- Joined
- Jul 20, 2015
- Messages
- 4
Greetings. I live in Phoenix, AZ and bought a new home about 10 months ago. I have a pretty big backyard (corner lot) and have been chipping away at the daunting task of creating a desert habitat in my yard. We got next to no rain this past summer but have gotten a fair bit since November. Unfortunately I’ve discovered that my yard is infested with Malva neglecta/parviflora. I suspect it came from the 6 tons of fill dirt I had delivered and used to contour the yard. This is not ideal for sewing seed of a lot of native annuals as the malva quickly takes over and forms mats. I’ve attempted to hoe up sprouts but it does not seem to help. I put in several hours a week trying to uproot the bigger plants and it seems to work to some degree but again my yard is pretty big.
It’s just me living here and money is extremely tight. My 16 year old desert tortoise does like to eat it but his effect on it is minimal at best. I’ve never wanted to use any kind of herbicide but I feel like I’m running out of options to be able to get rid of it before he wakes up (currently snoozing in a box in my garage).
Are there any other options? If I bite the bullet now and spray herbicide before the spring and get rid of all dead plant material is that a good idea? I wouldn’t be asking this if my yard wasn’t completely overrun. My previous house had malva but it was contained to mostly one side of the yard where his burrow was and never became an issue.
It’s just me living here and money is extremely tight. My 16 year old desert tortoise does like to eat it but his effect on it is minimal at best. I’ve never wanted to use any kind of herbicide but I feel like I’m running out of options to be able to get rid of it before he wakes up (currently snoozing in a box in my garage).
Are there any other options? If I bite the bullet now and spray herbicide before the spring and get rid of all dead plant material is that a good idea? I wouldn’t be asking this if my yard wasn’t completely overrun. My previous house had malva but it was contained to mostly one side of the yard where his burrow was and never became an issue.