Because of the cold, windy weather during the past several weeks, it does not feel like it, but spring is actually here. Just look at the trees and flowers that are blooming and you know that winter is behind us. Another way to tell that spring is here is to look at your yard, garden space, across the fields, and along the road banks. There is an abundance of early-season weeds already getting a head start on spring. For farmers and serious homeowners, this is just a sample of what is to come.

The agents on our staff are already receiving lots of phone calls asking what chemicals can be used to control certain weeds. Many people are bringing samples of their weeds into our office for identification and then asking what chemicals can be used to control these weeds.

Chemical weed killers are usually the first thing that most people think about when they need to manage weed problems. But whenever possible, we try to recommend control measures other than herbicides for most weed problems. Cultural practices and mulches can sometimes be the best methods for long-term control. These practices often are less expensive than herbicides, and they are always more friendly to the environment when they work. But sometimes there is no alternative except to attack the weed problem with chemical herbicides.

As I have mentioned in this column several times in the past, the first tactic to successful weed management with herbicides is to properly identify the weed. Most of the herbicides on the market today are developed to be very specific to certain species of weeds and to specific growing conditions. They control certain species of weeds very effectively but, most times, only if applied at very specific times.

Farmers, especially those using no-till production, need to be able to properly identify the more common weeds that are found in their fields. Although most of the weeds may look strange if you have never paid much attention to them, chances are that most of those that you encounter are very common to this area. Even homeowners that take their gardens and lawns seriously need to be able to properly identify the more common weeds.

Most good weed identification books are very expensive, and you need an advanced degree in weed science to be able to read them. But there are a few very good and reasonably priced books available that are very suitable for farmers and homeowners. We still have a good supply of Weeds of the Southern United States available at our office. This bulletin is published by the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service and provides very good pictures and descriptions of the more common weeds found in the southeastern United States, including North Carolina. This publication is only $5 and is available from the Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

If you have access to the Internet, you may want to check out a very good website that provides more information about weeds than you probably will ever need. This website - http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/index.pl - includes the correct common and scientific names of economically important vascular plants and information about their use.

Once you access this website, several search engines are available to help find information using various criteria such as genus, common name, and economic use (such as food, fiber, forage, timber, fuel, spice, genetic, medical, ornamental, and social uses). More than 75,000 literature citations are cross-referenced to the names of economic plants alone. The researchers have also developed Spanish and Portuguese versions of many of the webpages, with French and German translations on the way.

I found that if nothing else, this website has a lot of pretty pictures. You can at least see what some of these plants look like, especially the weeds.

With all the tools we have available for use today, weed management is not all that difficult. Learn to identify your weeds, and seek assistance and further information from your Extension agent.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 4/6/04