If you suffer from autumn allergies, you might be blaming the wrong culprit. Heather Kirk-Ballard is a horticulturalist at the LSU Ag Center. She says fall is prime ragweed season, even though goldenrod, which is more visible, usually gets the blame.
“It’s actually ragweed which is actually a very inconspicuous weed which is popping up everywhere right now. It starts at the end of august and goes into November we are in the prime time of it right now,” Kiek-Ballard says.
She says experts recommend you change your clothes if you can before bringing them into the house, if you have a mudroom or garage. She says if you can stand to get near ragweed you can pull it. Or if you try to control it chemically, you need to use non-selective herbicides which work best early in the season.
She says once it’s mature, ragweed produces vast amounts of pollen whose particles are extremely small and lightweight.
“They create a lot of pollen, and it’s wind spread,” she added.
She says Ragweed’s tiny particles that are nearly invisible, but allergy sufferers know they’re there. She says she can always tell.
“I am not able to take my allergy medicine right now and I have got a throbbing sinus headache, yes I know how it feels to be a sufferer and fall is one of those times,” she added.
