What's Up, Buttercup?
and other troublesome weeds for this time of year

There are a number of weeds that laid low in the fall and are now or soon to be becoming more noticeable. Here are a few of them with some ideas on how to identify them.

1. Buttercup

• Perennial, flowers are bright and shiny yellow with a single flower on a stalk.



Buttercup (photo credit Virginia Tech Weed Identification)

• Identify when plant is young as lobed leaves, thickened stem base (there is sometimes a bulb-like form at the stem base) and occasionally hairy stems
• It will seem like nothing is there and suddenly there's this really big field coated in this glossy yellow flower. It was there for awhile, just making a low profile.

2. Henbit 

Annual with square-ish stems and "pretty" purple flowers (as soon as someone says "pretty purple flowers" in the winter I think of henbit) Leaves look frilly -- they remind me of a pretty shirt collar Fibrous root system, plant grows in a clump Leaves often darken as plant matures

Henbit (photo credit Virginia Tech Weed ID)

3. Chickweed

• Chickweed is an annual (common chickweed) or perennial (mouseear chickweed) that is often found alongside henbit. Think of them as best buds.
• Flowers are small and white and leaves and stems may be hairy, depending on the type of chickweed.
• Tip of the leaf may be more pointed in some types of chickweed than others (hairier chickweeds are normally more blunt on the leaf tip)

  

  Common Chickweed (photo credit Virginia Tech Weed ID)

Mouseear Chickweed (photo credit Virginia Tech Weed ID)

There are often different types of any weed in one area. Contact your local NC Cooperative Extension Agent for additional help in weed identification and in help on weed control. Herbicide options will depend on the crop and weed maturity. Proper identification is critical to proper control. A reminder that weeds may be further along in one area than another so you may see some henbit flowering now in one pasture but may not see it flowering in another or you may not see them all flowering at the same time.