A Great Year for Winter Annuals

Jerry Doll Extension Weed Scientist

We are seeing an abundance of several winter annual weeds this spring perhaps due in part to the mild winters the past two years. Chickweeds abound in many areas and I’ve seen the more smallflower buttercup this spring than ever before. Much of the shepherd’s purse in older hay fields will shed their seeds as the forage is harvested so if producers with some in their fields this year can expect even more next year unless these fields are rotated to corn or other crops.

Michigan is seeing a bumper crop of henbit and an increase in purple deadnettle (both in the mint family). Driving through Ohio in early April, I saw untilled fields that were purple with henbit and deadnettle. Henbit probably occurs in most of Wisconsin, but to date no serious outbreaks have been reported. I saw the first sample of purple deadnettle in the state this spring (from a flower garden) and with the abundance of deadnettle in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, it could easily appear in fields here as well.

Regardless of the type of winters we have, I believe the absence of fall tillage will continue to foster increases in winter annual weeds. So what we are seeing now will probably be repeated in the future which means that early season field scouting will become ever more important.

May 2002