The Horticulture team at University of Minnesota Extension has launched a new weed identification and management tool. The Web site can be accessed from University of Minnesota Extension’s Gardening Info page, or directly at www.extension.umn.edu/gardeninfo/weedid/ [1].

Although many publications are available on the University of Minnesota Extension Web page, there were no tools available to help identify an unknown plant. Without assistance in identifying that plant, gardeners have a hard time managing it. This may result in unnecessary application of herbicides, application of incorrect herbicides, poor timing of control strategies, wasted time, and wasted money and effort.

The Web site is designed to provide a user-friendly, Web-based weed identification tool titled ‘Is this Plant a Weed?’ for use by everyone — home gardeners, master gardener volunteers, landscape managers, Extension educators and others in the North Central region.

The Web site focuses on identifying pest plant species in the yard and garden including common lawn and landscape weeds, invasive and noxious herbaceous plants, and invasive and noxious woody plants. The 56 weeds highlighted in the Web site are common to this area, thereby eliminating the often extraneous weeds encountered in guides published for national distribution.

The Web site allows gardeners to follow several simple steps to identify the weed. The pest plant identification pages contain key descriptive phrases about each weed with accompanying photographs. A link from the Web site leads users to a new publication that discusses different weed control strategies.