It’s been a couple of years since I’ve talked about this particularly weed, and some of you may ask “why do you single out this weed to talk about when there are so many others?” Well, part of the reason is that I am not so bothered by weeds in my lawn. As long as it’s green, I don’t really worry about it. This may come with some amount of dismay from my neighbors, but when it comes to my lawn… if it’s green, it gets to stay.

But (and I know this isn’t entirely rational) when it comes to our flower beds, I don’t want any weeds in there…especially mulberryweed. I find this one particularly annoying in that if you let it get ahead of you, it’s going to be everywhere and with all this rain, mulberry weed is coming on strong since it loves moist, shady areas.

It’s called mulberryweed, not because it’s related to mulberry trees, but because it looks similar to mulberry seedlings. You can differentiate between the two by looking at the stems. Mulberryweed stems are hairy while mulberry tree seedlings are not. You can also tell because mulberryweed doesn’t grow to more than 10 or 12 inches in height.

One thing that really helps these weeds spread is that the can produce between two and five generations per season. This is in contrast to most of our weeds which only go through one cycle per season. Plus, mulberry weed is a prolific seed producer that can launch their seeds up to four feet away. Now spread this behavior across the entire season over several generations and you can see how it doesn’t take long for this particular weed to get out of hand.

Another challenge associated with these plants is that, with their liking shady, moist areas, they tend to grow under and around your other plants. Oftentimes you won’t notice them at first since they are hiding under your flowers and other garden plants. And once you do see them, they are on their way to everywhere…

For better or worse, our best strategy for controlling mulberryweed is hand pulling. Yes, this is not my favorite thing either, but we do get a sense of accomplishment afterwards when we look at our clean flowerbeds. Just know, this will likely not be a one and done situation. You are going to need to stay on top of them with a minimum of weekly pass throughs your garden, pulling all the mulberryweed you can see. The downside to this is that even with your best efforts, you will like miss a few. If those few you missed make it to the seeding stage, your engagement will continue. A good layer of garden mulch can help minimize the spread of mulberryweed, but once they get established, getting rid of it will take some time.

While there are herbicides that can work to contain mulberryweed, this is usually problematic in that they like to live right alongside other flowers and plants. A pre-emergent herbicide can help, but a lot of us are not in favor of just dumping more and more chemicals in our landscapes. If you are like me in that, we’re just going to have to get down there and pull them out. Be sure to try and pull them out early in their development to minimize those seed launches. I’ve never seen this launch happen, but I look forward to that day. It sounds amazing. Good luck!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: Nancy Loewenstein, Auburn University, Bugwood.org