# The Extermination of Florida Pusley???



## infiniteMPG (May 20, 2018)

We live in west central Florida and have a 1.2 acre yard. Been here for over 35 yards and never even tried to have a manicured golf course lawn so no re-sodding, seeding or irrigation $y$tem. We have grass in the font yard and around the house and scattered around the yard, but after all this time it's only what has survived. With that being said we still try to care for what we have. Over the last several years we have been getting plagued with Florida Pusley. This not-so-little terror can, with one plant, cover over a foot in diameter of yard and totally kill off anything unfortunately enough to be under its leaves.








Even when this invader only has a few leaves it can have a root system that is over half a foot long and looks like a scraggly carrot. Have tried to kill off this in the past with chemicals but anything that would kill this also killed everything else it touched. Only thing we've found to get rid of it is getting on your hands and knees and using a narrow hand spade, dig down near the center and pull up while prying with the spade. And to get about 400 square feet cleared yesterday it took me almost 7 hours in the sun and filled two large construction sized refuse bags that I can barely pick up.

Since I can hardly move today from the pain, I figured I'd see if anyone has some magical potion that will kill this and not my patchy grass or some tool that manages to pull the carrot from the ground without a lot of manual labor. Before you mention I have a Grandpa's Weed Puller and although it's a great concept and sort of works, you have to be perfectly over the center of the weed, which is often nowhere near the physical center of the plant, but since it has four tines often they just grab the dirt on the sides of the root. Have several other reputed weed pullers but not even come close. Many times there are smaller versions of the weed near the big ones so even pulling them out, unless you're face down near them you won't see them all.

Any and all help would be appreciated but ideas of using a flame thrower, while very entertaining and fun, really wouldn't produce the desired results.

Thanks in advance.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

You really need to know your grass type to make sure what yo spray is compatible, but my guess is it's a blend of warm season grasses.

Spray Celsius WG herbicide at a rate of .113 oz (3.2 g) per 1000 sq ft to kill what has already flowered. It is rated for Florida pusley

Apply Prodiamine 65 WGD as a pre-emergent to prevent future growth. It will take more than one season to kill everything off but after two seasons you should really see a noticeable difference. It is also rated for Florida Pusley.


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## infiniteMPG (May 20, 2018)

Very many thanks for the info. A few questions:

Would the Celsius WG be applied as direct application to the weeds or a broad spray? And are their restrictions for when it might rain or how long until it's rain proof and is there issues applying in direct sun?

With the Prodiamine 65 WGD is there a best time of year to apply that and just once a year?

Once again many thanks!


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## infiniteMPG (May 20, 2018)

Looked into the Celsius WG and although a tad expensive (~$150/btl) it will be worth it in the end. The spec's state that it is not to be applied when rain is predicted for 48 hours. We're in west central Florida and that just means it will be several months before this can be applied, we've had rain every day for the last couple weeks.

Thanks again.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

You can find Celsius for about $100/bottle. Also, nothing would ever get sprayed if you had to avoid rain for 48 hours. I think it needs 4 hours to be rainfast.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

With Celsius, it's also best to treat as a broadcast spray, rather than spot spraying. Read up on the grass journals to help identify the type of grass that you have to make sure you're not going to mistakenly nuke your yard like I did.


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## mommypie (May 16, 2019)

It's been a year since you posted this. Did you have any luck getting rid of the Florida pusley? I also have a ton in my yard. I use a tool called hori-hori (from Amazon) to dig them out, it works very well. I have also sprayed them with Spectracide that has 2,4D. It takes a week before you start seeing them wilting.


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