Creeping mallow (Modiola caroliniana)
Creeping Mallow, known as Red Flowered Mallow, is a rhizomatous, prostrate biennial or perennial weed, and a problem in turf, lawns and gardens.
It is up to 25cm in height and the leaves are covered with star shaped and/or simple hairs.
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.
Creeping Mallow is a soil indicator of low soil Ca and waterlogged, compacted soil with poor drainage. It also indicates high K, Fe, Al, and very high Mg. It also shows very wet, compact soil with poor drainage. More on turf weeds is in our weed ID chart.
The distribution map is courtesy of The Atlas of Living Australia.
Red Flowered Mallow has prostrate creeping stems that root at the nodes and flowers from November to February.
It causes nerve disorders in sheep, cattle and goats (staggers). In goats, paralysis occurs.
How to identify Creeping Mallow.
Category: Broadleaf (Dicot)
Flowers: The single orange-red or red flowers have 5 petals and are on stalks in the leaf axils. They flower mainly from November to February.
Leaf length: The leaves are egg shaped and are 3-4 cm long.
Leaf width: The leaves are 2-3 cm wide.
Stems: The stems are prostrate, hairy and 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 soil.
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. It 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. Ensure you feed the turf and use the right turf fertilizer. This creates a thick turf cover that discourages Creeping Mallow. Mow at the right height as this helps favour turf over this weed.
If you intend to remove this weed by hand you must do this before it produces any seed in the early Summer. Be aware that if the root system of Red Flowered Mallow remains in the soil, it will re grow even if you use a pre-emergent.
Chemical Control of Creeping Mallow.
Pre-emergent herbicides.
Pre-emergents like Specticle or granular pre-emergents like Onset 10GR have no knockdown activity, and do not control older mallow plants. They do however, give good control of Mallow that grows from seed. You get the best results when you apply them to bare soil.
Total knockdown herbicides.
Total knockdowns like Glufosinate ammonium, give some control. However, this just brown’s off of the top of the weed and leaves a living root system.
By leaving the root system, Creeping Mallow can grow back. This can be in the same year depending on when you apply any herbicide.
Systemic total herbicides like Glyphosate (Rapid Fire or similar) move to the roots. To get good control you need to use this at a high rate, and with a tank adjuvant.
You get the best results with Glyphosate, when you apply it to young Creeping Mallow after it has just emerged.
Another option is Numchuk Quad which not only kills all existing weeds but then stops them returning for up to 12 months. This is ideal for pavers, courtyards, driveways and fencelines.
Selective herbicides
In Conclusion
The key to the control of Creeping Mallow is to maintain a healthy turf surface.
