In early summer, on many heavily fertilized forage meadows, the flower spikes of the sorrel rise up to a meter high. Between May and June, the blossoms provide splashes of red color in the midst of the green meadow landscape.
Sorrel flowers and seeds
The rather inconspicuous individual flowers of the sorrel stand in long, reddish panicles on a stalk of the plant. If you want to permanently combat sorrel in the lawn, you should remove the flowers before the numerous seeds have ripened and compost them far away from the location. Since the seeds can be kept for up to three years and remain germinable even in liquid manure, the sorrel spreads uncontrollably under suitable conditions.
Use the flower as an indicator
Even if the sorrel is not directly poisonous when consumed, various factors indicate a high concentration of the oxalic acid it contains:
- the formation of flowers
- the red coloring of the flowers
- the red coloring of the leaves
Harvest sorrel leaves that are as fresh as possible before the flowering period from May to July. Then there is even less of the oxalic acid in the plants, which irritates the stomach.
tips and tricks
Removing the sorrel flowers is important for crop control as sorrel control in the lawn is already difficult.