Noxious weed

A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is harmful to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or livestock. Most noxious weeds have been introduced into an ecosystem by ignorance, mismanagement, or accident. Some noxious weeds are native, though many localities define them as necessarily being non-native. Typically they are plants that grow aggressively, multiply quickly without natural controls (native herbivores, soil chemistry, etc.), and display adverse effects through contact or ingestion. Noxious weeds are a large problem in many parts of the world, greatly affecting areas of agriculture, forest management, nature reserves, parks and other open space.

Many noxious weeds have come to new regions and countries through contaminated shipments of feed and crop seeds or were intentionally introduced as ornamental plants for horticultural use.

Some "noxious weeds", such as ragwort, produce copious amounts of nectar, valuable for the survival of bees and other pollinators, or other advantages like larval host foods and habitats. In the US, wild parsnip Pastinaca sativa, for instance, provides large tubular stems that some bee species hibernate in, larval food for two different swallowtail butterflies, and other beneficial qualities.

Some noxious weeds are harmful or poisonous to humans, domesticated grazing animals, and wildlife. Open fields and grazing pastures with disturbed soils and open sunlight are often more susceptible. Protecting grazing animals from toxic weeds in their primary feeding areas is therefore important. There are marine, terrestrial, and parasitic noxious weeds.

Some guidelines to prevent the spread of noxious weeds are:

Maintaining control of noxious weeds is important for the health of habitats, livestock, wildlife, and native plants, and of humans of all ages. How to control noxious weeds depends on the surrounding environment and habitats, the weed species, the availability of equipment, labor, supplies, and financial resources. Laws often require that noxious weed control funding from governmental agencies must be used for eradication, invasion prevention, or native habitat and plant community restoration project scopes.

Insects and fungi have long been used as biological controls of some noxious weeds and more recently nematodes have also been used.

According to control experts, there are chemical, physical ways, and environmental ways of eradicating noxious weeds. Those include pulling the entire weed out of the ground, spraying herbicide if it's a large area, and using machines to turn over the soil. According to farmers, using goats can prove a more ecological way of getting rid of noxious weeds, instead of using herbicide. Also, overplanting a native species is a long term solution in eradicating noxious weeds.