Minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa)
After you read this, you will be able to:
- Identify Minnieroot or Popping Pod.
- Know the habitat of Popping Pod.
- Know the best cultural and chemical options to control Minnieroot or Popping Pod.
How to Identify Minnieroot (Ruellia tuberosa).
Minnieroot is also known as Feverroot and Popping Pod. It is a small biennial plant with thick finger-like tuberous roots and striking funnel-shaped violet flowers.
Category: Broadleaf (Dicot)
Flower: The flowers of Minnieroot are purple to blue.
Height: Minnieroot grows to a height of up to 50 cm, but is usually around 20 cm tall..
Leaf length: The simple leaves are opposite, and egg-shaped with blades 30 – 60 mm long.
Leaf width: Leaves are 15 – 25 mm wide.
Reproduction: It reproduces by seeds and tubers. The fruit of Minnieroot is a 2 cm (0.8 in) long capsule, that does not have a stalk. This capsule contains about 20 seeds.
Comments: The hairy stem has 4 sides, and longitudinal ridges. It has several cigar-shaped glands visible on both sides of the leaf blade.
Habitat: Minnieroot is found in moist and shady areas. It grows in grasslands and roadsides, and is often a weed in farmland.
For more information on weeds check out our weed ID Chart.
How to control Minnieroot or Popping Pod.
There are limited chemical options for this weed, so a combination of cultural and chemical control is the best approach.
- Mow regularly.
- Cut the plants back by hand. Then carefully dispose of the vegetation offsite, so that it cannot re-grow. This is a long term approach, as you will only destroy the top part of the Minnieroot plant, You need to repeat this process to use its energy stores and delete its food reserves.
Chemical control of Minnieroot.
Eradication is difficult for the Ruellia tuberosa.
Under the off-label permit (PER11463) you can foliar spraying with an aquatic Glyphosate herbicide at a rate of 100ml per 10L of water is an option.
Do not spray onto water and take care to avoid overspray or spray drift when spraying around native plants and in windy conditions.
- In the USA, BASF Freehand has a label for Ruellia sp.
- In Thailand work shows that glyphosate + indaziflam (336 + 18 g ai/0.16 Ha) gives good Minnieroot control in coconut for over 60 days.
- 2,4-D is registered overseas, and you can also use this under permit PER11463.
