Lawn Care: How to Identify Weeds

Weeds can take over your plantings and lawn if not eliminated.

No doubt about it, the most troublesome aspect of gardening is the weeds. Weeds are those out of place plants poking through like rabbit ears behind the heads in a photograph. However, some weeds are not so obvious--and can even look pretty--making them all the more insidious. There are some common weeds that look like flowers, and some like prickly plants. If they are pretty, why not keep them? Because weeds take the water and nutrients meant for the plants that are designed to be there. Weeds can grow rampant, making your landscape look ungroomed. They can create a picnic for insects and gophers, and can even be a fire hazard.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Photos of weeds on the Internet or in a gardening book

1. Look at photos of weeds. There are many online resources for weed identification. Better Homes & Gardens, www.bhg.com, has a slide show of images in the garden section of their website. Or get a gardening book that includes photos of weeds. You need to arm yourself with the knowledge of what is a desirable plant and what is a weed from a visual standpoint first.

2. Look at your landscaping and lawn. Does any growth, plant or flower look out of place? The first step is carefully visually scanning your landscape to see the beginnings of misplaced growth and sprouts.

3. Crawling sometimes is the only way to spot a weed. crawling image by Tracy Martinez from Fotolia.com

   Get down on your hands and knees and check the soil. Although, most weeds grow fast, they are great at hiding at the base of your plants. When watering your garden, take a peak at the soil level and pluck anything that does not belong. Even if the growth only looks like a blade of grass, it can be the beginning sprouts of a weed. Killing weeds early eliminates the problem before it gets rampant.

4. Brambles are an extremely stubborn garden weed. blackberry bush with berries image by Oleg Mitiukhin from Fotolia.com

   Check for brambles. Brambles are the plant that blackberries and raspberries grow from. However, in a garden, if unwanted, they can be quite nasty. If a bramble isn't caught in its earliest stages of development, it becomes quite difficult to remove. A young bramble will look like a sweet little plant, with a white flower, usually with purple specks. They have little scratchy leaves, so you'll need gloves to remove them.

5. Clover is a weed that can quickly take over a lawn. clover image by Allyson Ricketts from Fotolia.com

   Check for green plants that don't belong. The most common weed greens are buttercup, clover, convolvulus, dandelions, pigweed, and nettles. Buttercup, convolvulus, pigweed and clover have green leaves like petals the size of a finger tip. The convolvulus spreads like a netting beneath your flowers and in between grass plants. It sometimes has a white flower that looks like a pale pansy. Dandelions have thick prickly steams and leaves, and are littered with little white puffs that people often blow to make wishes from, spreading the weed seeds all over your lawn and garden. Nettles are green leaves that grow close to the soil and look like fern leaves with a serrated edge. They will grow rampantly and need to be pulled out, making sure to remove the entire root system.

6. The poppy is a wildflower weed. Poppy image by Ira from Fotolia.com

   Check for flowers that do not belong. The most common weed flowers are thistle, Jerusalem artichoke, nightshade, poppies and yellow sweet clover. The flowers are often small and in clusters. They can be quite fragrant, and even pretty, such as the poppy. Don't let this deceive you; they can take over and strangle your desired plants and flowers. Thistle and nightshade are small and yellow or lavender. They are nestled within the stalks of larger plants. The poppy and clover grow close to the ground and are considered wildflowers, easily spotted due to their bright colors. The poppy is often bright orange or red.

7. Some grasses may, in fact, be weeds. long grass image by Nikon'as from Fotolia.com

   A lawn can have grassy weeds. Common grassy weeds are couch grass, crabgrass, foxtail grass and wild oat. The grassy weeds will grow faster and can crowd out your desired lawn grasses.

Tips & Warnings

• Check for weeds at the base of your plants, as weeds like to hide beneath established growth.

• Young weeds can usually be easily pulled out by hand.

• Don't let weeds get out of control or they can suffocate a garden. A weed can embed itself so thickly that when you kill the weed, you can injure desired plants.

References

• Better Homes & Gardens; Weed Indentification Guide
• Green Footsteps; Identifying Weeds

Resources

• Garden Organic; Weed Management
• Interactive Weed Identification