Move fast on chickweed eradication or you’ll get thousands of seeds

Common names used for Stellaria media elsewhere include starweed, satin flower and mouse ear. Here in Alaska, however, this pesky, low-growing plant is always referred to as “chickweed.” It is a universal weed, sprouting just about everywhere, and now, when the plant is still in its seedling stage, is the time to deal with it.

I am sure every gardener knows the plant I am discussing here. It pops up wherever there is bare soil, first with just small, mouse-ear-shaped leaves, but then its hairy stem starts to stalk along the ground, branching as it grows. Then it produces a tiny flower, one at first and more as the plant continues to spread.

You may recall last week’s column on dandelion flowers. The frightening fact that each produces 300 seeds means nothing when compared to chickweed plants. Even though their star-shaped flowers are tiny things, during the course of a summer each plant will produce, on average, 25,000 seeds! Take that, dandelions.

I know chickweed is edible. It is also apparently a favorite to some for its medicinal properties. It is full of nutrients and unusual chemicals and is sometimes used as a naturopathic medicine, which goes far beyond this column’s normal (or is it abnormal?) purview. The internet will provide you with all you need to know and even places to — OMG — buy chickweed seed! Who would do such a thing?

And I know chickweed’s root system can help break up compacted soil. Its roots branch often, and I am quite sure given its ability to grow so fast, chickweed attracts an active and diverse set of microbes to its rhizosphere. All of this is good.

However, the Alaska gardener will most definitely want to take steps to prevent chickweed from flowering given those staggering numbers. It does best in climates that are cool and moist, just like ours, and right now is when this summer’s batch of Stellaria media is starting to set flowers and produce seeds.

Chickweed could have been called speedweed. It really grows fast, so a bit of work this week will prevent a lot of work later.

For starters, handpick the plants. Get as many as you can. Remember that each one you miss means 25,000 new seedlings! Who needs any more incentive? Get the roots and remove your pickings from the soil. Yes, they are small, but they can quickly reroot and will resprout.

The way to pull chickweed when it has more than one branch is to move down from the top until you hit soil, squeeze and pull. Getting just a branch won’t help you much. Do the job properly and prevent 25,000 new plants.

You can, and should, toss chickweed onto the compost pile. They are accumulator plants when it comes to potassium and phosphorous and will impart these nutrients to the compost along with a bit of nitrogen.

For big weeding jobs, cut chickweed plants back to the ground using a hoe or a winged-weeder or similar tool. Get into the soil and pull those roots to the surface if you can. Then collect the detritus for composting and apply mulch.

Mulching all of your garden beds and containers too will prevent chickweed seeds from being able to germinate because light is blocked. Remember The soil food web rule “No bare soils”? This is one reason why.

Leaves work great as mulch as they will deal with the problem and improve your soil at the same time, but you can’t apply mulch to lawns. You can water them, however, and let the grass grow thicker, which will deal with the problem. You can also pull a thatching or other rack through patches to get the weeds.

Last words on the subject, and really all you need to know: 25,000 seeds per plant.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

Alaska Botanical Garden: Oh wow: Go to The Garden. It is fabulous. It should be the first place you take your out-of-town quests, your cranky spouse or kids, or your friends. Beautiful doesn’t describe it. And join: www.ALASKABG.ORG. Really, what are you waiting for?

Water: Sometimes it doesn’t rain.

Dandelions: First flush is over. You can raise the blades on those mowers and get a thicker lawn.

Annuals on sale: Getting to the end of the buying season. Most are on sale, if you can find any.