Common Names: Gallant Soldier, Quickweed, Water weed

Common names for weeds are often confusing especially as one moves from region to region. But, the common names for galinsoga in OH are most appropriate and reflect the growth habit of this weed. The pepper field below shows how "quickly" this weed can become a problem. Like "water", it spreads everywhere.

Galinsoga has become an important and serious weed affecting many low growing vegetables such as cole crops, salad crops, onions, peppers and other vegetables. It is a major problem in many vine crops.

Galinsoga, G. parviflora, is an erect, multibranched annual herb growing to a height of 2 feet. The upper parts of the plant have a slender, slightly hairy stem. Galinsoga is a member of the Compositae family. This family has many flowers grouped together, with the appearance of a large single flower [A]. Galinsoga has several small flower heads at the end of each branch. Each flower head has four or five white ray flowers surronding numerous yellow disk flowers [B,C].

There are two types of composite flowers: ray flowers and disk flowers. The ray flowers each look like a single petal [A]. They form a ring surrounding the disk flowers. The inner flowers, the disk flowers [B], make up the central portion of the flower head. A sunflower is a composite flower

Growth Habit

The biology or life cycle of Galinsoga makes it a successful weed. Galinsoga begins to produce flowers as early as the sixth or seventh node (where leaves attach to the man stem). Each flower head contains an average of 24 viable seeds; these are not dormant and can germinate immediately upon contact with warm moist soil. The plant can complete its life cycle (produce seed) in as little as 50 days. A plant 8-9 weeks old produces 300 flower heads and over 7000 viable seeds. Galinsoga continues to flower throughout the summer until frost. Temperatures of 50 to 90 degrees F are best for germination.

Galinsoga can spread one mile in 10 years and became naturalized in England 150 years after introduction into the Kew Botanical Garden. Galinsoga can produce as much as 125 million seeds per acre. It is a significant problem because of its continuous flower habit, its ability to germinate late in the season avoiding late cultivation, the great number of viable seeds produced and lack of seed dormancy. Futhermore, Galinsoga shoots cut during hoeing or cultivation can root rapidly even in semi-moist soils.

IN VEGETABLE CROPS, herbicides that provide good to excellent control are: Tillam, atrazine, Goal, Karmex, Lasso, Lorox, Sencor or Lexone, Gramoxone, Lentagran, Bladex, Command, Dual. Land infested with Galinsoga will have to be rotated to a crop where a herbicide listed above can be used on that crop.