Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Roundup and puncture vine

I have a lot of puncture vine i am trying to control. Roundup works well to kill the vine but it is a very prolific seed producer. The plant starts to bloom early so there is immature seed just a few days after germination. Roundup is absorbed through the leaves and translocated into the roots so it makes sense it will be translocated into the maturing seed as well. Dooes anyone know if the resulting mature seed will be viable or will the Roundup keep it from germinating?

Ask your county extenuation office, they should help.

Not sure about your exact question, but you probably have a seed pool you need to exhaust. I have a small patch that appeared after a garage build where fill was brought in. I pull every plant as soon as I can, before flowering, so no seed produced. This is the 2nd year with new plants appearing regularly and often. Hate that plant.

That mature seed will be viable for seven years or until conditions are right.
Your best bet as always it to get em while they're young.

You are both correct about the best way to get rid of them. Best thing is to pull them up and put them in a bucket or barrel and burn them.as soon as possible after they germinate. I am dealing with about ten acres. I did not realize the seed was viable for seven years. You are correct about the seed pool. Thanks for your input.

Not knowing what puncture vine is, I did a quick duckduckgo.com search and the first thing is a listing to buy seeds for the plant.
Once I figured out that it is what we called "Goat heads" I shared your hatred and wondered why anyone would plant them.
Durn things were the bane of kids that wanted to go barefooot.
Do not . . . NOT miss them a bit . . . sandburs also.!

I didn't know what it was either, had to google it, always heard it as "Mexican Goathead" growing up on the farm.

One problem being in the dry SW US is that the seed pod (goat head) that is the sticker takes forever to rot so one gets stuck from years gone by.

I do not see Roundup having an effect on the produced seed.

Nothing affects the seed, the goathead sticker, not the viability, but time (rot) and in the dry SW US, that is a darned SLOW process.

Thanks for your input. I suspect it all depends on the maturity of the seed at application. More mature seed would still germinate. Very immature seed might not. It doesnt appear to be hard to kill but it sure produces lots of seed.

One definition of a weed is "prolific seed production"

Fire does.

I've used a pear burner on areas where goatheads had taken over.

That's for sure!



Did you burn them while they were still green and growing?

Yes.

And the ground around the plant after glyphosate.

Thanks for that. I will give it a try. I have a couple weed burners we use to heat branding irons.