How To Get Rid Of Prickly Lettuce
Prickly lettuce is a troublesome weed found in many yards across the United States. It can be identified by its spiny leaves and white flowers. Formally known as Lactuca serriola, this weed goes by many other names, including the compass plant, wild lettuce, and even milk thistle. (This is separate from another plant known as milk thistle, or Silybum marianum.)
You can control prickly lettuce with selective herbicides, but it's essential first to identify this weed accurately. Prevention methods are also important to keep this weed from returning to your yard.
There are multiple avenues you can take to get rid of prickly lettuce in your yard. You can use specific herbicides to kill it, but you have to be careful because they might also kill the other plants in your yard. Do-It-Yourself Pest Control has a step-by-step guide for getting rid of prickly lettuce, as well as a list of recommended herbicides below.
Prickly Lettuce Identification And Inspection
Characteristics Of Prickly Lettuce
Lactuca serriola, or prickly lettuce, is what's known as a winter annual weed. This means that germination begins at the start of winter and the plant only lives for a single growing season before dying off in fall or spring.
Prickly lettuce grows as a rosette of basal (leaves are grouped from a central point in a circular shape). It can grow 2-7 feet tall and features irregularly lobed leaves with prickly edges that are sharp and sometimes painful to the touch. It gets its name from the fact that it texturally resembles lettuce.
Prickly lettuce flower heads are yellow and resemble small dandelion flowers. This flowering process usually occurs from April through October. A single plant can produce hundreds and, often, thousands of seeds, making it difficult to control once it has taken over an area.
Fortunately, several herbicides are effective at killing prickly lettuce. In addition, manual removal can be effective if done regularly (before the plant has a chance to produce seeds).
Prickly Lettuce Inspection
Inspecting for prickly lettuce includes looking for the plant in its vegetative and flowering stages. The plant can be identified in its mature stage by its thick, deeply lobed leaves. The leaves are usually dark green in color and have a hairy surface.
The undersides of the leaves are often lighter in color and may have tiny prickles. In its flowering stage, prickly lettuce produces small yellow-ish white flowers that grow in clusters.
Large, sharply-pointed bracts surround these clusters. If you suspect that prickly lettuce is present on your property, it is important to correctly identify and confirm its presence so you can begin a treatment plan. This plant can easily be confused with other similar species, so it is important to get an accurate diagnosis before taking any control measures and applying herbicides.
Control Prickly Lettuce
How To Get Rid Of Prickly Lettuce
The most effective method of controlling prickly lettuce is through using selective herbicides. However, there are certain cases where non-selective herbicides may be helpful. Below you'll find a list of grasses that our lawn care experts have verified to work with the products linked under them.
View our safe products for your specific variety of grass:
Prickly Lettuce Selective Herbicide Product Recommendations
Selective herbicides work great on prickly lettuce, but you must be careful not to damage the other plants in your yard. The best way to avoid this is to use a selective herbicide designed explicitly for your type of grass. We've created the list below with a few of our top selective herbicide recommendations for prickly lettuce control.
Blindside Herbicide: This is a selective herbicide that is perfect for suppressing prickly lettuce in turf, including residential, commercial, and institutional lawns, athletic fields, commercial sod farms, golf courses, and other noncrop sites. It is formulated for select warm-season grasses: St. Augustinegrass, Bermudagrass and hybrids, Centipedegrass, and Zoysiagrass. Cool-Season grasses: Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue.
Bonide Weed Beater Ultra Concentrate: This is a systemic broadleaf weed killer designed for lawn and turf areas. It works on the inside, all of the way to its roots. As an effective herbicide that you can use in hot or cold weather down to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 Celsius), this product will give your yard superior post-emergent control with proven performance.
It works against troublesome weeds such as prickly lettuce, pennywort (dollarweed), dandelion, and white clover. In just hours, you may observe injuries of treated plants; by 7 to 14 days, you’ll see total plant death.
Q4 Plus Turf Herbicide: Q4 Plus Turf Herbicide has a unique blend of four active ingredients that are all powerful in their own right. They come together to give you quick results with an herbicide specifically formulated for cool-season turf areas. It controls yellow nutsedge and crabgrass as well as certain types of grassy weeds like foxtail or other pesky broadleaf plants like prickly lettuce when used correctly.
Non-Selective Herbicide Recommendations
In some cases, you may need to use a non-selective herbicide. This is usually only necessary if the prickly lettuce has taken over a large area and you need to kill it quickly. Remember that non-selective herbicides will kill all plants, so only use them as a last resort.
One of our recommended non-selective herbicides is listed below.
Alligare Glyphosate 5.4 Herbicide: Glyphosate is a powerful, non-selective herbicide that can kill many plants. It's often applied as a foliar spray to trees and other woody leafy greens. It's also fully capable of taking care of many broadleaf weeds, such as prickly lettuce.
Prickly Lettuce Prevention
The best way to prevent prickly lettuce from taking over your yard is to regularly inspect your property and remove any plants that are present. This is most effective before seed maturation. Additionally, you can use herbicides as a preventative measure.
Recommended Prickly Lettuce Prevention Products
Hi-Yield Weed & Feed 15-0-10: Hi-Yield Weed & Feed combines a lawn fertilizer and a post-emergent herbicide to control prickly lettuce and over 200 other broadleaf weeds. They work together to keep your grass healthy and your lawn wild lettuce free.
Do-It-Yourself Pest Control Has You Covered For Prickly Lettuce Control
At Do-It-Yourself Pest Control, we have all the products and supplies you need to get rid of prickly lettuce. Be sure to check out our vast selection of herbicides, both selective and non-selective. We also carry a variety of lawn fertilizer and weed & feed products to help prevent prickly lettuce from taking over your yard.
Don't hesitate to get in touch with our lawn care experts if you have any further questions about preventing or getting rid of prickly lettuce. They will be happy to help you find the best solution for your specific situation.