Thanks Rhizo for the link!! Between quackgrass and the sudden proliferation of purslane, I am ready to cry. Could our soil pH be a factor in the hospitality of these two weeds?

I have become the local expert on Purslane this summer much to my dismay. Knowing a lot about this weed is the key to successful vanquishment. My problem is complicated by the fact that I am trying to grow a new lawn from seed. I rototilled my front yard after using roundup to kill the purslane and remnants of the old turf. I wanted to do as the experts advised and water and wait for purslane seedlings to come up (the rototilling brings more seeds to the surface) but "neighbor pressure" influenced me into seeding right away instead which was a mistake.

Slow-growing grass seedlings absolutely cannot compete with an infestation of purslane seedlings. I have read that one plant can produce up to 1 million seeds and I had thousands of tiny seedlings come up in patches. They also grow so fast it's like watching time-lapse photography. My strategy has been a labor-intensive one, requiring much patience, and more money than I wanted to spend. Also, this super-hot summer, never a good time to seed a lawn and frightful this year with the record heat, has helped the weeds and hindered the grass. And we are having a drought.

After reading rhizo's link, I think I should have imported a mess of purslane sawflies! Just kidding, LOL.

What I have been doing, and I am definitely winning :-) is this:

First, scratch the first attempt where I planted Kentucky Blue Grass around Memorial Day. It's a slow germinator that doesn't have a chance against purslane until it's controlled (although I will end up with a KY BG lawn when I am done).

If you can afford it, you can sod. I cannot so I'm still doing the seeds.

I staked out an experimental area of my yard for testing techniques. More about this later. With the rest of the lawn, I have been hand pulling in areas that aren't heavily infested. I MAKE SURE i get the whole root. If not, the plant comes back HUGE!. Not a little seedling but big, ugly, succulent monster plant. Also, make sure you take the pullings to a trash can with a lid. You'll want to "cook" these seedlings under full sun with the lid on. If you drop pieces onto soil, they will grow from the pieces. Like a Jade plant, if you're familiar with those (you can put a leaf on the surface of your potting soil and it will make several new plants from the one leaf). Also, if you leave a more mature plant uncontained it can have enough energy to produce seeds even if it never reroots itself. Getting scared yet?

In areas where I see hundreds of lil' purslane seedlings coming up, I use a product called "Triple Strike". It's available at Lowe's and, fortunately, is quite cheap. I was using Roundup which is considerably more expensive and takes longer to work. Triple Strike with dicamba shrivels the plants within hours if there is sun. The directions say you can plant grass seedlings in a week but, in my experimental bed, I've found you should wait longer ( 2 weeks).

Another key is to use a fast-germinating grass seed so that it will grow before the purslane can outcompete it. Check the bags of seed for those that will germinate in 7 days ( a get a bag without ANY noxious weeds). In fact, one strategy is to use the temporary (annual) ryegrass which can germinate in 4(!) days and then overseed it with KY bluegrass, fescue, perennial rye, or whatever you like in the fall after you have an established lawn. Annual ryegrass dies after the season is over but is useful for erosion control and successful weed competition. I DO NOT use any chemicals in my experimental section. Grass seedlings cannot tolerate even selective weed killers. I hand pull any little seedlings I see, or wait until they get a little bigger so I can pluck them out w/o pulling neighboring grass blades. A hassle and time-consuming? You bet. But I am winning! I have a nice plot of purslane free grass. And purslane has a less-menacing morphology when it is growing amongst grass neighbors. It's less beefy and grows up on a higher stem to "rise above" the grass for sunlight. It's easier to pluck.

Purslane's one Achille's heel is that it cannot tolerate shade. my backyard is purslane free despite my bone-headed move of transferring extra topsoil from the front yard there this spring, before I knew what a formidable adversary purslane was. There are a FEW back there where I dumped dirt and it is sunnier but, once again, the morphology is different in this case because of the scarcity of light. They have L-O-N-G stems and the leaves are less fleshy. I zap them with weed killer and pluck them but there are only a few, thank goodness.

I cannot make my neighbors believe that this is a weed like no other so they are letting the plants they have in the cracks in there driveways grow wild thinking it's no biggie. Oh boy.

The good news is that once you have a healthy thick turf, purslane will not be able to invade but vigilance to make sure there are no bare patches will be an eternal necessity unless you move.

Next lecture, spotted spurge.....not AS bad as purslane but no easy weed to get rid of either. Oh for the good old days when it was just dandelions, clover, and lamb's quarters I encountered. The easy weeds.

Final thought: I forgot to mention: If you use weedkiller, leave the weed alone for 2 weeks after spraying (Make sure it looks like it's dying though). This is so that the chemicals in the weed killer reach the roots. Don't let anyone cut off the top of these plants before the weed killer gets to the roots or you'll have wasted your money and you'll have a new healther weed grow from the original root. I know this because I sprayed my neighbor's one BIG purslane plant and the lawn service they use keeps cutting it before the weed killer gets to the root so it's a MONSTER.

I like the appearance and flavor of Purslane - in Salads. Consequently I let a few plants flower. On reflection, I should have let just one make seed as I do with Poke - because they got HUGE and have produced a LOT of seed. That area will also be self-colonized by a tasty mustard, and a single huge Borage that draws beneficial insects.

I cook 2-3x a day from my organic garden, so I expect the small Purslane plants that appear will be yanked out instead of pruned. That method works for me - with tender Amaranth and young Poke - which are both excellent for cooking.

Anyone in the Portland area is wkelcome to come get seed and of these excellent young plants for your kitchen garden.

as it is a semi-succulent(almost a cactus) maybe we should make tequila from it?

I have fought this nasty weed for 7 years now in my garden. I mistakenly pulled the weed and dropped it before I realized what it was and what a mess I was creating. I have hand pulled (and disposed of properly)and sprayed with chemical (husband farms and we have used a variety of chemicals that he sprays on his fields to kill this) and it is still there. I can't get rid of it! I would like to use my garden space again without this weed! Does anyone have any other suggestions for me?

Purslane is easy to kill with hoeing/tillage when it is a seedling up to a couple leaves. Once it gets bigger, it seems to survive off the moisture in the stems and leaves long enough to re-root, so bigger plants are very hard to kill unless they are fully buried and get no light or removed from the garden.

Pre-emergent weed killers can do an excellent job. Look for a weed killer that contains trifluralin as an active ingredient and shallowly incorporate it into the soil before the purslane gets started in the spring. It won't hurt perennials. It may do some root pruning on transplanted annuals, and gets along well with some garden vegetables such as legumes, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and cabbage family. It will prevent squash family from germinating and growing, and will damage corn roots. So, you just have to be careful where you use it. If used at the correct rate, it will not linger into the next year.

I like to spray it where I plant my peppers and tomatoes after transplanting as it provides season long control.

In a lawn, broadleaf herbicides such as 2,4-D and dicamba will do a good job killing it without hurting the grass.

I pick it and eat it. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It is one of Dr. Oz's revered power foods. It is good raw on salads and good sauted with oninons or garlic. Might as well use it in a good way than beat your brains over its growth.

Purslane is very shallow rooted, is spread eaisly by seed as well as bits and pieces of the plant you leave behind when pulling them out. There is no need, ever, to spray this "weed" with any kind of poison since it does remove so easily by mechanical means. The best way to keep this from getting a foothold in your planting beds is with a good mulch and in the lawn by growing a good, thick turf.

Thank you so much for the information on purslane. My husband and I recently bought a house that had absolutely no landscaping and no lawn. We rototilled the front yard and planted what what supposed to be hardy tall fescue. Instead of grass we unfortunately grew purslane and spurge! It's horrible. We still have no lawn and the purslane in particular chokes out almost everything I try to plant. Now I have more information on these plants and have hopes of having a lawn/garden in the near future. Thank you!

Am I the only one that thinks all the neighbors think I'm going nits. Out in my front lawn at 8 am pulling the worst weed up everyday. Makes my anxiety an old extremely bad an definitely kicks them both into high gear!!!

Btw. So what's the best way to kill purslane without killing what's left of my real front lawn?

The single best method of controlling Purslane is pulling the plant while it is young. Purslane spreads by seeds and bit of plant that root where they find a bit of soil to root in. Seeds of Purslane can stay viable in soils for many years. While a very nutritious plant tilling them into the soil may not be the best solution. There are plant poisons that could kill very young plants but most are not very effective on mature plants. Perhaps this article would be of some interest.

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/homeowners/030726.html

kimmq is kimmsr

I appreciate the advice about purslane as my garden has been inundated with it. I have been vigilant and managed to contain it within the vegetable garden. Despite its edible benefits it is naive to invite others to gather seeds or samples to propagate it in your neighborhood and invoke a pox on their garden. After I rototilled 5 years ago with just a small purslane problem that has turned into years and many hours of weeding and regret. Do not let it get a hold or you will no longer enjoy gardening. It is truly like a virus and has the potential to be utilized as a weapon of mass disruption. One other extermination strategy I have read about is to roast your soil with a good hot fire. It would take 1-2 cords to do my garden but I have not tried this yet. A flame thrower, however, would give me a great deal more satisfaction. In closing, learn to early recognize this weed for what it is and exterminate it before you experience the full wrath of the Adamic curse.

Bill

Purslane responds to disturbed soil.

After reading thru the comments I realized that was people's first mistake

In my garden this year I did not till. I just used a shovel to go under the roots of the carpet of weeds and pulled it up like sod. Then I pulled the weeds that showed up afterwards as young as possible.

I did not have a purslane problem. Just a few plants that were yummy to eat. I only wish I could have grown more!!

That being said I knew better that to try and propigate it purposefully because I was aware of how prolific it can be.

I dunno what to tell people that allready have a purslane problem.

To those starting a garden or lawn: try to disturb the soil as little as possible and pull baby's as soon as possible.

Also seeing as how purslane is a succulent over wattering should kill an as would changing soil ph

Plantain is another weed that shows up in urban areas after the soil is disturbed