The War Against Tumbleweeds

Biggest surprise to me was how much water the tumbleweeds deprive “cash crops” of. I’m almost 82 and still consider any day I learn something new a good day. Every time I tune in to The History Guy, I learn something I didn’t know before! Thanks History Guy!

I am a 63 year old biologist. And I did not know the tumbleweed was an invasive species. Thanks for the fun lesson.

When I was 13 in 1974, me and a couple of friends thought we'd do the community we lived in a great service and collect all the tumbleweeds in the neighborhood, piling them up in a vacant lot, three stories high. We were so proud of our feat that we called the local newspaper to come and record the fact, but they declined. The next day a big wind storm blew up and all of our tumbleweeds were scattered into nearby lawns and driveways. That's when the local news got interested, running a story about how three local boys caused havoc in the hood. Lol.

I grew up in Arizona and these things can be a real annoyance. Seen literally a hundred miles of 12 ft high walls of tumbleweeds stuck to the fences crossing the reservation. Some of them can be 6 ft around and weigh quite a lot if dried mud is stuck to them. Hitting them at high speed, as they often just blow across the road from nowhere and very difficult to avoid, can break your lights, even crack a radiator. Or worse, go under the vehicle to get stuck on your exhaust just to be a serious fire risk. But I too did not realize they weren't native, learned something today, thanks.

The lot of our first home in Phoenix was newly claimed from the desert when we moved in. Come Spring I was delighted to see our 5000 square foot back yard covered with green. You guessed it: it was all tumbleweeds! Through the Spring it matured into a jungle three feet high. In Summer it turned into tinder. I brought out a cheap charcoal grill and lit a small fire. With a rake, I snapped the evil plants at ground level and rolled them into the flames; a tumbleweed was gone in perhaps three seconds. When the yard was cleared, the detritus measured less than a cupful.

In Fresno, California, where snow is a rare occurrence, tumbleweeds are stacked, flocked & decorated as faux snowmen

You can always rely upon "The History Guy" to have a curious and interesting history lesson. Sometimes, like in this case, we learn about something we generally ignore. Tumble weeds, who would have thought they were really so bad? Now, if we were talking about Kudzu. Some once told me that "Kudzu was the only plant that you could take out 50 yards from the house, plant it in the ground, and it would beat you back to the house". He wasn't off by much.

When it's moving it's a RUSHIN' weed!!

In past years in Cummings Valley California, camels were used to clear fields of tumbleweeds. Apparently camels love them, green or dried.

An old TV show called "The Outer Limits" had an episode called "A Cry of Silence" with killer tumbleweeds.

Your knack for finding historical irony is superlative! A Russian weed symbolizing the American spirit.

Wow, I am 68 years young, I always thought the Tumbleweed was a Western USA plant, because of the 1960's & 70's TV Westerns & the song by the Sons of the Pioneers - Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Thanks for the History Lesson.

As a child of the 50's, we played in tumbleweed "forts". One year our Christmas tree was tumbleweeds stacked on one another. Along with music from the Sons of the Pioneers, it all makes for good memories.

I remember learning the tumbleweed was an invasive plant from Russia. I was surprised since so much imagery shows tumbleweeds are an iconic symbol of the west.

I have to wonder if tumbleweeds’ large water consumption didn’t/doesn’t also add to the dust bowl/drought problem in the midwest and west.

I remember burning the tumbleweeds along fences. Some farmers had special wagons with a burner they would pull behind a tractor and burn the weeds on the move. This probably accelerated the move to metal fence posts.

I have seen tumble weeds that were as big as a school bus. It's been a while living here in Las Vegas as of late they won't be any larger than a Mail truck.

Hollywood would never be the same once the first tumbleweeds rolled onto the set. While driving on Interstate 215 in California during a very windy day, I collided with a rolling tumbleweed that was bigger than the Honda Civic that I was in. The explosion was fantastic!

I live in Southern California. In the 1950's tumbleweeds would blow down our street and pile up against fences and the newly-built 5 Freeway. Beginning in September, the yearly Santa Ana winds would create small dust devils and send tumbleweeds and fluff from Pampas Grass (another invasive species) swirling around everywhere. The tumbleweeds would blow across our school yard and collect against the far fence. The school would have huge bonfires to get rid of all their carcasses. Late November, some people would use them as lawn ornaments. They would stack three of them and paint them white - snowmen for a snowless landscape. The "Outer Limits" TV series demonized them in its episode "Cry of Silence". But to me as a small child, when Western series ruled television, I thought they were magical.

Played this video for my kids on the way to school. They'll be talking about tumbleweeds all day.