Texasweed in Rice: How to Spot It and Keep Its Seeds Out of Your Harvest
Texasweed is an upright, hairy broadleaf weed that grows in irrigated and rainfed lowland rice fields in the Philippines. Some farmers worry most about its round seeds, which can end up mixed with harvested palay. This page shows how to spot it, what it can cost you, and how to control it before it seeds.
What Is Texasweed?
This weed belongs to the spurge family, and its scientific name is Caperonia palustris. In some areas, farmers call it salu saluyot. The English name comes from the United States, where it troubles rice farmers too. Texasweed grows in both irrigated and rainfed lowland rice fields, so it can turn up in almost any paddy. It likes wet soil and grows upright right among the rice hills.
As an annual, each plant lives for one season and then dies. It spreads only by seed. Its fruits have three parts, and each part holds one round seed. The seeds start grayish and turn dark brown as they ripen. When plants still stand at harvest, those seeds can go into the thresher along with the palay.
| Name | Texasweed |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Caperonia palustris |
| Family | Euphorbiaceae |
| Weed group | Broadleaves (see the three groups) |
| Local names | Salu saluyot |
| Life cycle | Annual |
| Spreads by | Seeds |
| Where it grows | Irrigated and rainfed lowland rice fields |
How to Identify Texasweed
Look for an upright, branched plant with hairy stems. Rub a leaf and you will feel hairs on it too. The leaves come broad and lance shaped, with saw toothed edges, and they grow one at a time along the stem. As a broadleaf weed, it has flat leaves with netted veins. Small white flowers appear first, followed by fruits with three sections. Each section holds one round seed, grayish when young and dark brown when ripe.
- Upright, branched plants with stems that feel hairy when you run your hand along them.
- Hairy, broadly lance shaped leaves with saw toothed edges, set one at a time along the stem.
- Small white flowers that come before the round, three part fruits.
- Fruits split into three sections, each holding one round seed.
- Seeds that start grayish and turn dark brown once mature.
Why It Hurts Your Palay
In the Philippines, no scientific report has shown yet that Texasweed lowers rice yield. Still, some farmers say it badly hurt the quality of their harvested grain and their net income. The problem comes at harvest, when its seeds get mixed in with the palay. Dirty grain sells for less, and that is how the weed eats into your income.
Elsewhere, the picture looks worse. In the USA, studies found that 10 plants per square meter cut the yield of drill seeded rice by 24 to 31 percent. So do not wait for local yield studies before you act.
How to Control Texasweed
- Pull plants before the three part fruits form. Once seeds turn dark brown, they are ready to drop or ride into the harvest.
- Walk the field before harvest and remove any plants still standing, so their seeds do not go into the thresher with your palay.
- Clean your seed before the next planting or buy certified seed, since seed mixed with the grain carries the weed to new fields.
What to Do at Each Age of Your Rice
- 0 to 5 days: keep the soil saturated. Use a pre emergence herbicide only if the field had many weeds last season.
- 6 to 10 days: hand weed in transplanted rice. In direct seeded rice, this is the window for an early post emergence spray.
- 11 to 20 days: keep water in the field, weed by hand or with a rotary weeder, and let Azolla and the Altica beetle help. Spray only if those fail.
- 21 to 30 days: top up the water and keep weeding. Spray only if weeding fails.
- 31 to 40 days (transplanted rice): hand weed. A spray this late is only a rescue.
- After any post emergence spray, bring the water back within 1 to 3 days at 3 to 5 cm and hold it for 4 to 5 days. Keep young rice above it.
Active Ingredients That Work on Broadleaves
If water and weeding cannot hold Texasweed down, choose an active ingredient that works on broadleaves at the age of your rice. Each active ingredient in it is in a herbicide registered in the Philippines for rice. Shop by the ingredient on the label, never by the brand. If your field also has other kinds of weeds, the weed control helper in anee.io finds the ingredients that cover all of them.
| Rice age (days after planting) | Transplanted rice (lipat tanim) | Direct seeded rice (sabog tanim) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 days | Pretilachlor, Oxadiazon, Butachlor plus 2,4 D IBE, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Imazosulfuron, Penoxsulam plus butachlor, Tefuryltrione plus triafamone, Thiobencarb plus 2,4 D IBE | Pretilachlor, Oxadiazon, Pretilachlor plus butachlor, Butachlor plus 2,4 D IBE, Pendimethalin, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Butachlor with safener |
| 6 to 10 days | Butachlor plus propanil, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Pendimethalin, Cyhalofop butyl plus propanil, Imazosulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Clomazone plus propanil, Thiobencarb plus propanil, Flucetosulfuron, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl | Butachlor plus propanil, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus propanil, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Pendimethalin, Propyrisulfuron, Clomazone plus propanil, Thiobencarb plus propanil, Pretilachlor plus pyribenzoxim, Penoxsulam, Flucetosulfuron, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl |
| 11 to 20 days | Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Cyhalofop butyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Flucetosulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl, Florpyrauxifen benzyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl | Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Pyribenzoxim, Cyhalofop butyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Flucetosulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl, Florpyrauxifen benzyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl |
| 21 to 30 days | 2,4 D amine, 2,4 D IBE, MCPA, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl | 2,4 D amine, 2,4 D IBE, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, MCPA, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl, Pyribenzoxim, Carfentrazone ethyl |
| 31 to 40 days | Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl | Not listed for direct seeded rice |
Spray Safely
Use only herbicides registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, and follow the label on the pack: the rate, the timing, the water and the protective clothing. Switch herbicide groups between seasons so the weeds do not learn to survive them. Our guide to herbicides for rice explains the groups.
Keep Texasweed Out Next Season
- Plant clean, certified seed. Weed seeds mixed into the punla are the easiest way in.
- Keep the seedbed, the canals and the bunds free of weeds, so seed does not wash or blow into the paddy.
- Prepare the land well: flood, plow, let the weed seeds sprout, then kill them when you harrow. Level the field so water covers it evenly.
- Pull escapes before they flower and set seed, and carry them out of the paddy instead of leaving them on the bund.
- Keep the field clean after harvest and through the fallow, so fewer seeds build up in the soil for next season.
These steps work for every broadleaf weed in the paddy, not only this one. The weed management guide puts them in order for a whole season.
Not Sure It Is Texasweed?
Take a clear photo of the leaf, the stem and the flower or seed head, then ask Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io, in Tagalog or English. Anee tells you which weed it most likely is, its group, and what to do at the age of your rice. You can also put the weeding days on your cropping calendar, so the team knows when to go in.
anee.io keeps your weeding, spraying and water on one calendar, and Anee answers when a plant looks wrong.
- Weeding days on the season calendar
- Photos and notes for every lot
- Anee, the smart farm technician, in Tagalog or English
Questions Farmers Ask About Texasweed
What do Filipino farmers call Texasweed?
How do I control this weed in my rice field?
Does it really lower my yield?
Get Texasweed out of your field
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