Send in a Weed Spotter Post.

Jim Creager, Harrison, AR, Natural Lawn
1/15/04: Henbit, mouseear chickweed. Just looking over a few lawns and finding some of that pretty stuff with purple tops that make us all money. A little early this mild winter.

Michael LaClaire, Manchester, NH,
LaClaire & Son's Landscaping
7/11/03: Purple nutsedge in a lot of lawns around my customers, and all over my Little League fields I maintain.

J. D. Duboise, Valdosta, GA, Quality Irrigation & Landscapes
2/16/03: Germinated already: henbit, lawn burweed, annual bluegrass, sweet vernal grass. Fla. betony always a winter problem.

Matt Patterson, Indianapolis, IN, Great Outdoors Turfscape
10/10/2002: Winter annual broadleafs including chickweed and speedwell veronica are now germinating in thin areas of turf damaged by this Summer's drought. Poa annua has also germinated.

Bill Brink, Indianapolis, IN, Great Outdoors TurfScapes
8/26/2002: Spurge and purslane infestations occuring in bare soils and drought stressed turf. Crabgrass breakthrough where turf is thin and where proper mowing and edging heigth has not been followed.

P.S. to Diane's Landscaping...check out lesser celadine as your April weed. Marsh Marigold is a well behaved wetland wildflower, the lesser celadine is obnoxious early in the year here in central IN.

Michael Smith, Beechmont, KY,
Greenview Turf & Ornamental Management, Inc.
7/21/2002: Our turf maintenance crews recently encountered a weed that had to be identified through our local coop - stinging nettles. They encountered it by trimming in some low lying areas that we're once bottom lands but have been developed into parks. This is a bad weed. Not only does it come on fast, looks awful in a lawn, but it also creates burning and blistering of the skin if you come in contact with it. At least one of our people had to seek medical attention within 24 hours after having gotten some on his face. Research this one now, and be familiar with its appearance and habitat needs.

Steven Howe, Oxford, KS
6/12/2002: Bristly greenbriar is fierce in southern Kansas this spring. I have seen leaves 9+ inches across and growth rates of 3" per day.

Rod Smith, Las Vegas, NV, Cashman Field
6/5/2002: Bermuda grass is kicking into high gear in planters around the Baseball Field.

Michael Smith, Beechmont, KY,
Greenview Turf and Ornamental Management, Inc.
5/17/2002: Crabgrass has already began to show up in lawns with thin or bare areas, as well as in landscape beds. I've also seen Virginia button weed in one location. White dutch clover has almost gotten out of hand in our clients lawns, as we're behind on our weed control programs due to an enormous amount of rain in April; which also interfered with our pre-emergent shcedule - it either washed away or failed to be applied, even after we started ahead of shcedule this year.

Terence Grimes, Philadelphia, PA, Bala Golf Club
5/1/2002: Yellow nutsedge is starting to rear its ugly, hard to control head out of the ground. I haven't noticed it in any turf plots, but I've seen it starting to come out of bare soil areas out on our course.

Diane Cooper, Clayton, IN, Diane's Landscaping
4/24/2002: Marsh Marigold is everywhere in Indianapolis, IN.

Chris Kelly, Wilber, NE, Saline County Weed Control
4/8/2002: This is the perfect time to look out for Musk thistle rosettes in lawns. You can see the round rosette hugging the ground. This particular plant will bolt in about a few weeks, however frequent mowing will most likely prevent this plant from going to seed. Musk thistle or nodding thistle is a forb and a biennial. Its head is solitary, terminal with 1 to 2 heads on upper branches. The flower is rose to purple with leaves alternate;blades simple. Stems are erect and highly branched. The root structure is a taproot. This weed is on many state noxious weeds lists. For those who have rural lawns, now would an excellent time to look for other weeds like leafy spurge, ground ivy, and prostrate spurge. Early May would be a good time to think about Spring fertilizing.

Nate Miller, Indianola, IA, Pro-Turf
4/2/2002: As a result of the mild weather we are seeing a lot of weed pressure already this year as I am sure most firms are. It looks like henbit is going to be particularly bad this year. We are already seeing it on lawns that didn't previously have it.

Mary Ketchersid, College Station, TX,
Texas Cooperative Field Extension
4/1/2002: Branched Broomrape - Federal Noxious weed spreading in Texas. Branched broomrape is a parasitic plant that attacks many broadleaf plants. It blooms March to May. Please be on the lookout for this harmful plant. No good selective control measure has been found. See the following website for details and photographs:
http://agenvsafety.tamu.edu/mary/brmrape/brmrape.htm