Late summer in New Mexico brought with it two certainties for those involved in agriculture: monsoon rains and subsequently, a flush of goatheads. One of these things was an annual reminder of renewal and nourishment from the heavens. The other, nothing but a tedious chore and hours spent wishing vengeful death on a prickly plant with no proven useful purpose.
The goathead or puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris) grows in mats along the ground, radiating out from a central taproot two to five feet in diameter. Each branch is an opportunity for a sharp burr or seed to develop. These non-native invasive plants are capable of seeding between 200 to 5,000 seeds in one growing season according to extension experts.
While it’s a broadleaf and chemistry is available, my father preferred the more targeted approach of hoe and bucket. Each evening during the prime late summer window of goathead season, he could be seen with hoe and used five-gallon bucket in hand, slowly walking the people parts of our property looking for this devil weed’s tell-tale adornment, small yellow flowers. Upon each discovery, the weed would be promptly cut at the tap root and picked up, burrs and all, and placed into the bucket. It was the only way to ensure the seed bank was not being replenished for next season. This is an actual picture I snapped a year or two ago of this said search in action.
As a teenager that meant if Dad was on the hunt, I was on the hunt. Looking back, it was a fantastic life lesson. At the time, a restless teen boy hell bent on socializing and fun, it was absolute torture. Dad, however, wasn’t wrong. Left unchecked these goatheads consumed every bare patch of New Mexico sand they could find. No shoes, no tires, no dogs and no tools of sport (i.e. basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs) were safe from these tiny switchblade wielding burrs. Hunting them with the fury of a thousand suns was and is the only way to win.
To this day, anytime I see a small yellow flower growing along the ground I flash back to those summer nights. I also pull it out by the root and throw it away.
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