Where in the world are you?

Many plants grow only in some areas of the world while others are quite common every where.

kimmq is kimmsr

Sorry--haven't posted here before. I am in MN.

I just looked for weeds of MN, and found a possibility - kochia. Google it and see what you think - it looks VERY different when mature. Here's one page on it: http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopExt/Adams/weed/kochia.htm

Here are 2 more pictures. It does look very similar to Kochia. We have never let it mature.

That's horseweed aka Conzya canadensis. Don't let them go to seed.

Is pulling the only way to get rid of them?

There are only a couple of ways to get rid of any weed - pull, dig, or poison. Even if you use horticultural vinegar rather than Round-up, you are going to do a lot of damage to any plant near the weed, like the grass in your lawn. Digging is going to wreck your lawn as well, so that leaves pulling. Having dealt with this particular weed myself, I can tell you that it comes up quite easily, and if it hasn't gone to seed, as yours haven't, you can throw them right into your compost bin.

For better or worse, gardening and lawn care both entail some time on your knees, pulling up weeds. Get yourself a pillow for your knees and a bucket for the weeds. Happy pulling!

Mow. This is a tall plant that can't survive being scalped often.

Thanks to all! Mowing it is...I really appreciate the help!

Fleabane! That's what we call this pesky weed over here in Australia. I thought I recognised its mugshot. (Good close-up, sandradee.)

It grows into the most eeeenorrrmous monster if it is well watered and not weeded out.

There is one other way to kill it. I experimented on it once. Cut it underneath its crown, immediately above where its roots emerge. It will not grow back from its roots if its crown has been cut off. I am referring to the crown that is under the soil or at soil level, not the top of the plant which is also known as the crown.

When young, it is easily removed if you don't have a gazillion. As it gets bigger, it gets very determined to stay, gets very strong, grows very tall... has babies. It will then resist all your efforts unless you bring in a tractor.

Mowing might be the answer but there is POSSIBLY the possibility that it will then branch, and keep growing, and get stronger. Maybe you could try a couple of different methods and report back. Main thing is to not let it go to seed.

Good luck.

Fleabane = Erigeron in the US. Why would this get taller if mowed?

phe Erigeron I know wouldn't, and that is the one that I suppose you are talking about too. I have Erigeron karvinskianus in my garden and I like it.

When I googled Conzya canadensis to see whether it is the weed that I know of as Fleabane, I noticed that another one of its common names is Erigeron. Talk about confusing because it isn't like any Erigeron that I know and like.

Mowing might well work on Fleabane/Conza. I am just remembering though what I have obversed with some mown weeds, like Paterson's Curse, which merely grows more from the crown, flowers very low, and is just as much of a pest even though it is now so short. Conza might have no intention doing that BUT I can imagine it giving it a go.

Luckily the experiences of others are available, imagination unnecessary in this case.

You might need to identify some of this after that burn.

I think imagination might be useful. It's also known as an educated guess.

It's a broad-leaf plant; use an herbicide containing one (three or more is best) of the following chemicals along with a surfactant:

Quinclorac
Sulfentrazone
2,4-D
Dicamba

This will keep your grass safe and kill all the broad-leaf plants growing; apply with a chemical sprayer.

Not at all necessary when it *will* be killed by regular mowing. Using chemicals to coddle a monoculture of (almost surely non-native, in the US) grass is gross, and most of the "products" for doing so are illegal in most places except in the US.

I lived next to this for years, downwind most days, and never had a problem with the field of these tall weeds invading our lawn, many horseweeds among them. (Ground is disturbed from the burned house there being torn down that day.)