How to Control Puncturevine

Please read this post to add more info and help in your battle against these weeds!! We moved into a house that the previous owners did nothing with the property and puncture vines were everywhere (including in the “lawn” itself). After doing some research, I learned that each of the “pods” from 1 flower being pollinated can have usually about five seed packets (2 large prongs that resemble the goat’s head) and that each packet contains about 5 seeds. So just from one flower turning into a pod can result in about 25 seeds that can mature and germinate. Meaning, if you have 1 weed that has a lot of pods on it, you’re potentially looking at hundreds or even thousands of seeds that can germinate later. If that’s not bad enough, each of the goat head seed packets can be able to germinate for up to about 10 years! If you have large areas of ground covered in these weeds, you might want to invest in ordering puncture vine weevils. They only eat these weeds so they’re non-invasive, and they lay their eggs in the pods, so the beetles eat the weeds and their babies eat the seeds. They’ve been known to eradicate over 90% puncture vine weeds. If you only have them in small areas, then it really is a matter of as soon as you see one, pull it up and throw it away or toss it in a burn barrel. You can also use a propane torch and burn those little bastards back to hell! Avoid at all costs getting poked by the prongs! Not only does the puncture initially hurt, but the area where you got poked will feel like a gnarly bruise for a few days. I’d easily take stepping on a Lego vs one of those! I know this post is long, but anything that can help others battle these evil weeds, the better! Good luck!

These are the spawn of the devil

Hopefully this is some encouragement for someone reading this. I moved into a house with a backyard covered in these. Last July, I decided to burn the entire back yard with a propane torch. I had so little grass that it wasn't worth saving. This year, the grass (Bermuda) grew back great in the spring, but quickly went dormant in May, and now the puncture vines are back. So I hand pulled every single one I could find, followed that with 24D, and now a Prowl pre-emergent today. I'd say that now, after about a month of hand pulling over multiple days, that they're under control. New ones sprout up, but that's why I put down the pre-emergent. I'll continue at it with pre-emergent in September, then two or three applications in the spring before they pop up, likely March, April, and Maybe May if I see any sprouting. Follow that with hand picking and 24D again. Best of luck to everyone else!

One of the best videos that I have watched that focuses on natural prevention first, then promoting chemicals.

Best and most thorough video on this subject that I've seen. Puncture vine is spreading rapidly in San Jose Ca.

Excellent instruction regarding this weed. Thank you.

We moved into a house that the previous owners did nothing with the property and puncture vines were everywhere (including in the “lawn” itself). After doing some research, I learned that each of the “pods” from 1 flower being pollinated can have usually about five seed packets (2 large prongs that resemble the goat’s head) and that each packet contains about 5 seeds. So just from one flower turning into a pod can result in about 25 seeds that can mature and germinate. Meaning, if you have 1 weed that has a lot of pods on it, you’re potentially looking at hundreds or even thousands of seeds that can germinate later. If that’s not bad enough, each of the goat head seed packets can be able to germinate for up to about 10 years! If you have large areas of ground covered in these weeds, you might want to invest in ordering puncture vine weevils. They only eat these weeds so they’re non-invasive, and they lay their eggs in the pods, so the beetles eat the weeds and their babies eat the seeds. They’ve been known to eradicate over 90% puncture vine weeds. If you only have them in small areas, then it really is a matter of as soon as you see one, pull it up and throw it away or toss it in a burn barrel. You can also use a propane torch and burn those little bastards back to hell! Good luck!

I get these growing in the middle hump of our dirt road occasionally. Best control I’ve found is by being VERY GENTLE when pulling them out, wear an old pair of sneakers and walk around the area continually scraping all the stickers directly into a garbage bag. Takes a couple years to get all of em, but this really works well.

As long as you don't mind harming the ground under the plant such as the terrain you're showing. The best method is propane torch. It will crack that go ahead seed and it will never germinate.

Ckd outside earlier this evening, pretty sure there’s puncture vine emerging, in November.

Thanks..Go Aggies!

Do you have any advice on controlling/killing "creeping Charlie" / ground ivy? I live in West central Wisconsin. This weed spreads very quickly via above ground rhyzomes.

Can we torch/burn them?

Has anybody tried a garden vacuum to pick up the seed Pods?

How about Weed Impede? That does a nice job for us in SE Arizona.

how to planting seeds tribulis terrestris

It seems like manual removal is a total nightmare requiring hours and hours of maintenance. Do you think that a scrape and removal of the top 2-3 inchess of top soil and replace with new would be a viable option?

It is (punctur vine)having a medical value in Unani and Avervedic (Indian) treatments

this is really helpful. any sources on puncturevine weevils?

Poisonous to sheep ? How about goats ?