Content provided by Adam Soccorsi, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, Vice President of CAMS Charlotte Region.
Dear Association Management friends, welcome to Fireweed Complaint Season! (Also Known as: “Why Is The Landscaper Ignoring That Giant Weed In My Yard, And What Are You Going To Do About It?”)
Ah, spring! The birds are chirping, the grass is growing, and—like clockwork—Fireweed (aka American Burnweed or Erechtites hieraciifolius) makes its unwelcome debut in lawns and landscapes across the country. If you’re a property manager or HOA board member, you probably know what time it is: complaint season.
Let’s talk about why this plant causes such a fuss—and why our landscapers aren't ignoring it (even if it feels that way).
What Is Fireweed and Why Is It So Annoying?
Fireweed is a fast-growing, shallow-rooted annual weed that thrives in disturbed soil and lawns with a little thatch. That’s right—it doesn’t even need to root deeply. It just happily sets up shop on top of your lawn’s thatch layer. Like an uninvited guest, it finds the perfect surface-level Airbnb and starts growing… fast.
How fast?
A single Fireweed plant can shoot up over a foot tall in just a week, sometimes seemingly overnight between weekly mowing. By the time your landscaper rolls back around, it’s towering over the turf, waving at you like it owns the place.
“Can’t We Just Spray Something on It?”
We hear this one a lot. But here's the rub: pre-emergent herbicides don’t work on Fireweed.
Because it doesn’t germinate like your typical grassy weed and grows right on top of the soil (or thatch), it sidesteps many of the standard weed control methods. It’s sneaky like that.
Post-emergent spot sprays can be used, but they need to be timed just right and carefully applied to avoid damaging nearby turf or ornamentals, especially tricky on high-visibility properties where aesthetics matter.
Why It Feels Like No One's Controlling It
This is the heart of complaint season. Homeowners or tenants see Fireweed and assume the landscapers are slacking. But in truth, it’s just one of those aggressive, opportunistic weeds that exploit the window between service visits.
Unless someone is patrolling your property daily with a backpack sprayer (we love our teams, but they’re not superheroes), some Fireweed is going to slip through.
So What Can Be Done?
- Educate homeowners and tenants about this weed’s nature and growth habit.
- Mow regularly to keep plants from maturing and seeding (weekly is good, but bi-weekly in peak season? Risky).
- Improve lawn health to reduce thatch and competition-free zones where Fireweed thrives.
- Spot treat with post-emergent herbicides where appropriate, especially in non-turf areas or planting beds.
Stay calm and trust your landscape provider—they’re just as annoyed by this weed as we are!
.png)