Contact: Catherine Dehdashti, University of Minnesota Extension, (612)625-0237, ced@umn.edu
Source: Bob Mugaas, horticulture educator with University of Minnesota Extension.

Is this plant a weed?

ST. PAUL, Minn. (7/7/2008) —The Horticulture team at University of Minnesota Extension has launched a new weed identification and management tool. The website can be accessed from University of Minnesota Extension’s Gardening Info page, or directly at http://www.extension.umn.edu/gardeninfo/weedid/.

One of the first steps in managing a landscape pest is proper diagnosis of the problem. Identifying the pest allows the garden manager to learn more about the biology of the pest and the management practices that will be most effective in controlling it.

Although many publications about the biology and management of common landscape weeds and invasive weed species are available on the University of Minnesota Extension web page, there were no tools available to help identify an unknown plant. Without assistance in identifying that plant, gardeners have a hard time managing it. This may result in unnecessary application of herbicides, application of incorrect herbicides, poor timing of control strategies, wasted time, and wasted money and effort.

The website is designed to provide a user friendly web-based weed identification tool titled ‘Is this Plant a Weed?’ for use by home gardeners, Master Gardener volunteers, landscape managers, Extension educators and staff, and members of the green industry in the North Central region.

The website focuses on identifying pest plant species in the yard and garden including common lawn and landscape weeds, invasive and noxious herbaceous plants, and invasive and noxious woody plants. Links are made to relevant publications describing management options for each pest plant. The 56 weeds highlighted in the website are common to this area, thereby eliminating the often extraneous weeds encountered in guides published for national distribution.

The website allows gardeners to follow several simple steps to identify the weed. The pest plant identification pages contain key descriptive phrases about each weed with accompanying photographs. A link from the website leads users to a new publication that discusses different weed control strategies including cultural control practices and appropriate, safe herbicide use.

NOTE: News releases were current as of the date of issue. If you have a question on older releases, use the news release search (upper left-hand column of the News main page) or the main Extension search (upper right of this page) to locate more recent information.

URL: http:// www3.extension.umn.edu/extensionnews/2008/isthisplantaweed.html  This page was updated July 7, 2008 .
Online Privacy Statement.  Contact Information.

University of Minnesota Extension is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Copyright  ©  Regents of the University of Minnesota.  All rights reserved.