Broadleaf weeds

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Broadleaf weeds are unwanted tough plants that may grow in lawns, gardens or yards. [1] They can be easy to spot when growing among grasses. [2] They multiply with ease and can be very hard to eradicate. [3]

Contents

Basic characteristics

Broadleaf weeds can emerge annually, biennially, or perennially, making consistent management difficult. Perennial weeds are often very difficult to control as the weeds regenerate faster than they can be eradicated. Broadleaf weeds, as their name suggests, often have wide leaves and grow from a stem. Most broadleaf weeds develop clusters of blossoms or single flowers as they mature that can be considered undesirable.

The roots of most broadleaf weeds are fibrous in nature. The roots can be thin, a large taproot, or a combination. Many broadleaf weeds spread through their seeds and rhizomes, although some only spread through seeds. [2]

Popular Broadleaf Weeds are Chickweed, Clover, Dandelion, Wild Geranium, Ivy, Milkweed, Plantain (Broadleaf), and Thistle. [4]

Contrast with grassy weeds

The differences in broadleaf weeds' structure and growth habits make them easy to distinguish from narrow-leaved weedy grasses. [5] Most broadleaf weeds have leaves with net-like veins and nodes that contain one or more leaves, and they may have showy flowers, [6] while grassy weeds appear as a single leaf from a germinated seed. [7] Furthermore, grassy weeds are different because they may initially appear like desirable grasses.

Control methods

Although broadleaf weeds can grow aggressively, they can be controlled via different methods. [8]

When there are few broadleaf weeds present, an effective approach is hand-pulling. This should be carried out regularly to check the spread of weeds.[ citation needed ] In a thick lawn that is overgrown with broadleaf weeds, a lawn mower may be necessary.[ citation needed ]

When there are abundant broadleaf weeds, a chemical herbicide (weed killer) can be useful. There are chemical herbicides meant for controlling broadleaf weeds. Perennial broadleaf weeds are often controlled with chemical herbicides, although they can sometimes return after several months. [9]

Broadleaf weeds can be controlled by shading them out. This involves covering the affected area with flat materials such as boards, nylon, or plastic sheets, blocking the weeds' access to sunlight and water and killing them. [3]

Related Research Articles

Herbicide Chemical used to kill unwanted plants

Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control unwanted plants. Selective herbicides control specific weed species, while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed, while non-selective herbicides can be used to clear waste ground, industrial and construction sites, railways and railway embankments as they kill all plant material with which they come into contact. Apart from selective/non-selective, other important distinctions include persistence, means of uptake, and mechanism of action. Historically, products such as common salt and other metal salts were used as herbicides, however these have gradually fallen out of favor and in some countries a number of these are banned due to their persistence in soil, and toxicity and groundwater contamination concerns. Herbicides have also been used in warfare and conflict.

Weed control

Weed control is the botanical component of pest control, which attempts to stop weeds, especially noxious weeds, from competing with desired flora and fauna including domesticated plants and livestock, and in natural settings preventing non native species competing with native species.

Clopyralid Chemical compound

Clopyralid is a selective herbicide used for control of broadleaf weeds, especially thistles and clovers. Clopyralid is in the picolinic acid family of herbicides, which also includes aminopyralid, picloram, triclopyr, and several less common herbicides. For control of creeping thistle, Cirsium arvense, a noxious, perennial weed, clopyralid is one of the few effective herbicides available. Clopyralid is particularly damaging to peas, tomatoes and sunflowers and can render potatoes, lettuce and spinach inedible. It does not affect grasses of the family Poaceae.

A mulch is a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. Reasons for applying mulch include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area.

<i>Onopordum acanthium</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Onopordum acanthium is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Europe and Western Asia from the Iberian Peninsula east to Kazakhstan, and north to central Scandinavia, and widely naturalised elsewhere, with especially large populations present in the United States and Australia. It is a vigorous biennial plant with coarse, spiny leaves and conspicuous spiny-winged stems.

<i>Glechoma hederacea</i> Species of flowering plants in the mint and sage family Lamiaceae

Glechoma hederacea is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen creeper of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is commonly known as ground-ivy, gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, alehoof, tunhoof, catsfoot, field balm, and run-away-robin. It is also sometimes known as creeping jenny, but that name more commonly refers to Lysimachia nummularia. It is used as a salad green in many countries. European settlers carried it around the world, and it has become a well-established introduced and naturalized plant in a wide variety of localities.

Perennial plant Plant that lives for more than two years

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials.

<i>Cirsium arvense</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Cirsium arvense is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle. It is also commonly known as Canada thistle and field thistle.

Hexazinone Chemical compound

Hexazinone is an organic compound that is used as a broad spectrum herbicide. It is a colorless solid. It exhibits some solubility in water but is highly soluble in most organic solvents except alkanes. A member of the triazine class herbicides, it is manufactured by DuPont and sold under the trade name Velpar.

<i>Cyperus rotundus</i> Species of plant

Cyperus rotundus is a species of sedge (Cyperaceae) native to Africa, southern and central Europe, and southern Asia. The word cyperus derives from the Greek κύπερος, kyperos, and rotundus is from Latin, meaning "round". The earliest attested form of the word cyperus is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀓𐀞𐀫, ku-pa-ro, written in Linear B syllabic script.

<i>Poa annua</i> Species of plant

Poa annua, or annual meadow grass, is a widespread low-growing turfgrass in temperate climates. Notwithstanding the reference to annual plant in its name, perennial bio-types do exist. This grass may have originated as a hybrid between Poa supina and Poa infirma.

In permaculture, sheet mulching is an agricultural no-dig gardening technique that attempts to mimic the natural soil-building process in forests. When deployed properly and in combination with other permaculture principles, it can generate healthy, productive, and low maintenance ecosystems.

Weed Plant considered undesirable in a particular place or situation

A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place". Examples commonly are plants unwanted in human-controlled settings, such as farm fields, gardens, lawns, and parks. Taxonomically, the term "weed" has no botanical significance, because a plant that is a weed in one context is not a weed when growing in a situation where it is in fact wanted, and where one species of plant is a valuable crop plant, another species in the same genus might be a serious weed, such as a wild bramble growing among cultivated loganberries. In the same way, volunteer crops (plants) are regarded as weeds in a subsequent crop. Many plants that people widely regard as weeds also are intentionally grown in gardens and other cultivated settings, in which case they are sometimes called beneficial weeds. The term weed also is applied to any plant that grows or reproduces aggressively, or is invasive outside its native habitat. More broadly "weed" occasionally is applied pejoratively to species outside the plant kingdom, species that can survive in diverse environments and reproduce quickly; in this sense it has even been applied to humans.

Bensulide Chemical compound

Bensulide is a selective organophosphate herbicide. It is one of a few organophosphate compounds that are used as an herbicide. Most of the others are used as insecticides. It is used on vegetable crops such as carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and melons and in cotton and turfgrass to control annual grasses such as bluegrass and crabgrass and broadleaf weeds. It is often applied before the weed seeds germinate (pre-emergence) in order to prevent them from germinating. It is available as granules or an emulsifiable concentrate. Estimates place the total use of bensulide in the United States at about 632,000 pounds annually. Application rates may be relatively heavy when it is used. The EPA classifies bensulide as a general use pesticide.

<i>Taeniatherum</i> Genus of grasses

Taeniatherum is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the grass family known by the common name medusahead.

Organic beans

Organic beans are produced and processed without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In 2008, over 2,600,000 acres (11,000 km2) of cropland were certified organic in the United States. Dry beans, snap beans, and soybeans were grown on 16,000 acres (65 km2), 5,200 acres (21 km2), and 98,000 acres (400 km2), respectively.

<i>Panicum repens</i> Species of plant

Panicum repens is a species of grass known by many common names, including torpedograss, creeping panic, panic rampant, couch panicum, wainaku grass, quack grass, dog-tooth grass, and bullet grass. Its exact native range is obscure. Sources suggest that the grass is native to "Africa and/or Asia", "Europe or Australia", "Eurasia", "Australia", "Europe, Asia, and Africa", or other specific regions, including the Mediterranean, Israel, and Argentina. It is present in many places as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It has been called "one of the world's worst weeds."

Mechanical weed control is a physical activity that inhibits unwanted plant growth. Mechanical, or manual, weed control techniques manage weed populations through physical methods that remove, injure, kill, or make the growing conditions unfavorable. Some of these methods cause direct damage to the weeds through complete removal or causing a lethal injury. Other techniques may alter the growing environment by eliminating light, increasing the temperature of the soil, or depriving the plant of carbon dioxide or oxygen. Mechanical control techniques can be either selective or non-selective. A selective method has very little impact on non-target plants where as a non-selective method affects the entire area that is being treated. If mechanical control methods are applied at the optimal time and intensity, some weed species may be controlled or even eradicated.

<i>Stachys floridana</i> Species of flowering plant

Stachys floridana is a species of betony in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the United States, where its true native range is probably limited to Florida, but today it is known throughout the Southeast as an introduced species and common weed. It occurs as far west as Texas, and it has been recorded in California. Its common names include Florida betony, Florida hedgenettle, and rattlesnake weed. It has been called wild artichoke, but it is not closely related to artichoke. The plant was the Florida Department of Agriculture's "Weed of the Month" for February 2010.

<i>Lolium rigidum</i> Species of grass

Lolium rigidum is a species of annual grass. Common names by which it is known include annual ryegrass, a name also given to Italian ryegrass, rigid ryegrass, stiff darnel, Swiss ryegrass and Wimmera ryegrass. It is a native of southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent and is grown as a forage crop, particularly in Australia.

References

  1. ↑ "Perennial Broadleaf Weeds in Lawns". missouribotanicalgarden.org. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Identify the weeds in your lawn and get rid of them". upscalelivingmag.com. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  3. 1 2 "5 Tips To Enhance Broadleaf Weed Control". turfmagazine.com. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. ↑ "Broadleaf Weeds (Center for Turfgrass Science)". Center for Turfgrass Science (Penn State University). Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Tilley, Nikki. "What Is A Weed: Weed Info And Control Methods In The Garden". gardeningknowhow.com. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  6. ↑ "Broadleaf Weeds". hgic.clemson.edu. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "The Differences Between Broadleaf and Grassy Weeds". cardinallawns.com. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  8. ↑ Trapp, Abby (28 May 2019). "Plan a strategy for weed control". News-Press NOW. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "Broadleaf Weed Problems in Lawns". LawnTalk. University of Illinois Extension. Retrieved 30 May 2019.

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