What's it called? How can I rid my precious soil of it's life sucking wickedness!?

It takes over with alarming speed and if it had it's way would kill off any plant in it's path!

It flowers at a very small size and speads rapidly needing only a moderate amout of moisture and nutrients to thrive...

It even grows on concrete! What the heck is it?!

Just pull it off and send it to me to take over my stash I would love such a plant for my garden! And it should be no hybrid since its a native to you i suppose

Anyway,whatever it is its beautyfull but i can understand you wanting to get rid of it,anything taking over baby palms is no good for pots! When you drip irrigate and the soil surface stays dry such problems are minimized but some tropical palms may prefer it wet and humid so i guess this solution cannot be used for all palms...Also drip irrigation is impractical for the large number of pots you are tending so i am afraid i am of no help in this matter,i deal with my weeds simply by pulling away taking care not to take any soil with me,just the weed and its bare roots. But more or less for some reason i am weed free this year although its the season i was always having serious weed problems...I guess old soil doesnt sprout many weeds and probably the soil i am using now is weed seed free as i am not having any weeds coming up from any of my recent planting while other years i would have to ''crop'' them 3-4 times to start getting less weeds...

It looks like some kind of purslane. They make stuff (Bayer, Ortho) to kill it but one of the nursery guys would have to tell you if its safe to use on seedlings.

Edit: BTW, I have two beds in my garden where I used a deep pink flowering purslane as a ground cover. You can stop its spread with woody mulch. For some reason it will not venture into the mulched areas.

There is no safe herbicide treatment on seedlings. It's a Pilea (can't remember the species). It's highly resistant to Roundup because of the waxy leaves. However, 2-4-D will knock it for a loop. Like aphids, it's born pregnant.

Haha, good luck, this is IMPOSSIBLE to kill! i use straight roundup concentrate on this and it works 60% of the time. this weed is very very very tough to kill! Pulling it out is no good because then it spreads easily.

The California equivalent... Spotted Spurge.

The California equivalent... Spotted Spurge.

Terry,

I am with you on this....it is an evil plant

There is no safe herbicide treatment on seedlings. It's a Pilea (can't remember the species). It's highly resistant to Roundup because of the waxy leaves. However, 2-4-D will knock it for a loop. Like aphids, it's born pregnant.

Your absolutely right. It's a dwarf Pilea. And it's a bitch to control. You almost learn to live with it. But, recently we found a herbicide that pretty much turns it to toast. It's called REWARD, comes in a 2 1/2 gallon jug and is pretty expensive. It's a contact herbicide, so you have to be extreamly careful when spraying around other plants. Anything green, it will kill it. But, it will start turning brown in a couple of hours or so.

Jeff

Send some to BS man

Oh that one thrives here in FL too. Never been to a nursery anywhere that doesn't have Spotted Spurge. It's cousin Prostrate Spurge is just about as bad (and there are other annoying spurges too). Another universal weed player is Bittercress! I'm stopping now. Sorry the line between work and play is always fuzzy for me.

the line between work and play is always fuzzy for me.

I'm sure I speak for others, we are thrilled at your fuzziness!

REWARD sounds worth trying. I don't have the Pilea, but do have a fast-growing spurge (Chamaesyce). Plus bermuda grass, etc.

Oh that one thrives here in FL too. Never been to a nursery anywhere that doesn't have Spotted Spurge. It's cousin Prostrate Spurge is just about as bad (and there are other annoying spurges too). Another universal weed player is Bittercress! I'm stopping now. Sorry the line between work and play is always fuzzy for me.

If those thrive there, you can just imagine how they do here in the tropics! :rage:

For Pilea microphylla, there is a good side however, because they are edible. They make a crunchy addition to salad. You have to be careful though that they haven't picked up heavy metals, say from your fertilizers.

Never new you could eat the little buggers. I'll have to keep that in mind as a last resort. If you ever come to my place for salad, don't look to closely.

Whereas Jeff pointed us to Reward for control of Pilea (thanks Jeff...thats helpful!), you'll need something that translocates to the roots to kill the Bermudagrass, something like Roundup. See the Bermudagrass will simply come back from underground tissue if you kill the top with Reward. If it takes 2 weeks for the Bermuda to die, thats OK because it means the herbicide is getting all through the plant system. Of course, it might take 2 applications with Bermuda because dormant tissue below ground might just sprout when the competition is eradicated.

Send some to BS man

When I saw this thread I knew I'd get a mention somewhere....

The California equivalent... Spotted Spurge.

So thats what thais is. Pain in the but. It seems I spend all my time weeding my containers on the weekend.

This microweed grows here in Costa Rica too.I never thought too much of it, it never gets large, and just bothers small plants.

It shows up in every pot, and I just toss it out .

But: I saw that where there is any kind of mulch on top of the clean soil, it does not show up.

I call it "Gardener's Grief"

Latin name be damned.

Try the Reward. The real trick is to try to pull it BEFORE it sets seed. Pull it up and throw it in the trash. Not the mulch pile; The trash.

The good thing is that if you pull it right at the root it comes up fairly easily. I, like many others have learned that there is a sort of co-existence and general acceptance that needs to happen. It gets around and stays around kind of like Bermuda Grass. Oof.

Thanks everyone, I removed every palm from my shadehouse that had this weed in it and many that were nearby. Soil was disposed of, palms were donated and herbicide was applied prophetically to ground cover and surrounding areas. I'm sure it's not the last I'll see of it, but hopefully I can give newly potted seedlings a fighting chance. I believe many slower and tiny seedlings were strangled by this weed. It's roots are very VERY fine and I'm sure it drinks every bit of water it touches. Hopefully I can not see a flourish of this invasive for at least another year or two.

Ohhhhhh, come oooooooonnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!

Embrace the weed, you'll come to love it!!!

It's you'r buddyy!!!