Alex from Lincoln on 9/9/2024 8:40:30 AM:
Yeah goatheads are tough to manage. Puncture vine produces hundreds of seeds per plant and each seed is viable for 5+ years after it has detached meaning every tire (car, tractor, utv, or bike), shoe, hoof, paw, gust of wind, or deluge of water, will transport seed despite our best management efforts spraying or removing the vine from the trail when it is seen. While we do our best remove the plant on the trail area, it can help only so much when surrounding uses (roadways, ag, residential, commercial lots) don't need its removal so the opportunity for seed to make its way onto the trail will always be there. The hundreds of road crossings of the trail don't help either, that's where I find we have the most goathead issues. The trail superintendents are doing a great job with what they have to work with. Adjusting some management practices seem to be paying off in minimizing their presence but I think goatheads will just always be lurking, waiting for their next victim. I too have had the double flat 3 miles out of town and spent hours pulling dozens of goatheads out of the tires but that was years ago now. Happy Trails!