Latest Weed Stories
By JULIE H. MANN For The Capital Many homeowners wage rigorous chemical warfare on weeds throughout the year, applying regular doses of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. They do it to eliminate grubs, crabgrass, wiregrass, spurge, chickweed, and clover. Not Wendy Osborn. The Severna Park wife, mother of three grown children, and longtime gardener, decided last year to invest in a radical approach. She went green, using passive solar power, plastic, and patience to rid her...
By Jessica Walliser Question: Nutsedge has taken over our front yard. Is there anything organic that I can use to get rid of it? I don't know where it came from. Answer: Nutsedge, or nutgrass, is a common problem in lawns and gardens. It's a perennial weed that thrives in waterlogged soil, so the first thing I suggest is fixing any existing drainage problems or leaky lawn sprinklers that may be causing your ground to remain consistently wet -- and don't over irrigate. That said, after it's...
By Notes, Pack Legislators are considering a bill that would give the Pennsylvania Game Commission its first hunting license fee increase since 1999. Senate Bill 1527 was introduced by state Sen. Charles McIhinney of Bucks County. PGC officials testified in support of the legislation and the "desperate" need for revenue last week before the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee. The Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs also gave comments in support of license increases. For several...
By Steve Vantreese, The Paducah Sun, Ky. Aug. 6--Kentucky Lake again is growing weedy, a cause for celebration or consternation, depending upon one's perspective. Multiple species of aquatic vegetation are growing in bays and, in some cases, on flats and ridges on the main body of the lake. They are seen toward the reservoir's northern end but grow more plentiful to the south, especially into Tennessee reaches. Rooted in the bottom, many patches of greenery reach toward or to the surface...
Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson has issued a weed quarantine on 40 acres of land in McIntosh County. Johnson ordered the quarantine on Monday in response to reports from the county weed board that the land was infested with leafy spurge. Johnson says the property owner failed to control the weed. The action prevents any hay or crops from being removed from the land. (c) 2008 Bismarck Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
By Leigh Hornbeck, Albany Times Union, N.Y. Aug. 5--STILLWATER -- Eurasian milfoil, an invasive plant that creates a nuisance for boaters and swimmers, is almost under control in Saratoga Lake, according to the Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District. The district, which is supported by 1,400 taxpayers who live around the lake, paid for an application of a herbicide to kill the weeds. Last year the chemicals were used on the south end of the lake and in May the district moved to...
By Dan England, Greeley Tribune, Colo. Aug. 4--Tina Booton keeps a tamarisk tree near her cubicle in the Weld County Public Works Department. Someone with a sick sense of humor could say it was pulled from the ground and displayed as an example to show what happens when you mess with Weld County's weed dictatorship. The tamarisk, after all, is as noxious as they come, a plant that's invaded Grand Junction and other parts of the Western Slope and continues to annoy Weld weeders, too....
Q. You recently had a question on Moses in the cradle. Since I have grown that plant for nearly 20 years, I've found that it is winter-hardy in my Virginia Beach yard. A clump of them in each corner of my tropical garden in full sun comes back every year. They are much prettier when grown outside - a deeper, richer purple than when grown indoors. The more sun they get, the deeper their color. Another reason for their name Moses in the cradle is that the little boat-shaped bracts are lined...
By Michael Mills, The Philadelphia Inquirer Jul. 25--Be grateful that midweek downpours mitigated the parched conditions in so many gardens. But if the rains again become rare, be prepared to practice prudent triage. Leave the lawn alone and rejuvenate it in the fall. Trees, shrubs and perennials planted this year take precedence over everything else. (Annuals are supposed to die every year anyway.) Avoid watering during midday, when much of a sprinkler's output is lost to evaporation. No...
By Jill Aho, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore. Jul. 20--It's a growing problem. It's easy to see the effects of some invasive species -- such as those impossible to eradicate blackberry vines or the English ivy creeping up the big oak tree -- while others have yet to take hold in much of Lane County. A workshop held Saturday at the Wetlands Project Office, 751 South Danebo Ave., instructed volunteer spotters how to detect species that may be headed for local habitats. The West...
