Lady's Thumb in grass seed - Ask Extension
We purchased two bags of all-in-one grass seed to plant in several bare spots in our yard. Something besides the grass has come up, which my plant id ...
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Lady's Thumb in grass seed #834498
Asked June 08, 2023, 9:32 AM EDT
We purchased two bags of all-in-one grass seed to plant in several bare spots in our yard. Something besides the grass has come up, which my plant id app says is Lady's Thumb, Persicaria maculosa and describes as an invasive weed with toxic qualities. Four of the bare spots now host quite a lot of this plant, one has some, two have none. So possibly only one bag of seed had the weed seeds. We are now wondering if we should kill it off with broad leaf and start over, since we don't want it to spread to the rest of our property or to neighboring yards and crop lands across the street.
Please advice. Thank you.
Rice County Minnesota
Expert Response
This is a very common weed in Minnesota. You could take a picture and send it to the grass seed company. But I would not assume it came from the grass seed. Weed seeds may have blown in or been tracked in. Bare spots quickly fill with weeds.
See: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/ladys-thumb
Since it is a broad leaf weed, there are products that will kill it without killing the grass. You will need to reseed the grass. Hopefully the grass will fill in quickly and leave less space for weeds.
See: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/ladys-thumb
Since it is a broad leaf weed, there are products that will kill it without killing the grass. You will need to reseed the grass. Hopefully the grass will fill in quickly and leave less space for weeds.
