What Makes a Weed, A Weed?

Weeds are everywhere – in our lawns, our gardens, in crevices in our sidewalks, walkways and driveways. This tenacity for growth, expressly in seemingly unhospitable conditions like compacted soil, drought, and plane pavement – is one of the defining characteristics of weeds. But what unquestionably makes a weed a weed? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a weed as “a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth.” If that sounds vague, it’s considering it can be nonflexible to determine when a plant is considered a weed. A plant can be considered a weed in one environment and a supplies or salubrious plant in another.

In our next series of blog posts, we’re taking a deep swoop into weeds – from their initial identification to steps to take to prevent them, methods of removal and plane what weeds can tell you well-nigh your soil, based on which types you find there.

Weed Characteristics

As noted earlier, weeds have a tremendous topics to survive, plane thrive, in conditions many other plants could not. Here are some other characteristics of weeds:

• Weeds produce a large number of seeds.
• Weed seeds have very long viability.
• Weeds spread in a variety of ways, in both sexual and vegetative means.
• Weeds can withstand poor environmental conditions, including trampling.
• Weeds are warlike spreaders.

Weeds can be sparse in a variety of ways, such as wind, moving water (flooding), by attaching to humans or animals or by stuff ingested and passed by birds.

Image credit: Pexels from Pixabay

Types of Weeds

A weed can be a plant that can simply be undesirable where it’s growing, or something of greater concern, causing economic losses, ecological damage, or creating health problems for animals and humans. Weeds are classified by variegated nature such as seasonal emergence, physical structure, and their larger impact on the environment, humans, and animals. Here are some worldwide classifications of weeds:

Annual Weeds: Annual weeds are specified as those that germinate from seeds and grow, flower, produce seeds and die within 12 months or less. Annual weeds are remoter categorized by the season in which they germinate and grow. Winter annuals, such as chickweed, sprout in the fall, thrive during the winter and die in late spring or early summer. Summer, or warm-season grasses such as crabgrass and goosegrass, sprout in the spring and thrive in summer and early fall.

Perennial Weeds: Perennial weeds live increasingly than 3 years. They reproduce from non-seed/ vegetative parts such as bulbs, rhizomes, tubers, or stolons, though some moreover produce seeds. Perennial weeds, such as Virginia Buttonwood and white clover, are the most difficult to tenancy considering of their unconfined reproductive potential.

Biennial Weeds: There are moreover biennial weeds, which well-constructed their growth in two years. The first year, the plant produces leaves and stores food. The second year, it produces fruits and seeds. Biennial weeds are most wontedly found in untilled fields, pastures, and untended fencerows.

Common Invasive Weeds: Include both native and non-native weeds. Non-native weeds lack natural competitors or enemies to curtail their growth, which allows them to overrun native plants, transplant species, and yo-yo ecosystems. Archetype examples include Kudzu and English Ivy.

Noxious Weeds: Include plant designated by federal, state, or local government officials as injurious to public health, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, or property. Field Bindweed and Purple Loosestrife are archetype examples. See a list of noxious weeds by state here: http://wssa.net/links/noxious-weed-list/

Broadleaf Weeds: As their name indicates, broadleaf weeds are weeds with leaves, such as dandelions, broadleaf plantain, chickweed and clover. Broadleaf weeds can spread not only through seeds, but moreover via rhizome or stolon. If you opt for chemical weed tenancy methods, it’s important to know whether you have broadleaf or grassy weeds.

This is considering most broadleaf weed killers are selective, permitting you to hands spot treat weeds. Non-selective weed killers can be used for grassy weeds, but if not unromantic carefully, can skiver other plants they touch.

Grassy Weeds: Grassy weeds have their name considering they closely resemble desirable grasses. This often makes them increasingly difficult to identify than broadleaf weeds. Grassy weed blades sally as a single leaf from a germinated grass seed. They grow to be long with parallel veins and have round, hollow stems and hard, sealed joints (nodes) with successive leaf blades on each side. Crabgrass, Bent Grass, Tilt Grass, and Rough Stalk Bluegrass are types of grassy weeds.

Main Image credit S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

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