Dollar Weed in Vegetable Garden: Spot-Treatment Strategy

Dollar weed (hydrocotyle) has taken over your Carville, LA vegetable garden after a wet winter. Need a spray that kills dollar weed but not vegetables, ideally without 200 ft of hose.

Wipe-On Glyphosate Technique

Roundup (glyphosate) concentrate can be wiped onto dollar weed leaves with a sponge or paint roller. Label allows undiluted wipe application. Add food coloring to see drips. If you hit a vegetable leaf, snip it off immediately to stop translocation.

Why This Works

• Minimizes drift and soil contact.
• Uses very little herbicide.
• Legal at below-label rates for spot treatment.

Alternative

Hand-pull dollar weed when soil is moist (after rain/irrigation) to get the rhizomes. Mulch heavily (3–4 inches straw/wood chips) to suppress regrowth.

Avoid broadcast sprays in vegetable beds—risk to crops is too high.