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Weed Identification, Management Comes Right to the Field

Purple Loostrife

For a farmer, weeds can be more than just an eye sore.  They can take over a field and cause devastating damage to the crop. When an unknown plant pops up in a field, farmers can consult the Ontario weeds database to see what they are dealing with.

OMAFRA’s weed specialists and other staff are key contributors to the database.  When trying to identify an unknown weed, farmers can simply input key words in the on-line database based on the appearance of the plant – is it shiny? Hairy? Smelly?  The database will take the information and provide a list, with photos, of possibilities.  The search will also provide you related links and more – including any human health issues with the plant and biological control methods.  Depending on the weed, you will even find some recipes.

If a weed can’t be found in the database, farmers can take a photo of it and submit it.  OMAFRA’s weed specialists, together with researchers at the University of Guelph, Sir Wilfred Laurier University and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), will do their best to identify it.

Over the past summer, more than 10,000 visits were made to the database.

Once the weed has been identified, the farmer needs to know what to do about it.  That’s where Weed Pro comes in. 

Weed Pro 75 is an online herbicide selection tool that focuses on profitability and environmental stewardship. It is a joint project between OMAFRA, AAFC, the Agricultural Adaptation Council, and the Grain Farmers of Ontario.  It allows farmers to benefit from extensive research done across North America on competitive weed species.  And it allows them to do it from their smart phone.

By entering a few pieces of basic information – crop, crop technology, yield and the weed present – Weed Pro provides options for dealing with it.  Options take into account costs and environmental considerations, and the economic threshold of eradicating the weed. Sometimes, the recommendation may be to do nothing about a particular weed.