Creeping Mallow (Modiola caroliniana)

Creeping Mallow (Modiola caroliniana) is also known as Red Flowered Mallow. It is a rhizomatous, low growing biennial or perennial weed. It is a problem in turf, lawns and gardens.

As a biennial weed it needs two seasons to complete its life cycle. It tends to produce vegetative growth in its first year. In the second year it flowers and sets seed.

After you read this, you will be able to:

• Recognise Red Flowered Mallow.
• Know its habitat.
• Know the best options to control Modiola caroliniana.

How to Identify Creeping Mallow.

Modiola caroliniana grows up to 25 cm in height. Its leaves have a cover of star shaped and/or simple hairs.

Photosynthetic Pathway: It is a C3 weed. This means it is well-suited to temperate and cool climates. 

Category: This is a broadleaf (Dicot) weed.

Flowers: It has single orange-red or red flowers with yellow centres. These flowers have 5 petals and are on stalks. Plants tend to flower from November to February.

Leaf length: The light green egg, shaped leaves are 3 to 4 cm long.

Leaf width: The leaves are 2 to 3 cm wide.

Stems: Red Flowered Mallow has prostrate, creeping stems that root at the nodes.

Reproduction: This weed reproduces from seed, and a plant can produce up to 5,000 seeds in a season. The seeds normally disperse by water or animals, and they can pass through an animals digestive tract and still be viable.

Red Flowered Mallow produces both dormant and non dormant seeds.

• The dormant seed has an impermeable seed coat that stops the uptake of water and causes them to stay dormant.
• In the Summer, these seeds then break out of dormancy due either natural temperature variations or as a direct result of physical activity like scarification.
• Non dormant seed germinates over a wide range of temperatures that range from 3.3°C through to 37°C, and within a wide soil pH range of pH 4 to 10.
• The highest rate of seed germination occurs from a soil depth of 0.5 to 2 cm.

Comments: The leaves are kidney-shaped, round or shaped like a triangle with 3 to 7 toothed lobes.

Habitat: This weed is common in gardens, lawns, and playing fields, and also occurs in aquatic areas and disturbed vegetation.

Chemical Control of Creeping Mallow.

Pre-emergents for Creeping Mallow.

• Pre-emergents like Specticle or granular pre-emergents like Onset 10GR, have no knockdown activity. They do not work on older plants.
• They do give good control of Mallow that grows from seed.
• In NZ Esplanade has a label for this weed.

• Herbicides such as Glufosinate Ammonium do give some control, but only tend to brown off the top of the plant.
• This has no effect on the existing root system. As a result, this will sometimes grow back in the same year.
• You can spot treat with Proforce RapidFire (800g/L Glyphosate) as this moves down into the roots. You need a very high rate, plus a spray adjuvant like OptiSpread 1000 for it to work. (This depends on growth stage of the plant).
• When you use ProForce RapidFire 800, you get the best results when you treat the weed when it is small and is newly emerged.
• If water quality is an issue then use ProForce Manta Ray.

Other non-selective options are:

• Numchuk Quad. Numchuk Quad kills existing weeds. It then stops them coming back for up to 12 months. This product is ideal for pavers, courtyards, driveways and fence lines.
• Cortex Duo. ProForce Cortex Duo Herbicide is a glyphosate free weed killer. It is both a non-selective knockdown & a residual herbicide that lasts up to 3 months. It also controls algae and moss, and is safe to use near trees and ornamentals.

In Conclusion.