Texas Turf Pros • Updated July 2026 • 5 min read

How to Get Rid of Grassburs (Sandburs) in Texas Lawns — for Good

If you’ve stepped on one barefoot, you don’t need the introduction. Grassburs — sandburs, stickers, burweed to some — are the single most-asked-about weed in the Highland Lakes, and the sandy, fast-draining soils around Kingsland, Llano, and the lake arms grow them like a cash crop.

Know your enemy: grassburs are an annual

Every grassbur plant in your yard this summer grew from a seed — one of those burs — that germinated this spring. The plant dies at first frost, but each plant leaves hundreds of burs behind, and each bur is a seed that can wait several years in the soil for its chance. That’s why “I pulled them all last year” never works: the soil is already loaded.

It’s also why the fix isn’t a spray you buy once. It’s a cycle you have to break.

Why they love the Highland Lakes

• Sandy, granite-derived soil drains fast and runs low on nutrients — exactly the thin-turf conditions grassburs exploit.
• Heat and drought. When Bermuda thins out in a dry August, grassburs take the open ground.
• Low fertility. Grassburs out-compete hungry turf. A well-fed lawn out-competes grassburs.

The two-part fix

Part 1: A properly timed pre-emergent barrier

Grassbur seeds germinate when soil temperatures reach the low 50s°F — late February to early March here — and keep germinating through summer. That means one application isn’t enough: sandy lawns need a split application, with a second pass about 90 days after the first, so the barrier survives into August. Miss the second pass and the late germinators produce a full crop of burs by fall. (Our guide to pre-emergent timing in Central Texas covers the soil-temperature triggers in detail.)

Part 2: Turf thick enough to close the door

Every bare or thin patch is an invitation. Fertilization matched to a soil test — not a guess — pushes Bermuda and St. Augustine to fill in, and a dense lawn shades the soil so bur seeds can’t establish even where the barrier wears thin. This is the half of the job most DIY attempts skip, and it’s why the burs come back.

What about the burs already there?

Existing plants can be treated with selective post-emergent products while they’re young — mature, burred-out plants are much harder, and by then the seeds are already dropped. Expect the first season of a real program to dramatically reduce burs and the second season to get you walking barefoot again. Anyone promising total elimination in one summer is selling something.

What doesn’t work

• Mowing them off. The plant just sets burs lower, below the blade.
• Pulling. Satisfying, but the soil seed bank doesn’t care.
• Burning the lawn dry. Grassburs handle drought better than your turf does; you’re disarming the wrong side.
• One bag of “weed & feed” in April. Wrong product, wrong rate, and almost always the wrong timing.

Quick answers

Can I get rid of grassburs in one season?

You can knock them down dramatically in one season with a split pre-emergent application and fertilization that thickens the turf. But because bur seeds stay viable in the soil for years, it typically takes two consecutive seasons of a full program before they're effectively gone.

What kills grassburs that are already growing?

Young grassbur plants can be controlled with selective post-emergent herbicides that are safe on established Bermuda — timing and product choice matter, and St. Augustine tolerates fewer options. Mature plants with burs are better prevented next season than fought this one.

Why does my lawn have grassburs but my neighbor's doesn't?

Almost always turf density. A thick, well-fed lawn shades the soil so bur seeds can't establish. Thin turf on sandy, low-fertility soil — very common around Kingsland and Llano — gives them open ground.