Fat Hen (Chenopodium album)

Fat Hen is also known as White Goose foot or Common Lamb’s Quarters in Australia. It is an erect annual herb which is up to 2 m high and usually has striped stems.

 Once you read this, you will:

• Know how to ID Fat Hen or Goose foot.
• Know what conditions favour Goose foot or Lamb’s Quarters.
• Have a good idea of the best cultural and chemical options to control Fat Hen.

 

More information on lawn weeds is in our weed ID chart. What weeds reveal about soil conditions is in our blog on indicator weeds. 

The distribution map for Fat Hen is courtesy of The Atlas of Living Australia.

 

 

White Goose foot is a tall, heavy seeding annual or biennial herbaceous plant. It prefers high rainfall, temperate to sub-tropical conditions, and only reproduces by seed.

Seeds germinate in the Spring and continue through the Summer and into the Autumn.

Fat Hen becomes a big problem if it grows too large. If this happens it competes with plants for light, nutrients and moisture, and can smother other plants. The taproot is short and branched and it has a moderate level of drought tolerance.

Category:  Broadleaf (Dicot).

Photosynthetic Pathway: C3 Weed.

Flower: Fat Hen has inconspicuous flowers that are in clusters, and often green or white. In some cases this weed flowers in the Spring but it mainly flowers in the late Summer and Autumn.

Height: It grows 20 cm to 2 metres in height.

Leaf length: The leaves are elliptic to diamond-shaped, and are 20 to 60 mm long.

Leaf Width: The leaves are 5 to 30 mm wide with a pointed tip, and the lower leaves sometimes have angular teeth.

Reproduction: Fat Hen reproduces only by seed. It is a heavy seeding weed, and produces up to 75,000 seeds per plant. These seeds can remain viable for several decades.

Seed longevity: >5 years
Seed decline: 21% per year
Germination depth: 4.8cm
Seeds/flower: 1
Seeds/plant: 3,000–20,000

Comments: The leaves are oval to trowel-shaped, and the edges have teeth or irregular lobes. The upper leaf surface is green, and the lower surface is a mealy white. 

Habitat: This weed has a preference for well-drained high pH soils but can also grow on low pH soils.

 

 

 

 

 

You can use cultural and chemical controls to remove Fat Hen or Goose foot.

 

Good cultural practices are important. Feeding your turf and making sure that you mow at the right height of cut will discourage Fat Hen. The increase in turf density results in lower numbers of plants, and fewer seeds. Common Lambs Quarters is intolerant of heavy shade, especially shortly after germination.

Hand removal is practical if the problem is not widespread. This includes digging plants out or pulling large plants out by hand. You should do this after elongation and before the plants seed in the Summer.

Remove any flowering Fat Hen plants off site, and don’t leave them on the surface. This ensures that viable seed isn’t left to grow back.

Common Lambs Quarters has a high demand for plant nutrients. It responds strongly to N and has a moderate response to P. Excess applications of N favour this weed relative to more desirable species. It also has a strong response to high K levels, and it is very competitive when K levels are high. So limit N and K where possible.

 

 

 

It is vital to prevent seed shed from Fat Hen to control this weed. Several turf herbicides control Fat Hen or Common Lamb’s Quarters, such as those containing MCPA. Treatment is best no later than 3 weeks after emergence. After this, the weeds become woody and tricky to control.

 

 

 

 

Pre-Emergents for Fat Hen.

• ProForce Battalia.
• BASF Freehand.
• In NZ Esplanade is registered for Fat Hen.
• Ethofumesate.
• In the USA, Specticle and Prodiamine are labelled for this weed.

 

 

Post Emergent Herbicides for Fat Hen.

Fat Hen is regarded as being difficult to wet so where appropriate we recommend a non ionic surfactant at 0.25 to 0.5 v/v like OptiSpread 1000.

Although most dicot weeds have a wax layer, Fat Hen has a crystalline wax layer more similar to those you find in grasses.

Selective post emergent Fat Hen include:

• 2,4-D Amine. Apply when weeds are young and actively growing. Repeat applications may be necessary.
• Dicamba. Apply to rapidly growing plants. Smaller plants are more easily controlled. Use higher rates for larger plants. Do not apply when outside temperatures exceed 26°C. Do not use on Bufffalo.
• MCPA. Boosts Fat Hen control if in a mix.
• Ethofumesate.
• Warhead Trio.
• Quali-Pro Nutmeg.
• Pylex in the USA.

 

You will need repeat treatments to control regrowth of Fat Hen.

You will get the best results on Fat Hen when you:

• Only apply herbicides to actively growing weeds.
• Allow adequate time between spraying and mowing for the herbicide to work.
• Do not spray when the weed is under stress due to drought of cold weather.