Catsear is another common weed throughout Australia and the world and is a prevalent lawn weed which most of us have encountered or dealt with at one time or another. While very common due their abundance of seeds produced they are in fact a rather weak weed which is easily killed or controlled, though repeated spreading and infestation is to be expected.
The leaves on these weeds lay flat to the ground, lain out in a circular fashion emanating from the base of the weed, which is where this weeds gets another of its names, flatweed.
Also known as: flatweed, hairy cat’s ear, false dandelion
Botanical name: Hypochaeris radicata
Catsear are often confused with Dandelions due to having very similar shaped yellow flowers and tall stems which are often topped off when the flowers develop into those well known fluffy white seed balls which many children will pick and blow to disperse all of those little parachutes, while simultaneously spreading more and more weeds with each and every fun blow !!
Catsear however do not need children to blow their seed heads into the wind as they do a wonderful job of it all on their own. These little white seed parachutes can fly around and land in the most unusual and marvellous of places, and haven’t we all seen an old house every so often with weeds growing inside the gutters on their roofs? Catsear and Dandelion are both well known culprits for this.
Regular lawn mowing can control the growth of seed stalks and seeds, however it will not kill the weed itself, though eventually the weed will die off on its own and not spread further if the lawn is mowed at regular frequencies before the seed stalks can grow or mature into those white balls.
Killing And Controlling Catsear
As already mentioned, Catsear is a rather weak weed which flourishes most successfully by it massive growth and easy spreading of so many seeds throughout the year. While it can be said that the weed is hardy, it is still easy to control and to remove from lawns and gardens, until of course the next tiny floating seed lands in our lawn next week.
A general broad leaf weed killer can be used on Catsear in the home lawn with very good success, and the lawn treated again at any future infestations if required.
Like always I do prefer hand pulling weeds from lawns, and so with Catsear we will need a small digging tool to lift up the flat weed leaves so we can handle them, and then to dig into the soil around the tap root so as to loosen it, and we can then pull the weed from the lawn with little time or effort, with no cost and no bad effects to the environment.
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