Fat Hen Weed (Chenopodium album)

Fat Hen weed is also known as White Goose foot or Common Lamb’s Quarters in Australia. It is an erect Summer annual, that is up to 2 m high and usually has stripes on its stems.

Once you read this, you will:

• Know how to ID Fat Hen weed or Goose foot.
• Know what conditions favour Goose foot or Lamb’s Quarters.
• Have a good idea of the best way to control it.

The distribution map is courtesy of The Atlas of Living Australia.

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

 

 

• White Goose foot is a tall, heavy seeding Summer annual or biennial herbaceous plant. It prefers high rainfall, temperate to sub-tropical conditions, and only reproduces by seed.
• The seeds germinate in the Spring, and then continue to germinate through the Summer and into the Autumn.
• It has a short, branched taproot, and it is only moderately drought tolerant.
• It is sensitive to frost.

Category: It is a Broadleaf (Dicot) weed.

Photosynthetic Pathway: Fat Hen is a C3 Weed.

Flower: Fat Hen weed has inconspicuous clusters of green or white flowers. In some cases it can flower in the Spring but it tends to mainly flower in the late Summer and the Autumn.

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

Leaf length: The leaves of Fat Hen weed have an elliptic to diamond-shape, and are 20 to 60 mm long.

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

Reproduction:

• Fat Hen weed reproduces only by seed.
• It is a heavy seed producer, and produces up to 75,000 seeds per plant.
• Seeds are spread by birds and mammals, with about 20% germinating immediately.
• The rest of the seeds remain viable for several decades.

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

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

Habitat: Lamb’s Quarters has a preference for well-drained high pH soils but can also find it on low pH soils.

 

 

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

Management Calendar for Fat Hen Weed or Goose Foot.

 

Good cultural practices are important to discourage Goose Foot. If you increase the turf density and have a good turf cover this results in lower plant numbers, and fewer seeds. Common Lambs Quarters is intolerant of heavy shade, especially shortly after it germinates.

 

Lambs Quarters has a high nutrient requirement.

• It responds strongly to N and has a moderate response to P.
• High rates of N favour it.
• It has a strong response to high K levels, and it is very competitive when K levels are high. Limit N and K where possible.

 

 

The key to manage Common Lamb’s Quarters is to prevent it from going to seed.

 

 

 

 

 

• ProForce Battalia.
• BASF Freehand.
• In NZ Esplanade has a label for this weed.
• Ethofumesate.
• In the USA, Specticle and Prodiamine have a label for this weed.

 

Post Emergents for Fat Hen Weed.

• There are several options to control Goose Foot.
• Treatment works best you use these within 3 weeks of seed germination.
• After this time, this weed tends to become woody and tricky to control.
• You will need repeat treatments to control any regrowth.
• It is difficult to wet, so use an NIS like OptiSpread 1000 at 0.25 to 0.5 v/v.
• It is difficult to wet, because Goose Foot has a crystalline leaf wax layer similar to those in grasses.

 

Selective post emergents include:

• 2,4-D Amine. Use when the weeds are young and actively growing. You may well need to make repeat applications.
• Dicamba. Use on growing plants. Small plants are easy to control, and you will need higher rates for large plants. Do not use when the temperature exceeds 26°C. Do not use Dicamba on Bufffalo grass.
• MCPA. This increases the spectrum of weed control if it is in a mix.
• Ethofumesate.
• Warhead Trio.
• Quali-Pro Nutmeg.
• Pylex in the USA.

 

You will get the best results when you:

• Only use chemicals on actively growing weeds.
• Allow time between spraying and when you mow. This gives time for the chemical to work.
• Do not spray when the weed is under stress due to drought or cold weather.