Weeds cause grief in many ways — stealing yield, water and nutrients, or complicating harvest by staying green or staining the crop. But some weed species are much nastier than others (who hasn’t been stung by stinging nettle?), and a few problem species are spreading in places like Ontario, B.C and Manitoba.
Far worse than a bee-sting-like-bite from a nettle, wild parsnip has recently injured several children, sometimes severely, in Ontario, and more than a few farmers have had eye and skin irritations and even burns following ditch mowing.
Read More: Identifying wild parsnip vs. other similar weed species
While the weed is getting major attention in the Ottawa Valley right now, it is actually found in every province, says eastern Ontario independent agronomist Gilles Quesnel. Quesnel has been active on social media alerting farmers to the dangers of this weed, how to avoid injury and how to slow its spread. Follow @GillesQuesnel on Twitter for more updates. .
Burning skin blisters after mowing the ditch bank? Likely you had contact with wild parsnip, not poison ivy. #ontag pic.twitter.com/UMDiQgbp9I
— Gilles Quesnel (@GillesQuesnel) July 23, 2015
Good news, mature wild parsnip starting to die-off. Bad news, next year’s crop doing well in bottom of canopy #ontag pic.twitter.com/QodI5nd2Xn
— Gilles Quesnel (@GillesQuesnel) July 27, 2015
.@realag_lyndsey Best option for wild parsnip control is Truvist applied late May, early June. #ontag pic.twitter.com/MuRQQcKEAw
— Gilles Quesnel (@GillesQuesnel) July 27, 2015
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