Common Purslane is one of the most prevalent weeds in this region and it is also included on the “ Arizona Prohibited Noxious Weed” list. Prohibited noxious weeds are those that are prohibited from entry into the state. It is probably more widespread than any other weed in Yuma County and characteristically germinates from March through November but can be found almost year round. Purslane is very prolific and the small seeds float in irrigation water, blow in the wind and reproduce vegetatively from stems that have been cut. Adventitious roots can grow from the nodes of cut stems. Stems must contain nodes or they do not survive. A trial conducted by Steve Fennimore in California demonstrated that viable seed was produced on purslane plants that were uprooted 3 weeks after germination. The number of viable seeds produced increased every week for the 6 weeks of the study. He found that one plant can produce approximately 5,000 seeds. In our trials we have found that purslane can be controlled with herbicides during ground preparation if it is small. If it gets larger than about 4” in diameter, control gets increasingly difficult. The contact herbicides are normally very effective on small purslane and do not have any residual soil activity on the crop. Most of these are PPO inhibitors and include Paraquat, Aim, Shark, Sharpen Goal, GoalTender, ET, and others. Glyphosate can also be used and does not have soil activity.

Learn how to cook purslane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngzmL0TPKkY

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To contact Barry Tickes go to: btickes@ag.arizona.edu.

For questions or comments on any of the topics please contact Marco Pena at the Yuma Agricultural Center.
College of Agriculture, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.