I’ve learned from sad experience that they’re highly invasive here, as well. The only effective control I’ve heard of is manually digging up the roots, repeatedly, until the plant is eradicated. One reader did suggest vinegar, but I have not succeeded with that. If any other reader knows of anything, please do let us all know.

Thanks.
Mary

Here in Hawai’i, they get into everything and are highly invasive. They’re even on the noxious list of weeds of several countries and states in the US….. yet, somehow, retailers continue to offer them for sale as if they’re cute and adorable.

Has anyone found an effective chemical control, short of Round-Up, that I can use? Please advise.

Thanks!

Haven’t heard any more about the film, so I suspect the answer is No.

Good for you for persisting and getting your mimosa under control. I’m not as enamored of it now as I was when I wrote the post because I have seen how it can spread and because the dogs hate it. We’ve worked at it in bits and pieces and will probably do so for the rest of our lives!

Meantime, I do like watching the leaves close, too. But we have a few ornamental trees in the mimosa subfamily that do the same thing and they’re not quite so nasty and they certainly are not invasive. Alas they, too, have thorns. Oh, well.

Take care,
Mary

Also, when we first bought our property in Cerro Azul and began cleaning the lot there was a lot of this plant that came up. I used the dig it up and/or pull it out and/or cut it off method. In general it worked but I think, as one of the comments implied, it comes back if you don’t get the whole root and they are deep. I have it mostly under control now though.

I do like walking by some of it, if I see it around, and give it a little kick to watch the leaves close.

Thank you so much and have a good day!

Thanks for that viewpoint! Whew! Before I start using Roundup, I’m going to try another recommendation, this from La Gringa in Honduras. She suggests vinegar. Another friends simply pulled out everything in sight and seems to have succeeded.

Interesting to know the “sensitive” plant’s reputation.

Mary

Thanks for your comment – I can see playing pranks with them, as long as you’re wearing shoes!

Nice to hear from Indonesia. I certainly did not realize M. pudica was there, although I’ve read that it has spread to many places in the world and can be invasive. If my plant is indeed M. pudica, it’s supposed to be native here, but it acts like an invasive plant in our yard.

Mary

I love them. You play pranks with them (literally, kick them gently) while walking on the countryside. We call them “putri malu” which means “princess shy”.