[bullfrog]

I read through the thread about fire ants - I'm going to give Nutrasweet a try. I'll let you all know.

BUT - I also have goat heads - (3pronged stickers that grow vinelike on the ground - very stiff and some have a 'poison' in them that makes your stick hurt for days after you've pulled the sticker out.)

I hate the idea of poisioning our yard - but these things have to go! Our kids cannot play in the yard - and we have a huge yard. What I wouldn't give for $2K worth of landscaping right now.

 

[tboroson]

Hm.... looking around online, I see references to flaming goatshead (puncturevine). That's a method that comes highly recommended to me for many weeds - if only we could use it on poison ivy, which is our bugaboo here. Another suggestion is to use imported weevils that destroy the plants... but I'm wary of using another imported species to control an invasive. Remember the foxes that were brought in to control rabbits in Australia?

How big is your yard? It sounds like that puncturevine is miserable stuff, but if your yard isn't big, can you control it with hand pulling and flaming? I know I've controlled poison ivy in a small yard with just hand pulling. You could start relandscaping it yourself, using weed barrier to suppress the puncturevine where you plant, then laying sod by hand where you want lawn. The sod should be dense enough to suppress weeds, if you maintain it healthfully. Mind you, I hate caring for my grass

but, it can be done.

As for fire ants... Here's an article about an organic control method developed by Texas A&M.

 

[GoldBerry]

good ideas about pulling and flaming- there are nice portable jobbies to use: http://www.planetnatural.com/site/we...on-flamer.html (just an example- you can probably get a set up cheaper).

Just really posting because I once lived in New Mexico and pulled more Goat Heads out of my bike tires and feet than I care to remember!