Why You Should Leave Weed Control for the Experts

Weed control is important but to explain the importance of weed control, we must start by defining it. Weeds are unwanted plants that generally appear in crops, thus limiting their development and growth. In addition, weeds often appear in other areas unexpectedly, caused by rain or by similar soil characteristics, and interfere with human activities in both cultivable and non-cultivable areas. Weeds tend to be difficult to eradicate and in many cases, a weed control service is necessary.

Weeds, as they are also called, are part of a complex of pests that can attack crops, compete with them for light, water, space, and nutrients, weaken production systems, and directly affect industrial and commercial processes.

The negative impact of weeds

Plants that act as weeds tend to behave very competitively, have high genetic variability that gives them great adaptive capacity, and have the ability to colonize bare soil, therefore they become pests that are sometimes difficult to eradicate. They are less susceptible to disease and germinate easily with lower moisture and temperature requirements.

Some weeds can be poisonous, making them a danger to animals that graze on the land. These plants are considered unsightly, especially in parks, gardens, and various other natural areas.

Due to their abundant growth, they can block light from other plants, and some have thorns and/or chemicals that cause skin irritation in humans.

Characteristics of weed-free crops

Crops exposed to weed control procedures have a set of characteristics that are favorable for their development:

Better resistance control

Correct leaf distribution

Healthy root/aerial ratio

Increased light absorption

Improved fertilizer efficiency

Preventing the presence of other pests

Weeds negatively affect the area where they appear in the wild, and their presence can affect future cropland, if proper procedures are not taken, they can spread off-site and threaten other land in the vicinity.

Is an expert really necessary?

A lot depends on the size of your land, what crops you are growing, and the commercial goals you are aiming for by planting. However, in most cases, weeds are definitely a nuisance to the owner, and having an established weed management system is important.

There are several methods of weed control but for us, these four are the most important. They are preventive, cultural, mechanical, organic, and chemical methods.

Preventive methods usually include purchasing high-quality seeds with high resistance to weeds, filtering irrigation water (which may carry weed seeds), and compost management to minimize the growth of weed seeds. Cultural methods usually include crop rotation, selection of large seeds, shallow planting with the aim of accelerating crop growth, favoring weed-resistant species, and so on.

Mechanical methods refer to physical efforts to eradicate weeds, ranging from the use of hands to simple farm tools. Organic methods involve the enemies of weeds, such as letting sheep clear the land naturally before planting, and chemical methods refer to the use of pesticides to kill weeds directly.

All of the above weed control methods are very difficult, if not impossible, for most landowners to implement. Each method has its own stages and it can be very complicated and time-consuming to go through each stage correctly. Hiring an expert to prevent and eradicate weeds is the most sensible option, both in terms of efficiency and cost.