I had forgotten that last spring I kept getting startled by things jumping out at me while I was weeding ... it took me forever to figure out that they weren't bugs, it was some sort of booby trapped seed pod from a weed that grows all over our yard. The slightest touch and SPROING - little spiral seed thingees shoot all over the place, as far as five or ten feet away. A few minutes of Internet searching turned up a likely culprit: Yellow Wood Sorrel.
photo credit: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/38376/index.htmlThose cucumber-looking things are the (unexploded) seed pods, I think. Anyway, I found out today that the stuff is so sensitive that even spraying it with Round Up sends seeds flying every which way, so I think there's going to be a lot more spraying in my future if I want to eradicate it. And oh, yes - I WILL eradicate it. Just ask the ivy ...
Good luck with the sorrel. We have had good luck prevent the growth of seeds by distributing corn meal gluten over the yard. Our local plant-mart has 50-lb bags of the stuff. We spread it over the yard and it helps to prevent the seeds from germinating and growing.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
I noticed on your web page for the photo credit that sorrel was toxic. Going to the more authoritative http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/
ReplyDeleteconsumer/poison/poison.htm, it appears that you have to eat a bunch, like grazing cattle. This would be difficult for little ones considering the thorns.
I also noticed that the latin name for our local holly is "Ilex vomitoria". Gee, guess what happens when you it eat?