Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County

Horticulture

Weeds

Regular Old Annoying Weeds

Most common weeds can be controlled with shade. Physical removal, nutrient management, or competition. When these methods do not work, often there is a need for chemical herbicides. Be sure when applying herbicides that only the target plant is impacted, and to follow all the direction on the chemical's label. Keep children and pets away from the sprayed are until the chemical has dried or been absorbed into the plant.

Invasive Weeds

What are invasive weeds?

Invasive weeds are non-native plants that establish themselves in an ecosystem, then out compete or overrun existing vegetation. The result is usually a monoculture, only the invasie plant grows there. Native vegetation is unable to re-establish, and the biodiversity in the area goes down. As the native species are pushed out, food for insects, birds, mammals, amphibians and fish slowly disappears. There are usually no native animal species that feed on invasive plants, and the problem usually gets worse until humans intervene.

Where do Invasive Weeds come from?

Many invasive weeds originate as garden plants brought over from Europe or Asia. The invasive tendancies are not know until it is too late, or the plants are abandonded. Some Invasive Weeds come from accidental introductions, seed shipped on cargo or carried by wildlife. This is often how Invasive Insect species come to America.

There is an unofficial list of the Invasive Weeds for New York created by the Invasive Plant Council of New York State, http://www.ipcnys.org/. Since this is not an offical list, it has no legal ramifications. Hopefully people will take it on their own to remove these Invasives.

The Top 20 Invasive Plant of New York are:

Black locust - Robinia pseudoacacia
Black swallow-wort - Cynanchum species:
      C. nigrum and C. rossicum
Buckthorn species:
      Common buckthorn - Rhamnus cathartica
      Smooth buckthorn - Rhamnus frangula
Common reed - Phragmites australis
Curly pondweed - Potamogeton crispus
Elaeagnus species:
      Autumn olive - E. umbellata
      Russian olive - E. angustifolia
Eurasian water milfoil - Myriophyllum spicatum
Garlic mustard - Alliaria petiolata
Honeysuckles (non-native shrub species), including:
      Fly honeysuckle - Lonicera morrowii
      Tartarian honeysuckle - Lonicera tatarica
Japanese barberry - Berberis thunbergii
Japanese honeysuckle - Lonicera japonica
Japanese knotweed - Polygonum cuspidatum
Japanese stilt grass - Microstegium vimineum
Multiflora rose - Rosa multiflora
Norway maple - Acer platanoides
Oriental bittersweet - Celastrus orbiculatus
Porcelain-berry - Ampelopsis brevipedunculata
Purple loosestrife - Lythrum salicaria
Spotted or bushy knapweed - Centaurea maculosa
Water chestnut - Trapa natans

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This page was last updated on Wednesday, January 17, 2007

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