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the trouble with hawkweed | (Read 107 times) |
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paul wheaton
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Posts: 1339
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July 14, 2008, 08:18:19 PM |
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I remember some folks getting pretty freaked out about hawkweed. Aparently, it is considered a terrible weed.
Could somebody please be so kind as to help me understand why it is so feared? Does it kill other plants or something?
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Arthur Lee Jacobson
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Posts: 19
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August 05, 2008, 09:01:11 AM |
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In any large genus, expect that some species will be thought hurtful or weedy; some benign; some desired. So it is with Hieracium. Seattle has the native woodland wildflower White Hawkweed H. albiflorum, that is weak and particular as to its growing conditions. Two yellow-flowered European species are also present. The first, usually called Spotted Hawkweed, H. maculatum, is technically really H. spilophaeum 'Leopard'. It grows in shade, and has handsome purple mottling on its blue-green leaves; bright yellow flowers make it prized by some gardeners for its beauty. The second is Savoy Hawkweed, H. sabaudum, that blooms in late summer or fall, and grows tall. It is lovely, too. Finally, we have Orange Hawkweed, H. aurantiacum (also called Pilosella aurantiaca), with fiery flowers. Its hybrid H. stoloniflorum is rare but here. These two orange-flowered species spread bu strawberry-like runners.
In my garden I have cultivated all of those. They are lovely, and edible, being mildly bitter. But the Weed Police consider them noxious weeds. The major flaw with Washington State noxious weed laws is it fails to distingush between the gigantic differences between, say, an eastern Washington farm, and a Puget Sound garden. Some plants that thrive on one side of the mountains scarcely survive on the other side. In Seattle, hawkweeds are not serious weeds --dozens of others, dandelions included, are more vexing.
Arthur Lee Jacobson
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1339
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August 07, 2008, 10:08:20 AM |
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I can understand concern about some weeds, like leafy spurge or knapweed (which poisons the plants around it) or canadian thistle or bindweed. These are so invasive that once they get started, they can be really hard to find something to outcompete them. They can dominate an area pretty thoroughly.
I've only seen yellow hawkweed and orange hawkweed.
I guess I don't understand the panic. Will hawkweed dominate an area? The plant seems so tiny and low to the ground. It seems to like only the poorest soils, so it seems like a great indicator of where there are poor soils.
Is it toxic in some way?
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kelda
Posts: 263
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August 19, 2008, 06:10:14 PM |
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Like Arthur was saying, the Weed Police may consider it toxic in an Eastern Washington farm. I've heard of this happening if livestock will eat the plant and get sick or die.
But the thing is, a grazing animal won't eat something that makes them sick unless the land management is horrid. This happens when ranchers don't rotationally graze or they have too many animals for their site. Instead of addressing the larger issue, the Dept of Resources or someone, blames the plant that is actually the symptom of the problem.
Hawkweed's presence is just a symptom of disturbed soils.
Just like a lot of other so called 'noxious weeds'.
There's a communication gap between the people who put weeds on the 'bad' list and the native plant enthusiasts in this situation who may assume that it Ruins ecosystems. While there's nothing wrong with being a native plant enthusiast, why put energy fighting the hawkweed when energy can be better spent fixing the whole ecosystem?
This was especially apparent to me when I saw that the native horsetail is on some 'toxic weed' lists. It's a native plant for goodness sake!! And if there's horrid, poorly drained pasturage than it will come in, and I suspect livestock will get sick from it. (I'm guessing all these connections, so anyone feel free to correct me).
It's the 'nature' bad guy, not the humans-as-bad-managers paradigm. Often we Should just say 'oops' and learn to correct our management.
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Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593
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August 27, 2008, 06:34:28 AM |
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But the thing is, a grazing animal won't eat something that makes them sick unless the land management is horrid.
That is not necessarily true. some practice an intense rotational grazing system that stocks animals high and moves them often and gives extended rest to the grazing area. This creates competition in the herd and less selective eating. The advantage of this is that the animals (cows or goats in this situation) eat the less favored items and not just pick out their favorite. Otherwise animals slowly can kill out favored plant species and allow others to flourish (probably how part of how native species can become invasive). If you think about the giant herds of bison that roamed the plains you will remember that they trampled and ate almost everything in their way and then moved on allowing the grasses to recover until they migrated back through. Intensive grazing mimics this. I think if you were attempting that system an invasive and toxic plant would be pretty scary, although I don't know about the toxicity of hawkweed specifically.
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Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford
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