How do I tell what is a weed or a plant......??????

I planted so many new things by seed last fall that I cant tell what is the weed or a new seedling coming up. I am in soooo much trouble if I dont get the weeds under control. Last year our compost that we ordered was fulllll of weed seeds and I have been battleing it ever since.

I was hoping that their would be a site with pics of how certain seeds look as they are just coming up......is there anything out there like that?

Thanks guys....
Lesh

Hi Alesha! The first pair of leaves that come up from the seed are very similar for lots of plants. I think you'll have to wait until the weed seedlings grow their second pair of leaves, to be able to identifty the plant.

If your garden is anything like mine, the seedlings that come up first and grow the strongest are usually the weeds!

I don't know of any weed websites, but you could look in your library or bookstore for a Field Guide to weeds for your area. Wait, my memory is nudging me: I think the US Dept. of Ag has some kind of local advice service, what's it called...Extension, or something like that - check the government section of your phone book. Maybe they have a pamphlet on UT weeds.

thanks for the info. Ill have to look hopefully they have something.....man i hate weeds. :(
lesh

Here's one source.

http://www.weeds.iastate.edu/weed-id/weedid.htm

alesha801
I have a 100% sure fire way
of determaning what is weeds and what is GOOD plants .

'Place 2 fingers around new leaves .
Pull gently on these leaves.
If they come out easily , It`s a good plant .
If it`s hard or impossible to pull out IT`S a Weed .'

That is awesome information. I love it. Thanks so much......Lesh

a weed is just a matter of perspective
I bought a book on kansas weeds, it's put out by a university in the state, slanted to an agricultural perspective of course, and can you believe that the state flower, the sunflower is listed as a weed?
I was looking for a book on weeds when I went to my local prairie and native plant nursery and asked for a book on weeds and the clerk informed me that in the opinions of one of the owner's of the nursery there was no such thing as a weed.
I have a beautiful looking tree or shrub that I just loved and wanted to get another one of but couldn't figure out what it was. Finally a nursery knew and told me it was tamarisk or salt cedar and that they quit growing it. So I looked it up on the web and saw that congress had just appropriated millions of dollars to eradicate it from the western states. it isn't invasive here. go figure.

Dear Alesha,

I sympathize with you. I planted River Lupine under a faucet in the front yard. Unfortunately the next day it rained. I have hundreds of seedlings poking up all over the area and I have no idea what is Lupine and what isn't. They already have their second leaves but I still can't tell the difference. This leads me to believe that either they are all weeds or they are all River Lupine...LOL.

Thanks,

Chuck

Hi Lesh,

Here's a website with pictures of seedlings:

http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/index.html

Hopefully, if you can identify which ones are the good guys, then the rest could be assumed to be weeds. But, when I was just starting out, I'd leave at least one of any I was curious about until I knew what it was - sometimes there'd be something I liked, like purple leaved perilla (which can self-sow mighty peskily, if you're not partial to it).

Karen
(oops - edited to address to Lesh instead of Chuck)

This message was edited Apr 27, 2007 7:05 AM

There are 175 weeds (?) on this site, lots of pictures of each.
http://weedid.aces.uiuc.edu/