Sports Turf Talk
Controlling
Virginia Buttonweed By Jay McCurdy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University
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irginia buttonweed (Diodia virginiana L.) is a troublesome turfgrass weed throughout the state of Mississippi and in the surrounding southeastern states. Buttonweed is one of a few key “driver weeds” in the Southeast that dictate market success of new herbicides (others include white clover and dandelion). Therefore, most new broadleaf herbicides are trialed extensively for its control. Yet, even with increased industry focus, this weed continues to be a common weed in almost all turf scenarios, including sports, lawn and golf turf. Virginia buttonweed is a native plant commonly found from Florida through the lower Midwest. It’s a spreading perennial broadleaf that reproduces by seed and fleshy roots and from stem fragments. It has opposite, lance-shaped leaves that produce small, white, four-lobed flowers that mature into small, elliptical-shaped seedpods. Purple leaves during latespring/early summer emergence are a distinguishing characteristic of this particular weed. Virginia buttonweed favors moist to wet areas, but it can become a nuisance throughout most maintained turfgrass scenarios. The plant spreads outwards in a mat and rarely grows much taller than normal turfgrass mowing heights. Due to its ability to reproduce vegetatively, and due to seed distribution varying within the thatch layer, preemergence herbicides provide only fair control. For this reason, cultural control strategies combined with 22 • Mississippi Turfgrass • Spring 2015
Virginia buttonweed in centipedegrass.
Virginia buttonweed’s characteristic white, four-petal flower.