use for someone somewhere (erosion control?). And all I did was toss the seed (with other species, too, of course) out by hand, not even scratching it in. Iirc, the flowers were all kinda orangish to dull-yellow (on average), and they went to seed pretty quick, too.

someone gave me cosmos seeds and the flower was very small, but after it went to seed, it looked like that. i threw the seeds in the garbage and will never plant it again. painful. mine were yellow.

Elizabeth, what you have there is Bidens bipinnata, or Spanish Needles, or Stick Tights. It is invasive and the seeds stick to everything, hence the common names of "needles" or "stick tights". I have it too, and am pulling up seedlings as much as I can. The seeds are dispersed by birds as well.

It looks very similar to Cosmos when the seedlings emerge. Flowers are yellow, but insignificant. My other invasive wildflower is Queen Anne's Lace. The seeds of it also stick to everything as well.

Hope this helps. I attached a link to photos, and if you click on all of them, you will see that the seeds are like the photo you have.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Bidens bipinnata

That's the booger! I guess I'll just keep pulling them up and try to keep them from swallowing up the yard. Thanks for the information!

My wife & I stopped for (I believe W.Virginia) gas and I put our 6lb,3 year old aussiedoodle down in some grass , immeadately started whimpering, pick her up, she was covered almost everywhere mouth, face paws, all over. We pulled 57 of those things out of her. It was a nightmare and no one could tell me what they were! Just starting to read the comments. Hopefully someone answered you with the correct plant. Thank for Posting