Several years ago when we first acquired acreage in Cochise County, our niece warned us that conditions are created which are ideal for tumbleweed growth when soil is disturbed for development. Once native plants are uprooted, the most obnoxious of weeds will soon follow.

Tumbleweed seeds wash in during summer rains and are also transplanted on clothing or in animal droppings. Any barrier that catches the seed - another plant, a bunch of grass, a rock - encourages a hold. Combined with a little sand and moisture, the plants soon become established. The small plants are soft and fern-like in appearance and explode with growth after rain showers. The seeds sprout in groups, under the shelter of a "host" plant, and are difficult to see. Sometimes they are not noticeable until they are already grown and going to seed.

Tumbleweeds become very brittle and the stalks and limbs turn a reddish hue when they produce their seeds and die. Once they are large enough to roll down an old dusty western street, the slightest gust of wind will distribute the seed. The plants blow up against fences creating real fire hazards. This is when they release thousands of tiny seeds which will lie in wait for conditions perfect to produce hundreds of new plants. Rolling the stickery sharp scratchy weeds into a pile is possible but determining what to do with them after they are corralled becomes your next problem.

Pre-emergent weed killers can be applied in the spring in hopes of killing seeds before they germinate. After it is grown, the tumbleweed can be mowed, but it will still produce seed on the lateral new growth. Physically pulling this plant up by its roots is the most effective way of removing it. Persistence is the key to any method employed.

One Christmas a friend built a snowman using three graduated sizes of dried tumbleweed for the body and head. It was sprayed white to look cutely southwestern and placed in his front yard for the season. When spring arrived, he realized the folly of his snowman - his lawn was now full of tumbleweed seedlings. The best approach when developing a yard or garden area is to disturb the native growth as little as possible. Initial planning and consideration are necessary or absolute diligence will be required once these Russian thistles invade your territory.