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.

The 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 them. The taproot is short and branched and it is only moderately drought tolerant.

Category:  Broadleaf (Dicot).

Photosynthetic Pathway: C3 Weed.

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

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

Leaf length: The leaves of Fat Hen 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 reproduces only by seed. It is a heavy seeding weed, and produces up to 75,000 seeds per plant. These seeds 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 to 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: Fat Hen 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 to discourage Goose Foot. If you increase the turf density and have a good turf cover this results in lower numbers of plants, and fewer seeds. Common Lambs Quarters is intolerant of heavy shade, especially shortly after germination.

 

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 Fat Hen from seeding to control this weed. Several turf herbicides control Common Lamb’s Quarters, such as those containing MCPA. Treatment is best no later than 3 weeks after the weed germinates. After this, the weed becomes woody and tricky to control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-Emergents for Fat Hen.

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

 

 

Post Emergents for Fat Hen.

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

The reason it is difficult to wet, is that 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 emergents for Fat Hen include:

• 2,4-D Amine. Apply when the weeds are young and actively growing. You may well need to make repeat applications.
• Dicamba. Apply to rapidly growing plants. Smaller plants are easier to controln and you will need to use higher rates for larger plants. Do not apply when outside temperatures exceed 26°C. Do not use Dicamba on Bufffalo.
• MCPA. Boosts Fat Hen control if it is 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 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 or cold weather.