Goat heads, damn I don’t miss those from the desert 🤣 yeah always wear shoes when you go outside for this reason. They will puncture all the way and they hurt. They come from a plant, or a weed I should say that’s all over the desert. The only way to get rid of them is to constantly be on top of your landscaping. It’s just the byproduct of a weed unfortunately. Even if you get rid of yours, the wind will eventually blow more into your yard. Welcome to the desert!
Unfortunately not my friend. I was raised all my life in Apple Valley so I know your pain, like I said even if you used weed killer and got rid of all of them, the winds will blow more into your yard. It’ll also blow more seeds into your yard and trying to keep up is tough. That’s why most people don’t even bother because they just always come back and come back fast. It’s a desert thing. You’ll learn to live with them and check shoes before going into the house.
Do be vigilant for your pups. If these aren’t removed they can be very dangerous for dogs. Luckily they’ll usually make them limp when they get embedded, but it’s a good idea to inspect their paws on a regular basis.
We have a dog and when we first moved to the desert, we had a chain link fence and they constantly covered every inch of our yard. We moved to a new house with a metal privacy fence and it’s so much better. It could be partially the location, but it’s not that far away from the old house, so I think the fence helps a lot!
I agree with the comment above, native weeds have a tendency to just keep reappearing, but there are a couple of methods to keep them in check in your own yard:
1) become an expert at identifying the weed in its early stages and pulling them up by the root. Year 1 will be the hardest, but after that you'll only be dealing with a few stragglers here and there.
2) cover your soil with... something. Grass, rock landscaping, or mulch will all provide a lot of protection to your soil from weed seeds, in this case goat heads. Again, you'll have to stay vigilant to exterminate these from your property, but once you get the initial work done it's just maintenance after that point.
Pro tip: if your yard is overrun with these guys, a propane weed burner can really work wonders.
Thank you for the time to leave advice. Can you share what I should do with the propane tank. I do have one I use for fires. Should I just torch the plants?
Yep, scorched earth policy is best if you've got an area completely covered with goat heads. Burning the "seeds" helps prevent them from becoming new weeds next season.
Waste of time, I tried everything. Fire, salt, weed killer, weeding. Covering it with cardboard then weedbarrier then mulch was the only thing that worked
well, everywhere has something. I'm in the PNW now and the gardeners bane is blackberry and ivy, the blackberry is equally painful and the ivy sucks if you're allergic to it.
My dogs have gotten really good at getting them out on their own. I don't have to help as much any more. They still track them in the house though, but it's been better since I got the plants out of my yard. Good luck!
Yeah. My dog had me trained. When he would step on one he would stop, pick up the paw with the sticker, and just look at me. I would run over and pull it out for him. Don't know if all dogs would handle it this well. He was a tough mofo.
Remove all weeds from your yard while they are still green. Once they dry up the goat heads fall off and are hard. When they are green the goat heads are usually still soft.
If you do a quick Google search, there are diy tutorials for getting the goatheads out the dirt with pool noodles. I did it for my dogs, and it worked better than you'd think.
I had a guy come spray for 3 years and had kids walk the yard with flip flops on we have a solid fence. now front and back yard is all dirt and.we can walk property bare foot. Took a few years but worth the effort
Literally wear the crocks and stomp a grid to get as many of them to stick into the foam, then pick them out with small pliers. Put the goatheads in a large bottle, so they can’t blow away or find their way back. Do it about once a month and you’re pretty good. You’ll get good at spotting the actual plants and you want to pull those as soon as possible, as they have crazy long taproots when they get established. That’s it. It’s just a lot of maintenance. I’m trying using a foam paint roller so I can do a larger area more quickly, but results are meh so far.
The goat head weeds, spider out. Easy to spot out, even easier to remove the whole weed. There’s only a few weeds that let grow, they are leafy ones that I give to the chickens.
Read this carefully please:
1. Learn how to identify them when they're small
2. Every day walk your property to pull them out and do so, putting them in a waste container
3. Any that are in your shoes go in the trash
4. Maintain
5. Check your shoes before getting out of the car and before crossing any boundaries (driveway to lawn, lawn to house, etc)
We live on 3 acres. I've completely cleared 1/2 acre and partially cleared another 1.
Always check your shoes before crossing from a known contaminated area to a clean one.
They are caltrop plants. Fancy that they look similar to military caltrops...
But seriously, you CAN get rid of them.
It takes time and persistence and then maintenance.
Same with gophers. Our 3 acres are completely clear of gophers and ground squirrels. It took 2 years and over 400 gophers caught by various means, but we are free of them now.
Goats heads are the worst. My wife just pulled a 1/2 cm one out of my foot last night. That was the worst I've gotten so far. However, I have successfully cleared and curated a path from the house to our office and workspace, which is 200 feet from the house, and the workspace area is 2500 sqft so that I can walk barefoot if I want.
Beyond those areas I have to really work at catching and containing.
You have to hula hoe your whole property a couple times a season, for a couple years and eventually you'll clear it.
I did that for a number of years and then just decides to hire a guy with a tractor to do it all in like 20 minutes.
Best way is to pull the plan before the thorns sprout, it will reduce the amount by a ton. Depends how big your yard is and how many grow. Pull them and put week killer in the area
I do landscaping and maintainence. I can get rid of the weeds that grow those and spray it down so they don't grow back for a good price. Let me know. Also excuse my username. I wasn't thinking when I made this account lmao
Lived in the desert my whole life. Only way I know how to "get rid" of them is to identify them early and pull them out roots and all before they drop the goat heads. And even then it's a constant battle.
Cardboard then weed barrier over that then start over. One plant can make *200 to 5,000 seeds* in one growing season. (It can puncture weed barrier on it's own, that's why a layer of cardboard first then the weed barrier then mulch or or dirt or whatever)
Yeah all these people that are talking about stepping on Legos have obviously never stepped on one of these. You are absolutely correct, they come from hell they were sent here by Satan to drive us insane.
Basically nature puts these little thorns on the ground in order to initiate little kids into real life…all little high desert kids have to step on at least 100 of these with their bare feet before they are allowed to enter high school
Goat heads. They aren't native here, but they love the climate. The best way to get rid of them is to loosen the dirt carefully around the base because they have a very long tough root, so go deep. Pull them carefully out by hand so the burs don't fall off. The burs are seeds, so they'll grow a new plant. I've found it best to remove them before they have the burs or when the burs are still green because they don't fall off easily, but this time of year they're already turning brown and falling off. If you keep pulling them out before the burs fall off, you'll get less of them every year.
Don't forget Foxtails. If you have pets, foxtails & goatheads can work themselves into their eyes & ears. Always check your animals when they come inside.
You moved here not expecting these weeds, but isn't it a gorgeous day today?
I haven’t tried it, but [I see people recommend running an old yoga mat or other sort of foam across the yard to collect them.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Albuquerque/comments/14pa2dq/comment/jqh1482/). I have had luck watching out for the weed and making sure it’s plucked before it becomes a problem, but of course that only helps after the initial clean up.. gl
This by far is probably your best bet we used to use an old piece of carpet from when we re-did our flooring and it worked wonders. We'd just cut a chunk of carpet off the roll each time when needed one and threw it out when we finished the yard. Eventually we ran out of carpet after a few years but by that time we also got rid of 99% of the weeds and goat heads but we'd still get a few blown in every year, we just weeded them by hand then and our dogs and cats only got one or two goat heads that we missed each year so it wasn't bad. I think the yoga mat would be great and work just as well as the carpet.
Here's a little tip though.
Weight the end of the mat that drags in the dirt down with some rocks for best results. Good luck.
Tribulus terrestris.
It has lots of common names.
Puncture vine, goathead Buffalo head, etc.
It's part of the caltrop family, distantly related to our native creosote actually. But it's introduced from Eurasia & North Africa.
How to get rid of them?
Diligence.
First you need to recognize the plant.
They're a low growing plant with fern-like opposite leaves and Yellow five-petaled flowers.
[example from Wikipedia ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Tribulus_terrestris_%28Family_Zygophyllaceae%29.jpg/1280px-Tribulus_terrestris_%28Family_Zygophyllaceae%29.jpg)
I say low growing, but in shade they can actually grow upward. But it's unlikely in this part of the desert.
You can identify the fruiting bodies while they're still green, 4 of those awful stickers stuck together with the spikes pointing out.
When you find them:
First rake. Try and get as much of dry thorns out. First. Shovel them into a bag as much as you can, dirt and all.
The thorns are the fruiting body so removing them is key to getting them out of your yard.
Then, you need gloves. Even the green thorns are pokey.
And pull, use a hula-ho, or even a garden knife or shears to cut yank up/cut the plant at the taproot.
These also go in the bag.
Rake again after and bag any of the dropped fruiting bodies.
Tie the bag closed and dispose of it.
Then, keep it up. Every year, especially after rainy years like this, keep an eye out for the plant and remove them from your yard as soon as you see what it is. And they always go in the trash.
Throw the thorns in the trash whenever they get tracked in.
And, plant native plants. It's unlikely to root where there's already competition, and the competition makes it easy to spot and pull before it has a chance to get established.
It can take a few years of intensive weeding. But you can definitely reduce the amount of troublesome invasive weeds like puncture vine, mustards, and cranes beak.
After a while you're just kind of spot-weeding and maintaining.
The hardest is after storms. All that water to kick plsnts into overdrive and the wind pushing seeds around.
And those seeds can stay viable for years.
Hope that helps.
Goat heads! I recommend buying a cheap, thick pair of flip flops and walking around and throwing them away. The weed that produces them has purple flowers in spring, you need to be on top of getting them in spring and pulling them up. It’s a many year project, since each of those
Goat heads makes a new plant, so if you miss any you’ll have to start all over.
Reduction is possible! Good luck
If you step on one and manage to break off one of the thorns in your foot, use Draw Salve to get it out. Comes in a little sliver tin and can usually pull a thorn out in 60 seconds pretty much painlessly. Even one that's been in your foot for a couple of weeks.
a little time consuming, but i have been sucking up the goatheads with a shop vac when i come across a pile of them. we cleared about half of our yard to bare dirt with an action hoe, and just pull the goatheads from the rest of the yard. they are annual, so its not essential to pull the entire root, just the main body of the plant. they thrive best in areas without competition from other plants, so letting other plants (or weeds) grow will discourage them.[this guide](https://extension.usu.edu/planthealth/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/weeds/w_puncturevine) was really helpful to us
No real solution, I took my son in a stroller just one block from the house and had to turn back because the tires had like 15 of them on the tires but only popped one innertube on a 3 wheeler, I was stabing myself pulling them off before turning back....
Yeah, more upsetting to see my dogs unable to run around my own backyard. I only moved up here because of the large area for my German Shepherd and pitbull.
They come from a specific weed when they are green they are no where near as hard best best is to weed and rake your hole yard scrap the top soil with a flathead shovel and then use a old push broom and brush all that shit into a coner or hole
Everyone else already left comments about this that are good, but damn, this takes me back. These and foxtails were the weeds that haunted my childhood, and the destroyer of many pairs of cheap flipflops 😂 Welcome to the desert, OP! I promise you’ll get used to these.
(The only piece of advice I’d recommend and that I haven’t seen is potentially making your home a shoes-off house if it isn’t already. If you take your shoes off before you step inside or as soon as you enter the door, you track a lot less of these into your home. It also has the upside of tracking a lot less dust and dirt from the desert into your home, which generally keeps it cleaner and makes it easier to clean.)
They're the devil's torture weed seedlings that are impossible to get rid of. My yard is full of them, I actually posted about them a while back and got some pretty good answers from people around the country.
[editing to add the link to my post ](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/bfXZtM5amg)
God damn goat heads. Hated those fuckers when I lived in Cali. Only way is to Dig them up and burn it trash them and just hope your neighbors yard don’t blow more in. Id walk a mile over legos before wanting to step on one of those again.
Goat head/puncture vine. Learn what the plant looks like and cut it back young every year. Drag some carpet or something across the area to get as many as you can. The goat head sticker is actually the seed, so if you collect them and cut back before plants make new seeds, then you can control it.
Goat heads. You have to remove them when you see them. The weed lays flat on the ground, and you'll see their stickers on them before they "fall off." If you see them on your property, pull them asap. If they are already established and you spray round-up on them, the dead thorns will fall off, blow around, and find you or your dogs feet/paws. They're the worst. They also flatten bicycle tires!
They specifically come from the floor crawling vine looking things. To get rid of them you can buy these special things that roll over the ground and pick them up or as someone else said you can diy it with a pool noodle. To prevent them, learn what the plant looks like in its early stages and stay on top of weeding
I regularly drag the backyard with a metal grate on a ride on mower/tractor for my dogs. We play ball every day, but still have lots of thorns. You can reduce them, but never get rid of them.The bottom of my Crocs look like a field of stars. They are more broken thorn than crocs at this point. They've finally started stacking up and poking through.
Damn, I remember when we moved to Irwin as a child running down the alleyway barefoot on my first day there. I stepped on so many of these things, I had to take my shirt off and use it as a makeshift shoe to slide back home lol. Never again.
Look up “puncture vine” and become real familiar with it.. as soon as you see them sprouting remove them and treat your yard.. staying on top of it will stop it from becoming a major issue but they never go away.
We got our yard scraped and then shoved all the top dirt into a corner and then removed that corner dirt. It’s taken years to prevent the overgrowth of goat heads. We make sure to pull/kill all the weeds before the seeds get big. We tried the roller with foam, but there were so many it did nothing.
Hey OP look up pictures of Goat Head thorns and you'll see why they're called that... they truly look like a satanic symbol of a goats head..I've stepped on many painful things in my life but these and guitar strings (I know, sounds weird) have got to be the worst!!...good luck.
Be sure to pull them all out of your shoes before you go inside. If you don't, you'll end up with them everywhere. My kids fall them "poky balls," and they really hurt to step on.
Ugh, I'm in the Antelope Valley and they get stuck in my stroller wheels all the time. They're the worst. I use a piece of cardboard and scrape them off.
These things shred bike tires too.
They look like a flat vascular weed. And when alive, those spikes aren’t hard yet and you can peel them apart easily. The seed is inside those spiky pods. But when they die the spikes stick out and harden. It’s how the plant ensures it’s seeds reproduce somewhere else.
I live in the ca central valley (very desert like) and my backyard is full of these darn things. The worst is when they inevitably get into the house and I step on them in the middle of the night getting a snack. It sucks so much. Goat heads make a good argument for God doesn't love us.
Buy and spread Boll Weevils, they will eat the seed and slow it down.
Pulling the weeds before they produce the thorn, and raking the ground real good.
There goat heads. They come from a weed that grows when it's got water. Then they dry out & you've got goat heads all over.
Go to the home garden & look for weed killer, ask if the have something for the goat heads.
They will pop by cycle tires
Goat heads, damn I don’t miss those from the desert 🤣 yeah always wear shoes when you go outside for this reason. They will puncture all the way and they hurt. They come from a plant, or a weed I should say that’s all over the desert. The only way to get rid of them is to constantly be on top of your landscaping. It’s just the byproduct of a weed unfortunately. Even if you get rid of yours, the wind will eventually blow more into your yard. Welcome to the desert!
Any advice on how to maintain my yards to prevent these or overall tips. I’m getting real tired of these damn goat heads.
Unfortunately not my friend. I was raised all my life in Apple Valley so I know your pain, like I said even if you used weed killer and got rid of all of them, the winds will blow more into your yard. It’ll also blow more seeds into your yard and trying to keep up is tough. That’s why most people don’t even bother because they just always come back and come back fast. It’s a desert thing. You’ll learn to live with them and check shoes before going into the house.
Oh Damn… my poor dogs. Thanks man.
Do be vigilant for your pups. If these aren’t removed they can be very dangerous for dogs. Luckily they’ll usually make them limp when they get embedded, but it’s a good idea to inspect their paws on a regular basis.
We have a dog and when we first moved to the desert, we had a chain link fence and they constantly covered every inch of our yard. We moved to a new house with a metal privacy fence and it’s so much better. It could be partially the location, but it’s not that far away from the old house, so I think the fence helps a lot!
Thank you that’s probably a good idea. That’ll be my next home project.
I agree with the comment above, native weeds have a tendency to just keep reappearing, but there are a couple of methods to keep them in check in your own yard: 1) become an expert at identifying the weed in its early stages and pulling them up by the root. Year 1 will be the hardest, but after that you'll only be dealing with a few stragglers here and there. 2) cover your soil with... something. Grass, rock landscaping, or mulch will all provide a lot of protection to your soil from weed seeds, in this case goat heads. Again, you'll have to stay vigilant to exterminate these from your property, but once you get the initial work done it's just maintenance after that point. Pro tip: if your yard is overrun with these guys, a propane weed burner can really work wonders.
Thank you for the time to leave advice. Can you share what I should do with the propane tank. I do have one I use for fires. Should I just torch the plants?
Yep, scorched earth policy is best if you've got an area completely covered with goat heads. Burning the "seeds" helps prevent them from becoming new weeds next season.
Waste of time, I tried everything. Fire, salt, weed killer, weeding. Covering it with cardboard then weedbarrier then mulch was the only thing that worked
I guess this is just life now. I wish I knew before I moved.
well, everywhere has something. I'm in the PNW now and the gardeners bane is blackberry and ivy, the blackberry is equally painful and the ivy sucks if you're allergic to it.
You will also need to install something like a cement block wall to block the seeds blowing in.
My dogs have gotten really good at getting them out on their own. I don't have to help as much any more. They still track them in the house though, but it's been better since I got the plants out of my yard. Good luck!
Yeah. My dog had me trained. When he would step on one he would stop, pick up the paw with the sticker, and just look at me. I would run over and pull it out for him. Don't know if all dogs would handle it this well. He was a tough mofo.
Remove all weeds from your yard while they are still green. Once they dry up the goat heads fall off and are hard. When they are green the goat heads are usually still soft.
If you do a quick Google search, there are diy tutorials for getting the goatheads out the dirt with pool noodles. I did it for my dogs, and it worked better than you'd think.
I had a guy come spray for 3 years and had kids walk the yard with flip flops on we have a solid fence. now front and back yard is all dirt and.we can walk property bare foot. Took a few years but worth the effort
Literally wear the crocks and stomp a grid to get as many of them to stick into the foam, then pick them out with small pliers. Put the goatheads in a large bottle, so they can’t blow away or find their way back. Do it about once a month and you’re pretty good. You’ll get good at spotting the actual plants and you want to pull those as soon as possible, as they have crazy long taproots when they get established. That’s it. It’s just a lot of maintenance. I’m trying using a foam paint roller so I can do a larger area more quickly, but results are meh so far.
The goat head weeds, spider out. Easy to spot out, even easier to remove the whole weed. There’s only a few weeds that let grow, they are leafy ones that I give to the chickens.
Read this carefully please: 1. Learn how to identify them when they're small 2. Every day walk your property to pull them out and do so, putting them in a waste container 3. Any that are in your shoes go in the trash 4. Maintain 5. Check your shoes before getting out of the car and before crossing any boundaries (driveway to lawn, lawn to house, etc) We live on 3 acres. I've completely cleared 1/2 acre and partially cleared another 1. Always check your shoes before crossing from a known contaminated area to a clean one. They are caltrop plants. Fancy that they look similar to military caltrops... But seriously, you CAN get rid of them. It takes time and persistence and then maintenance. Same with gophers. Our 3 acres are completely clear of gophers and ground squirrels. It took 2 years and over 400 gophers caught by various means, but we are free of them now. Goats heads are the worst. My wife just pulled a 1/2 cm one out of my foot last night. That was the worst I've gotten so far. However, I have successfully cleared and curated a path from the house to our office and workspace, which is 200 feet from the house, and the workspace area is 2500 sqft so that I can walk barefoot if I want. Beyond those areas I have to really work at catching and containing.
You have to hula hoe your whole property a couple times a season, for a couple years and eventually you'll clear it. I did that for a number of years and then just decides to hire a guy with a tractor to do it all in like 20 minutes.
Unfortunately you've already found the best way to remove them from your yard >.<
😔😔😔😔😔
Water your lawn and fertilize with Weed and Feed.
Best way is to pull the plan before the thorns sprout, it will reduce the amount by a ton. Depends how big your yard is and how many grow. Pull them and put week killer in the area
I do landscaping and maintainence. I can get rid of the weeds that grow those and spray it down so they don't grow back for a good price. Let me know. Also excuse my username. I wasn't thinking when I made this account lmao
Oh man i laughed so hard when i read the last two sentences and looked at your username
Lived in the desert my whole life. Only way I know how to "get rid" of them is to identify them early and pull them out roots and all before they drop the goat heads. And even then it's a constant battle.
Cardboard then weed barrier over that then start over. One plant can make *200 to 5,000 seeds* in one growing season. (It can puncture weed barrier on it's own, that's why a layer of cardboard first then the weed barrier then mulch or or dirt or whatever)
"Welcome to the desert." Lmao, best ever. So freakin true.
And also look out for your pets too!
They're goat heads. They come from hell.
They are my arch nemesis as a cyclist.
Yeah all these people that are talking about stepping on Legos have obviously never stepped on one of these. You are absolutely correct, they come from hell they were sent here by Satan to drive us insane.
Basically nature puts these little thorns on the ground in order to initiate little kids into real life…all little high desert kids have to step on at least 100 of these with their bare feet before they are allowed to enter high school
More like before entering kindergarten 😂
I moved here when I was 33. I think I stepped on at least 10,000 the first year I lived here.
My kindergartener is ready for high school apparently
Yeah the desert grows them up fast sometimes
Goat heads. They aren't native here, but they love the climate. The best way to get rid of them is to loosen the dirt carefully around the base because they have a very long tough root, so go deep. Pull them carefully out by hand so the burs don't fall off. The burs are seeds, so they'll grow a new plant. I've found it best to remove them before they have the burs or when the burs are still green because they don't fall off easily, but this time of year they're already turning brown and falling off. If you keep pulling them out before the burs fall off, you'll get less of them every year.
Don't forget Foxtails. If you have pets, foxtails & goatheads can work themselves into their eyes & ears. Always check your animals when they come inside. You moved here not expecting these weeds, but isn't it a gorgeous day today?
Don’t forget that foxtails can also go up an animals nose from them sniffing and really fuck Shit up.
Yes it sure is.
I haven’t tried it, but [I see people recommend running an old yoga mat or other sort of foam across the yard to collect them.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Albuquerque/comments/14pa2dq/comment/jqh1482/). I have had luck watching out for the weed and making sure it’s plucked before it becomes a problem, but of course that only helps after the initial clean up.. gl
This by far is probably your best bet we used to use an old piece of carpet from when we re-did our flooring and it worked wonders. We'd just cut a chunk of carpet off the roll each time when needed one and threw it out when we finished the yard. Eventually we ran out of carpet after a few years but by that time we also got rid of 99% of the weeds and goat heads but we'd still get a few blown in every year, we just weeded them by hand then and our dogs and cats only got one or two goat heads that we missed each year so it wasn't bad. I think the yoga mat would be great and work just as well as the carpet. Here's a little tip though. Weight the end of the mat that drags in the dirt down with some rocks for best results. Good luck.
Tribulus terrestris. It has lots of common names. Puncture vine, goathead Buffalo head, etc. It's part of the caltrop family, distantly related to our native creosote actually. But it's introduced from Eurasia & North Africa. How to get rid of them? Diligence. First you need to recognize the plant. They're a low growing plant with fern-like opposite leaves and Yellow five-petaled flowers. [example from Wikipedia ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Tribulus_terrestris_%28Family_Zygophyllaceae%29.jpg/1280px-Tribulus_terrestris_%28Family_Zygophyllaceae%29.jpg) I say low growing, but in shade they can actually grow upward. But it's unlikely in this part of the desert. You can identify the fruiting bodies while they're still green, 4 of those awful stickers stuck together with the spikes pointing out. When you find them: First rake. Try and get as much of dry thorns out. First. Shovel them into a bag as much as you can, dirt and all. The thorns are the fruiting body so removing them is key to getting them out of your yard. Then, you need gloves. Even the green thorns are pokey. And pull, use a hula-ho, or even a garden knife or shears to cut yank up/cut the plant at the taproot. These also go in the bag. Rake again after and bag any of the dropped fruiting bodies. Tie the bag closed and dispose of it. Then, keep it up. Every year, especially after rainy years like this, keep an eye out for the plant and remove them from your yard as soon as you see what it is. And they always go in the trash. Throw the thorns in the trash whenever they get tracked in. And, plant native plants. It's unlikely to root where there's already competition, and the competition makes it easy to spot and pull before it has a chance to get established. It can take a few years of intensive weeding. But you can definitely reduce the amount of troublesome invasive weeds like puncture vine, mustards, and cranes beak. After a while you're just kind of spot-weeding and maintaining. The hardest is after storms. All that water to kick plsnts into overdrive and the wind pushing seeds around. And those seeds can stay viable for years. Hope that helps.
Goat heads! I recommend buying a cheap, thick pair of flip flops and walking around and throwing them away. The weed that produces them has purple flowers in spring, you need to be on top of getting them in spring and pulling them up. It’s a many year project, since each of those Goat heads makes a new plant, so if you miss any you’ll have to start all over. Reduction is possible! Good luck
Wrong color flowers. Tribulus Terrestris have small yellow flowers. I think the purple flowering ones are Filarees.
!!!!! Neat to know!!!!
[Puncturevine ](https://images.app.goo.gl/uAcQLjzNMkb4oX8Y6) This is the weed that they come from. It is time for a seek and destroy mission.
They’re called goat heads. They absolutely suck, especially when discovered in the middle of the night going to the bathroom.
Man you ain’t wrong. 😑 those wake you right up.
Why are they ALWAYS in the fuckin bathroom
ninja caltrops
Oh yeah. If you step on them they magically turn you into a bike tire tube and you deflate. Watch out.
If you step on one and manage to break off one of the thorns in your foot, use Draw Salve to get it out. Comes in a little sliver tin and can usually pull a thorn out in 60 seconds pretty much painlessly. Even one that's been in your foot for a couple of weeks.
Those spikes are all over the HD!!!! Don't miss them one bit now that we moved out-of-state. That little thing will take you down lol.
a little time consuming, but i have been sucking up the goatheads with a shop vac when i come across a pile of them. we cleared about half of our yard to bare dirt with an action hoe, and just pull the goatheads from the rest of the yard. they are annual, so its not essential to pull the entire root, just the main body of the plant. they thrive best in areas without competition from other plants, so letting other plants (or weeds) grow will discourage them.[this guide](https://extension.usu.edu/planthealth/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/weeds/w_puncturevine) was really helpful to us
Oh you poor city kid, never heard of Stickers 🤣
No real solution, I took my son in a stroller just one block from the house and had to turn back because the tires had like 15 of them on the tires but only popped one innertube on a 3 wheeler, I was stabing myself pulling them off before turning back....
These hurt bad, but what's worse is not seeing them while dog walking and having to pull them out of your poor, yelping dogs paws. They suck!
Yeah, more upsetting to see my dogs unable to run around my own backyard. I only moved up here because of the large area for my German Shepherd and pitbull.
Desert Carpet
It’s insane to me that no one has mentioned the sticker barrel roller
This is a question of the ages, like up there with death and taxes. You're screwed, accept it.
Well you have the getting rid of part handled apparently.
Worse than legos
Are you knew to the desert
It’s the weed with the purple flowers. Get them out while they are little so you don’t get those. We have dogs so I keep the yard clear of those
Do your pups need a friend? Goats eat the plants they come from 😁
They come from a specific weed when they are green they are no where near as hard best best is to weed and rake your hole yard scrap the top soil with a flathead shovel and then use a old push broom and brush all that shit into a coner or hole
There crocks, and you put them on your feet…lol
I seen some guy getting rid of them with a propane flamethrower a couple months ago
Everyone else already left comments about this that are good, but damn, this takes me back. These and foxtails were the weeds that haunted my childhood, and the destroyer of many pairs of cheap flipflops 😂 Welcome to the desert, OP! I promise you’ll get used to these. (The only piece of advice I’d recommend and that I haven’t seen is potentially making your home a shoes-off house if it isn’t already. If you take your shoes off before you step inside or as soon as you enter the door, you track a lot less of these into your home. It also has the upside of tracking a lot less dust and dirt from the desert into your home, which generally keeps it cleaner and makes it easier to clean.)
They're the devil's torture weed seedlings that are impossible to get rid of. My yard is full of them, I actually posted about them a while back and got some pretty good answers from people around the country. [editing to add the link to my post ](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/bfXZtM5amg)
God damn goat heads. Hated those fuckers when I lived in Cali. Only way is to Dig them up and burn it trash them and just hope your neighbors yard don’t blow more in. Id walk a mile over legos before wanting to step on one of those again.
They are expert at finding that spot on your socks between the ankle and the heel. I have no idea how they manage to jump up to get there though.
Goat heads, they are placed by gremlins on the floor between my side of the bed and the bathroom, and you get rid of them by nuking the desert.
Goat head/puncture vine. Learn what the plant looks like and cut it back young every year. Drag some carpet or something across the area to get as many as you can. The goat head sticker is actually the seed, so if you collect them and cut back before plants make new seeds, then you can control it.
Goat heads. Huizapoles in México
Not cheap, but something like [this.](https://stickerburrroller.com/)
Goat heads. You have to remove them when you see them. The weed lays flat on the ground, and you'll see their stickers on them before they "fall off." If you see them on your property, pull them asap. If they are already established and you spray round-up on them, the dead thorns will fall off, blow around, and find you or your dogs feet/paws. They're the worst. They also flatten bicycle tires!
They specifically come from the floor crawling vine looking things. To get rid of them you can buy these special things that roll over the ground and pick them up or as someone else said you can diy it with a pool noodle. To prevent them, learn what the plant looks like in its early stages and stay on top of weeding
Boobie tacs are cringe to the touch
I regularly drag the backyard with a metal grate on a ride on mower/tractor for my dogs. We play ball every day, but still have lots of thorns. You can reduce them, but never get rid of them.The bottom of my Crocs look like a field of stars. They are more broken thorn than crocs at this point. They've finally started stacking up and poking through.
Damn, I remember when we moved to Irwin as a child running down the alleyway barefoot on my first day there. I stepped on so many of these things, I had to take my shirt off and use it as a makeshift shoe to slide back home lol. Never again.
Goat heads dude. They suck and uou will always have the unless you drag your yard ending all weeds, lay a barrier down then rock.
Devil thorns
Cotton Eye Joe!
Worst part is when you get rid of all of them, the next time the wind picks up there will be another hundred waiting outside.
They grow on weeds so get rid of the weeds
These are the worst thing to step on in the middle of the night, in the dark! That reminds me, I need to go kill some weeds before they spread again.
Look up “puncture vine” and become real familiar with it.. as soon as you see them sprouting remove them and treat your yard.. staying on top of it will stop it from becoming a major issue but they never go away.
Its from thek pretty little purple flowers then turn into ugly devils
Those are goatheads. And they are awful.
Ah yes the classic Goat Head thorns, they destroyed so many bike tube tires when I was a kid.
We got our yard scraped and then shoved all the top dirt into a corner and then removed that corner dirt. It’s taken years to prevent the overgrowth of goat heads. We make sure to pull/kill all the weeds before the seeds get big. We tried the roller with foam, but there were so many it did nothing.
Just moved to desert place that has these. Definitely not fun when you’re indoors with socks on. I always have sandals on indoors now lol
Hey OP look up pictures of Goat Head thorns and you'll see why they're called that... they truly look like a satanic symbol of a goats head..I've stepped on many painful things in my life but these and guitar strings (I know, sounds weird) have got to be the worst!!...good luck.
I know you say this is in apple valley... But I didn't experience these at all in Victorville... Is it only an apple valley thing?
There evil and grow like 2’ a day, I take a roofing torch to em
Those have popped the air bubble in my Nike Airmax 😤
I think the Nautica company makes these croc looking monstrosities,just dump them in the trash.
You must live in the south like Texas
Be sure to pull them all out of your shoes before you go inside. If you don't, you'll end up with them everywhere. My kids fall them "poky balls," and they really hurt to step on.
Ugh, I'm in the Antelope Valley and they get stuck in my stroller wheels all the time. They're the worst. I use a piece of cardboard and scrape them off.
1. Stickers 2. The ground 3. Flick them with your nails!
You don’t wanna step on those with bare feet. They are so very painful.
These things shred bike tires too. They look like a flat vascular weed. And when alive, those spikes aren’t hard yet and you can peel them apart easily. The seed is inside those spiky pods. But when they die the spikes stick out and harden. It’s how the plant ensures it’s seeds reproduce somewhere else.
Goat heads!
I live in the ca central valley (very desert like) and my backyard is full of these darn things. The worst is when they inevitably get into the house and I step on them in the middle of the night getting a snack. It sucks so much. Goat heads make a good argument for God doesn't love us.
They are hate incarnate ... May the good lord bless and keep you always ✌️
Blow torch the dry ones.
Buy and spread Boll Weevils, they will eat the seed and slow it down. Pulling the weeds before they produce the thorn, and raking the ground real good.
Welcome to the high desert. Step on one in the middle of the night. Wakes you right up. GOAT HEADS
There goat heads. They come from a weed that grows when it's got water. Then they dry out & you've got goat heads all over. Go to the home garden & look for weed killer, ask if the have something for the goat heads. They will pop by cycle tires
Tell me your in the High Desert without telling me your in the High Desert 😂
Welcome to the desert my friend ! Those are what we call STICKERS !
[удалено]
They’ve been called goat heads since I was a kid 20+ years ago
We pulled these religiously for two years and they're gone!
i have always called those stickers. they grow on weeds in foresty areas usually.