Difficulty of Dalmatian Toadflax Control
The superpower of some weeds is their beauty. Take the Dalmatian toadflax, for example. It has so many attributes a gardener prizes. It’s very easy to grow, it flowers all summer and into the fall and it repopulates itself. What gardener doesn’t want that plant?
The dark side of Dalmatian toadflax is its apparent desire for world domination and very difficult Dalmatian toadflax noxious weed control. By a second season of adding the plant, gardeners resort to desperate measures to eliminate it, often dousing sections of their yard in gasoline and dropping a lighted match. The original charming backdrop the stately tall plant provided becomes menacing stalks of evil that have invaded the neighbor’s yard, have found their own way to other areas of the gardener’s yard and cannot be destroyed.
With a seeding phase that can last a full four months – from early June through mid-October – one Dalmatian toadflax plant can produce up to 500,000 seeds. But just in case a half a million seeds don’t guarantee eternal life for the plant, it also sends root runners under the ground. Is it any wonder that a single gardener finds it hard to win the war against a plant so determined to reproduce?
Dalmatian Toadflax Noxious Weed Control Methods
Gardeners determined to eradicate weeds naturally are often the plant’s best ally. Pulling and mowing Dalmatian toadflax as a way of Dalmatian toadflax noxious weed control is a very efficient way to spread the seeds. A shiny black weevil that goes by the name of Mecinus janthinus has been called a “silver bullet” by some state agencies that deal with weed control. Weevils aren’t the answer for every geographical area, however, and it’s important to carefully develop any biological plan of attack.
To date, the most effective control of Dalmatian toadflax has been chemical spraying and it continues to be recommended by county and state extension agencies.
If you have Dalmatian toadflax on your property, contact SprayTech, Colorado commercial and residential weed control experts, at 720-248-0000 to discuss Dalmatian toadflax noxious weed control.
