Goatheads

Hello Everyone,

I have been a lurker at Permies for a month or two now and thought I would get serious and start posting. I am new to Permaculture, but from what I have read and learned so far it seems to be a very powerful technique. Thus, I would like to get some advice on how to deal with Goatheads (Tribulus terrestris). I have both admired and dreaded this plant. I have gotten numerous bicycle flats and have walked on the seedhead with painful consequences.

Is there any plant (preferably an edible weed) that can out compete the Goathead? They love disturbed poor soil and edges, perennial, and from my experience grow well in both wet and dry ground.

Thanks in advance.

gotta pull them.
Only the female plant tho, i hear. the male has more ovoid leaves, and doesnt set the dreaded seeds.

we have a snakeweed that looks just like it, and is farmed by ants. it does well in the same areas.

You can try the thymes. they can choke out a lot of stuff, and are easier to remove later than the mints.

There is a "fuzzy" thyme that does well in wet or dry, but no seed out there for it.

I'm not of much help because I'm in a temperate climate, and am more knowledgeable in my area.

However, I have felt your pain quite literally and I really dislike those buggars. I think Morgan's advise is sound, also I wound think about planting a windbreak (sage?) which should help in slowing down the spread of the Goatheads.

Puncture Vine Weevils will provide long-term biological control once established. Look for Microlarinus lareynii for the seed and Microlarinus lypriformis for the stem.

http://www.goatheads.com/home/gh1/page_43_13/puncturevine_weevils.html

Thanks for the suggestions. I will see how they work.

Tuffy tire liners for the bikes. http://www.amazon.com/Tuffy-Bicycle-Liner-Orange-20-25/dp/B000C191I4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360870213&sr=8-1&keywords=tuffy+tire+liners

Saves many many headaches while you richen the soil to let them get overrun by productive species.

Weed burner or Roundup, AKA dangerous or EVIL. burning isn't really permie, but there are a few things I will nuke from orbit just to be sure--ticks and goatsheads are on the shortlist.

I'm digging up this old thread, wondering what Permies have tried and learned over the past five years. Suggestions for removing goathead so far are:

Harvesting for medicinal use (although I can't find specifics of what parts of the plant to use, how to use it, or why).

Pull it (but do you leave the taproot?).

Plant thyme or mint or sage as a competitor.

Obtain or attract puncture vine weevils.

Roundup??? I don't think so.

I wondering how a sheet mulch would work. I'm also wondering how harmful it is (other than the seeds that hurt when you step on them barefoot) to just leave it be while improving the soil.
What's worked for you? What hasn't?

I've just been pulling it repeatedly. It does seem to reduce it year by year.

-- I don't think it has male and female plants. If I'm late on pulling it, then ALL of the plants set thorny seeds. There don't seem to be any seedless male plants.

-- It's important to pull it ALL early in the season, before it sets seed. Here the ideal time is June. The taproot usually comes right up with it. If I miss some and have to come back later when it has started to set seeds, there are two problems. One is, you can't really pull it with bare hands after it sets seed, and the other is, the seeds may fall off while you're pulling it.

-- I never go barefoot outdoors here (because my feet get painful cracks if I do) but goathead thorn seeds have a clever tactic of sticking to the bottom of shoes, or any item you might set on the ground outdoors, and then they come indoors, leap off, and wait to get under your bare foot. Like nothing else!

-- Around here they grow in empty desert, especially if there has been a little rain, so I don't think I can grow competitors. I'll just keep pulling it, a couple of rounds per season. If I've ever been tempted to think of round-up, it was not for goathead, because it comes up so easily when pulled early enough in the season. Round-up would only kill the plant whose leaves it coats, which pulling does as well; if there are already seeds on the plant, I don't think round-up would kill the seeds; and I don't think goathead thorns are perennial so I think if you get the taproot up, you've done it.

We have two types- the one you picture here and another one with a deep taproot.

We pulled when we could (and trashed, which felt like a tremendous waste but composting really didn't work for us). A combination of patience, mulch and pulling really helped. As the soil gets better, they're not the only option anymore (i.e. other less tough plants can grow), and as you cover them and build up the soil I think the seeds are further underground and can't germinate. After 2 years, we'd eradicated them in areas of our farm where we're actively cultivating, but they tend to persist on the driveway (so we had to carry bikes over) and around new construction where the sand is very compacted. So I put down old tiles down on our driveway so that the sand is stable enough for other things to take root in the cracks, and so that it's possible to walk bikes down the driveway without getting punctures.

I think pulling it encourages it. I’m mulching over it.