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Can anyone identify this small, sticky weed? The tips stick by the hundreds to shoes, socks, pets, or anything that goes through it. My back yard got a small patch of it about a year or two ago, and now the entire back yard is practically covered with it!
If anyone can recommend a weed killer that will control this menace, I would appreciate it.
Okay I will argue for Drymaria cordata, known as "Tropical chickweed." It is very closely related to Stellaria and Cerastium; Brisbane Australia City Council has a go at teasing these apart; see the bottom of their document in the section "Similar species". Arguments in favour of Drymaria are the small leaves and relatively hairless stems, but most importantly it is a weed in St Augustine grass which makes it a tropical pest as opposed to temperate. Note that while all appear to have 10 petals in fact they all have 5 which are deeply lobed.
I think that's chickweed (Stellaria media). It's an annual, so the best way to kill it is to hand-pull it before it sets seed. This is always easier said than done because there is always a ton of it in the lawn before you really notice it. An herbicide is relatively useless with chickweed, though, because although it may kill the plant, it will kill the plant only after its seeds have been spread throughout your lawn. Next year, you may be able to use an herbicide if you spot-spray it onto the plants as soon as you see them in the spring. This year, it's already too late for that.
Hand-pulling is always a multi-year task, unfortunately.
Let me just say, I have chickens and they get coated in these, just like my dogs do. Actually kind of funny seeing their whole heads coated with them like a helmet. Long story short, I have chickens and I have tons of this weed in my back yard. So get your backyard chickens for the eggs, not for these weeds. :-)
