Creeping mallow (Modiola caroliniana)
Creeping Mallow, known as Red Flowered Mallow, is a rhizomatous, low growing biennial or perennial weed, and is a problem in turf, lawns and gardens.
After you read this, you will be able to:
- Recognise Creeping Mallow or Red Flowered Mallow.
- Know the habitat of Red Flowered Mallow.
- Know the best cultural and chemical options to control Creeping Mallow.
Why is Creeping Mallow a Problem Weed?
- Because of its rhizomatous (below ground) root system, Creeping mallow spreads easily and forms dense mats that chokes out other vegetation.
- It competes for water, nutrients, and sunlight.
- Creeping Mallow causes nerve disorders in sheep, cattle and goats (staggers).
- Aesthetically it is a problem in lawns, and gardens.
More on turf weeds is in our weed ID chart.
The distribution map for Creeping Mallow is courtesy of The Atlas of Living Australia.
How to Identify Creeping Mallow.
Creeping Mallow is up to 25 cm in height, and the leaves have a cover of star shaped and/or simple hairs.
Category: Broadleaf (Dicot)
Flowers: Creeping Mallow has single orange-red or red flowers with yellow centres. They have 5 petals and are on stalks. Creeping Mallow flowers from November to February.
Leaf length: The light green leaves have an egg shape, and 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: Creeping Mallow reproduces from seed, and produces up to 5,000 seeds per plant. Seeds normally disperse by water or animals, and they can pass through the digestive tract and still be viable.
Red Flowered Mallow produces both dormant and non dormant seeds.
- With dormant seed it has an impermeable seed coat that stops seeds from absorbing water and causes dormancy. This dormancy breaks in the Summer months due to natural temperature variations or it can break in response to physical activity like scarification.
- Non dormant seed germinates over a wide range of temperatures (from 3.3°C through to 37°C), within a soil pH range of 4-10.
- 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.
How to Control Creeping Mallow.
Cultural Control of Creeping Mallow.
A good strategy is to maintain a thick, healthy turf cover.
- Make sure that you feed the turf and use the right turf fertilizer. This creates a thick turf cover that discourages this weed.
- Mow at the right height as this helps favour turf grass over this weed.
- Grass selection also plays an important role to control Red Flowered Mallow. Choose the wrong turf seed or turf type for your situation, and you quickly end up with a weedy lawn that is difficult to manage.
If you intend to remove this weed by hand do this before it produces any seed in the early Summer. Be aware that if the root system of Creeping Mallow remains in the soil, it will regrow even if you use a pre-emergent.
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, and do not work on older mallow plants. They do however, give good control of Mallow that grows from seed.
- In NZ Esplanade has a registration for Creeping Mallow.
Selective Herbicides for Creeping Mallow.
- Contra M. Do not use on Buffalo grass.
- Warhead Trio
- Weed Blast MA .
- Straight MCPA does work against young plants, but if they are mature the results are very hit and miss.
Table of Post Emergent Herbicides for Creeping Mallow.
Product | Active | Chemical Group | Rate/Ha | Comments | ||||
Contra M. | Dicamba + MCPA | 4 | 6.5 L | Apply in 250-400L water. DO NOT use on Buffalo grass. After use do not mow for 2 days before or after application or fertilize within two weeks. | ||||
MCPA | MCPA | 4 | 930ml -1.8L | Apply in high volume to actively growing weeds. DO NOT mow for 2 days before application. Some transitory damage may occur to fine turf grasses | ||||
Warhead | MCPA + Clopyralid + Diflufenican | 4 + 12 | 5 L | You may see discolouration on kikuyu, carpet grass and Queensland blue. Avoid overlapping. Use an NIS. | ||||
Weed Blast MA | Bromoxynil + MCPA | 6 + 4 | 3-6L | Apply in a minimum of 500L/Ha water. DO NOT mow for 2 days after treatment. | ||||
Total knockdown herbicides.
- Herbicides such as Glufosinate Ammonium do give some control of Creeping Mallow, but only brown off the top. This has no effect on the existing root system which is unaffected. As a result, Creeping Mallow sometimes regrows in the same year depending on when the herbicide was applied.
- You can spot treat with Proforce RapidFire (800g/L Glyphosate) as this moves to the roots. You need a very high rate, plus a spray adjuvant like OptiSpread 1000 to be effective. (This depends on growth stage of the plant).
- When you use ProForce RapidFire 800 to control Creeping Mallow, you get the best results when you treat the weed when it is small and newly emerged.
- If water quality is an issue then use ProForce Manta Ray.
Other non-selective options are:
- Numchuk Quad. Numchuk Quad kills all existing weeds, and then prevents them for up to 12 months. This is ideal for pavers, courtyards, driveways and fence lines.
- Cortex Duo. ProForce Cortex Duo Industrial 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 around trees and ornamentals.
In Conclusion.
The key to the control of Creeping Mallow is to maintain a healthy turf surface before you start to reach for a herbicide.
