Invasive Weeds

Invasive Weeds

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Noxious weeds. I chatted with Natural Resources Specialist Kent McAdoo at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, I learned a lot. "Invasive weeds pose a problem no matter who you are, they typically outcompete with more desirable vegetation, the vegetation that we value for anything from livestock to wildlife habitat to the landscape vegetation that we like as recreationists. Weeds also outcompete some of our better soil holding native vegetation. No matter what your walk in life invasive weeds can be a big problem. They particularly can be a challenge during drought years just because they are so highly adaptable to tough conditions. That means poor soils were in the case we are talking about drought with less precipitation and so on just by their very nature they are competitive. They will occupy the space and use up the resources, the nutrients, the sun's energy, water more quickly and more competitively than native and or other desirable vegetation. When we talk about invasive weeds give me some names. Are we talking cheat grass and goat head? Invasive weeds are those that are very highly competitive. Cheat grass is a great example. Goat heads are another example. The true definition of a weed is just a plant out of place. When you talk about technical definitions of weeds, anytime we call something a noxious weed, typically they are tough enough and aggressive enough out there on the landscape that various states have classified them as noxious and they are very difficult to get rid of.
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