Weed Species

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Weeds in the garden and vegetable garden. Part 2

Read the previous part of the article: Sources of clogging of beds

Weeds are divided into annuals and biennials. However, this division is rather arbitrary. A number of annuals, under certain conditions of their life, can become perennials.

Weeds are represented by the following groups:

1. Ephemera are annuals with a very short growing season.
2. Spring, early, most of which germinate and emerge in the first days of spring before the appearance of the entrances of cultivated plants and are seeded either before them, or together with them. Late spring crops, adapted to the time of emergence of thermophilic crops of late sowing or after harvesting early crops.
3. Wintering and winter crops, the seedlings of which endure winter and continue their development until summer.
4. Biennials, which, for example, include sweet cloves, bulbous and root crops. In biennials, in the first year of life, roots, tubers or bulbs are formed from seeds, and seeds appear only on flowering stems the next year.

Ephemera

This group of the least malicious weeds includes a small number of species that develop rapidly in spring and end the growing season just as quickly. Several generations of ephemerals are possible in one year. This usually happens in fairly humid years.

The representative of this group of annual weeds is wood lice, or starfish. This weed usually grows well and quickly in low humid places, in irrigated vegetable, well-cultivated areas. The stems are branching, almost creeping, capable of giving additional roots from the nodes of the parts of the stem adjacent to the soil. This quality allows wood lice to multiply not only by seeds, but also by additional roots through the formation of large clumps. The seeds are small; when embedded in the soil deeper than 3 cm, they do not germinate. With late development overwinter. During weeding, the stems break easily, the root remains in the soil.

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Spring weeds

Representatives of this most numerous group of weeds belong to the most diverse families. All of them give one seed generation during the growing season.

Widespread in huge quantities white gauze, or quinoa, is ubiquitous. Reaches full development in the second half of summer, littering all crops of field and vegetable crops, as well as wastelands. Under favorable conditions, plant height reaches 1 m with high seed fertility. Quinoa stems and leaves have a characteristic mealy bloom. The flowers are inconspicuous, unpainted. The seeds remain viable in the soil for decades.

On one quinoa plant there are seeds of three forms: large brown, capable of rapid germination, small black and green - germinate only in the second year after separation from the plant, and very small black, rounded, germinating only in the third year. High seed fertility and extended periods of seed germination contribute to the rapid reproduction of the quinoa, especially on sparse crops. The most abundant seedlings appear when the seeds are planted to a depth of 1-2 cm, although there are cases of emergence of seedlings from greater depths. Quinoa is an early weed, its seedlings are frost-resistant.

Wild radish - has pale yellow, sometimes almost white flowers; rounded seeds are enclosed in a pod, consisting of separate segments, in which one seed is enclosed. When ripe, the pod breaks into segments the size of a grain of cereals. Because of this, during cleaning, they are difficult to separate from the seeds of cultivated plants. Amicable shoots appear in moist soil only in the second year, provided that the segments are not deeper than 5 cm. The extended sprouting time of weeds and their clogging of seeds of cultivated plants contribute to widespread reproduction of the weed.

Field mustard resembles wild radish in appearance and nature of biological features. Seeds are small, rounded, of various colors from light to dark, enclosed in tetrahedral or oval pods, sitting on a short stalk. In the soil, seeds remain viable for up to 10 years, germinate more amicably with shallow planting.

In practice, wild radish and field mustard are often called rape. This identification is incorrect, because the rape is a perennial weed that has the same color of flowers as radish and mustard.

Toritsa is found on sandy and moist soils with an acidic reaction. The leaves of the torus are linear, the flowers are small, white. Seedlings appear in early spring.

Field yarok and a shepherd's purse similar to it belong to the cruciferous family. These two weeds are represented by spring and wintering forms. The flowers are inconspicuous, flowering occurs from spring to late autumn, the seeds are small, sprout in spring and autumn. Their germination capacity lasts up to 10 years, the most amicable seedlings appear from a depth of no more than 5 cm.

Odorless chamomile develops as a wintering plant, and in the south as a winter plant. Found in meadows, vegetable gardens, garbage cans. Propagated by seeds. When mowed, it grows back.

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Perennial weeds

The main feature of perennials is the ability of these plants not to die off completely after fruiting, but with the onset of spring heat, they grow back from underground organs - roots, their buds, rhizomes - and bear fruit for several years in a row. Therefore, perennials usually represent hard-to-eradicate malignant weeds of fields, which sharply reduce the yield of agricultural crops. It takes a lot of work and money to fight them.

Perennials usually reproduce both by seeds and vegetatively. This group includes weeds with different root systems - fibrous and taproot. The roots of perennials are powerful, penetrate deeply into the soil, branching widely in it.

Of the perennials, root weeds and rhizome weeds are the most malicious.

Root weeds

A very common root weed is pink thistle, or thistle. Clumps of pink sow thistle oppress crops. Flowers of dark pink color are collected in a dense basket. Sow thistle seeds are supplied with simple and complex flaps. When ripe, some of the flyworms are firmly attached to the seeds, do not separate from them and contribute to the transfer of seeds by the wind over long distances. In the spring, seedlings appear in the form of weak seedlings. Seeds embedded deep in the soil do not germinate.

The sow thistle root system is very powerful, penetrating into the soil to a depth of more than 7 cm. It has a main taproot, from which lateral branches extend, which are propagation roots. They are located horizontally at a depth of 12-18 cm and deeper, then bend down in a knee-like manner. In places of bends, buds are formed, from which a new vertical growth in the form of shoots-rhizomes with rudimentary leaves comes. Vertical shoots penetrate the soil, appearing on its surface in the form of new stems. Such a process of development of pink sow thistle proceeds throughout the growing season.

Sections of roots longer than 5 cm, resulting from cutting them with tillage implements, are capable of giving new growth from a depth of up to 10 cm.

Molokan, otherwise called tartar sow thistle or blue - from flowers collected in a small head, painted blue. It is able to reproduce by both wind-carried seeds and root shoots. It is a very resistant weed that tolerates dense, dry and saline soils, has an even more powerful root system than the thistle, is able to germinate from small pieces of roots.

Field bindweed is one of the most vicious weeds. The stem is thin, creeping or curly, winding around the stems of cultivated plants from left to right, causing them to lodge, thereby sharply reducing the yield. Field bindweed reproduces both by seeds, which retain germination in the soil for 3-4 years, and by root shoots. The main mass of bindweed roots is located at a depth of 18-25 cm, some of them reach a depth of 80-180 cm. Small pieces of roots, with eyes on them, are capable of germinating. In the hot summer season, the bindweed leaves wither during the day, stopping the evaporation of water, and by the evening they regain turgor.

Common rape is a widespread weed. The flowers are collected in a bright yellow cluster, have a honey smell. Seeds are round, dark in color, oil-bearing, enclosed in a pod that opens when ripe. In the spring, when the soil warms up, shoots appear, forming a rosette that hibernates. The following spring, the rape develops, forming a multi-stem plant. Flowering continues throughout the spring and summer. The root system is weak, easily pulled out of the soil during weeding. Rape reproduces mainly by seeds, the formation of shoots from root scions is possible.

Rhizome weeds

Like root suckers, root weeds are considered extremely malignant and widespread. Due to the presence of developed underground reproductive organs - rhizomes - their distribution zone expands, the depressing effect on cultivated plants is aggravated.

Creeping wheatgrass is one of the most drought-resistant and frost-resistant plants. There are no known cases of its freezing in the most severe winters. The reason for such a great vitality is that it develops a powerful root system, more than 90% of the total mass of which is located at a depth of 10 cm, the rest penetrate to a depth of 15 cm, thin roots extend from the rhizomes, penetrating into the depth of the soil up to 1 m or more …

Wheat grass rhizomes have significant reserves of carbohydrates that increase frost resistance. The presence of large reserves of nutrients allows it to quickly form abundant shoots in early spring. Reproduction of shoots occurs on the rhizomes of wheatgrass repeatedly. It propagates by seeds, rhizome shoots or segments of rhizomes, which form a dense sod in the upper soil layer. It prevents the development of the root system of cultivated plants. In addition, wheatgrass is a distributor of rust, promotes the reproduction of the Hessian fly, wireworm, and stemworm.

Horsetail. According to its biological characteristics, horsetail occupies a special place, being the only spore weed. It forms stems of two kinds: in early spring spore-bearing ones appear, and in summer they are sterile, resembling young pines in appearance. In the soil, the plant forms a large horizontal branched network of rhizomes penetrating it to a depth of 1 m. It propagates both by spores and by fragments of rhizomes.

Pin-root weeds

This group of weeds includes: dandelion, wormwood, wild chicory, sour sorrel and many others.

Dandelion has a thick taproot that penetrates deep into the soil. Propagated by root shoots and seeds. The seeds are equipped with fly-away, easily carried by the wind.

Plantain lanceolate and plantain medium - these species reproduce both by seeds and by segments of roots. On the soil surface, plantains form a rosette of leaves without stems. Seeds appear on flowering arrows and remain viable in soil for up to 11 years. Hulling is the best way to control plantains.

Weeds with a fibrous root system

These weeds are less common. These include caustic buttercup and large plantain. They are found in gardens, vegetable gardens, on roadsides. These weeds are propagated by seeds.

Read the third part of the article: Weed control methods

Weeds in the garden and vegetable garden:

• Sources of blockage in the beds
• Weed species
• Weed control methods