Weed Control in San Antonio, TX

Bob Jenkins Pest & Lawn Care Services can handle all of your weed control problems. Our Lawn Care Services can rid your yard of weeds. Here are some of the more common weeds in San Antonio.

A variety of thistles are found in turf. Like most, bull thistle is a biennial. It grows over the summer months. The leaves are alternate; blades are simple and form in a rosette. The leaves are unlobed to pinnately lobed. The blade tip is pointed and the margins are toothed with spines. The root is a fleshly taproot the first year and a fibrous root system forms the second year.

The second year of growth, thistle stems elongate. The elongated stems have alternating leaves. Flowers are present from June through October on the elongated stems. The disk flowers are dark pink to purple with spined bracts. Bull thistle spreads by seeds.

Thistles are found throughout the United States and Canada.

chickweed_sized Common chickweed is a shallow fibrous rooted winter annual which grows in moist shaded areas. The leaves are small, smooth, pointed at the tip and elliptic in shape. They are opposite on branching creeping stems, which root at the nodes. Chickweed adapts well to different mowing heights.

The flowers of common chickweed are white small star like with 5 notched petals. Common chickweed spreads by seed.

Common chickweed is found throughout the United States except in the Rocky Mountains.

White clover, found throughout the United States, is a shallow rooted winter perennial legume which spreads by stolons or above ground runners. The plant takes root from the stolons at nodes along the stems when they come in contact with the soil.

The white clover plant has compound leaves divided into three leaflets which are all joined at a central point and originate at the nodes along the stems. Leaves may contain a white ‘watermark’. White clover is adapted to many soils but tends to grow best in soils that are moist and low in nitrogen.

The flowers are an aggregate of 20 – 40 individual flowers. They are white in color, although some have a slight pink tint. White clover flowers from May through September.

Dandelion is a winter perennial. The dandelion has thick fleshy tap root which often branches. New plants come from the root and root segments. Leaves form in a rosette, are deeply lobed, with the lobes pointing toward the base. Both the leaves and flower stems contain a white milky fluid.

The flowers are yellow and are individual stems. The seeds are brown with tip containing white hairs. The yellow flower will turn to a white globular puff ball. The seeds are disseminated by wind. Dandelions spread by both seed and stems from the root.

Dandelion is found throughout the United States.

Henbit, a member of the mint family, is an upright winter annual that blooms in the spring. The leaves are rounded on the end with rounded toothed edges that grow opposite one another on square stems. Upper leaves lack petioles.

Henbit can grow from 4 to 12 inches tall on weak stems. Although an upright plant, weak stems sprouting from the bottom may lay almost horizontal. Henbit can be confused with purple dead-nettle. The leaves of purple dead-nettle, however, are more pointed at the end and are slightly scalloped. The lower leaves of purple dead-nettle are on long petioles, the upper leaves are on short petioles.

The flowers of henbit are purple, tubular shaped and form in the whorls of the upper leaves. Henbit spreads only by seed and is generally not a problem in dense, vigorous turf grass sites.

Henbit is found throughout the United States.

Nutsedge has triangular stems with waxy grass-like leaves which alternate. Sedges are not grass plants, but seedlings may be mistaken for grass. The leaves on both sedges are waxy and have an up right growth habit and a prominent midrib. Both the yellow and purple nutsedge have underground root systems containing rhizomes and underground tubers which accomplish most of the reproduction.

On yellow nutsedge, the tubers (nutlets) form at the end of whitish rhizomes. Purple nutsedge forms chains of tubers along brownish rhizomes. The flowers of yellow nutsedge are yellowish; the seed head color of purple nutsedge is red-purple to brown. Both seed heads are on triangular stems. Both spread mainly by germinating underground tubers, which are the only part of the plant that over-winters. A yellow nutsedge tuber can produce 1,900 plants and 7,000 new tubers in a single growing season. Sedges do well where soil has poor drainage.

Yellow nutsedge is found throughout the United States; purple nutsedge is primarily found in the warm humid southern region of the United States.

bluegrass_annual Annual bluegrass contains both annual and perennial species. Annual bluegrass forms dense patches that can withstand low mowing heights. Annual bluegrass has a boat-shaped tip, folded in the bud. The ligule is membranous and auricles are absent.

Annual bluegrass has a small panicle seed head. Germination occurs in late summer and early spring.

Annual Bluegrass is found throughout the United States and Canada.

crabgrass-sized Crabgrass is a summer annual that germinates when soil temperatures reach a consistent 55 degrees F and is generally killed at the first frost. Crabgrass leaves are rolled in the bud; the first leaf appears short, wide and blunt-tipped. The ligule is tall and membranous with jagged edges, and the auricles are absent.

The collar is broad with long hairs. Crabgrass is light green in color, coarse bladed and will root at the nodes when they touch the ground. A single crabgrass plant can produce up to 700 tillers. It is a bunch type grass.

The inflorescence is a panicle of branches, with spikelets in two rows. A crabgrass plant can produce 150,000 seeds. Crabgrass needs warm soils and sunlight to germinate.

Crabgrass is found throughout the United States.