A plant that causes economic losses or ecological damage – it creates economic health problems for animals or humans, grows in a place where it is not wanted is known as a weed. There are different types of weeds like noxious weed, invasive weed, and perennial weed.
Any plant that the local government or officials have claimed is dangerous to public health is known as a noxious weed. It may be harmful to wildlife also.
Weeds that are non-native invaders lack natural competitors or enemies to remove their growth. It allows them to overrun native plants, displace species and change the ecosystems. These weeds are known as invasive weeds.
Perennial weeds come back after a year, and it is more difficult to remove them. New weeds can break off from any plant and remain in the soil. So you ought to get rid of these weeds right now.
Weeds produce flowers. Therefore, the soil must be suitable to ensure healthy plant growth. We have different types of red flowering weeds in our garden. Some of the well-known ones are:
Types of Weeds With Red Flowers
While you may get a variety of weeds in your garden, weeds with red flowers may attract you. Please remember that you need to pull them because they are still weeds.
1. Scarlet Pimpernel
Scientifically known: Anagallis arvensis.
The Scarlet Pimpernel has large square-shaped stems. The leaves of this flower are light-green and oval, forming pairs at intervals on their stems.
For the growth of this flower, we need to have damp soil and conditions favorable to get damp soil. They are plants with a short life span, so they cannot live more than a year. If you have a highly maintained garden lawn, you may not find them.
Scarlet pimpernel plants are an obstacle in neglected lawns because it needs to be taken care of during daylight. It closes its petals by night. The weeds can be eradicated by regular mowing. Sometimes, even a weed killer should control this weed, but it should be repeated after six weeks.
This plant is generally found in agricultural land, ornamental landscape beds, turf, water body margins, and other disturbed open areas. If it is consumed, it can be harmful to the life of livestock as well as humans. It is proven to be toxic.
2. Tropical Milkweed
Scientifically: Asclepias curassavica
This flower is known by different names like red-head cotton bush and blood flower. It is Mexican butterfly weed and scarlet milkweed. The plant is natively grown in Central America and is usually an ornamental plant. Though it is grown as an ornamental plant, it can be found in the fields, pastures, and on roadsides.
The weed of this plant is lovely. It is of eye-catching orange color and grows inside a flower with red petals. It seems like another set of petals facing the flower’s center.
Because it produces flowers and luxuriant green leaves throughout the growing season, this plant appeals to both people and monarch butterflies. When tropical milkweed is planted in temperate regions that don’t freeze to death in the winter, it causes problems. Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, or OE for short, is a protozoan parasite that can fly with monarch butterflies to plants and then deposit itself on leaves.
This way, the monarch population feeds on fresh, parasite-free foliage every summer.
In contrast, tropical milkweeds remain evergreen throughout winter as OE levels build up on the plant as time passes by.
The flower grows about 3-4 feet tall with simple stems or branches with narrow green leaves. They are pointed at both ends growing up to 6 inches in length. Tropical milkweed can be grown by cutting, but it is easier to grow from the seed. It would be best if you planted the seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before the last frost to get the flowers earlier.
Plant from the seeds sown outdoors may not bloom until late summer or early rainfall. To improve germination, we should soak the seeds for twenty-four hours before planting the plant. This plant can be easily transplanted when young because of its long taproot. This species is usually reseeded if the pods developed are not removed.
3. Red Witchweed
Scientifically known: Striga Asiatica
The plant is natively grown in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It is a plant widely cultivated worldwide, particularly in Australia and the United States. It is a parasitic weed that grows upon certain types of grass. The weed grows up to 12 inches tall, with hairy green stems and narrow leaves about an inch tall.
The weed produces tiny red flowers, which may also sometimes be purple in color or occasionally yellow. The color of the flower may vary.
We don’t need an introduction to this plant as it is difficult to control it by any means and may cause several losses in the fields and pastures.
The following methods can control the weeds:
- Hand pulling and hoe-weeding
- Intercropping of cereals with legumes
- Use of trap crops in rotation with cereals
- By using inorganic N fertilizer and animal manure
4. Common Poppy
Scientifically known: Papaver rhoeas
The Common Poppy is the most common plant with broadleaf weed. You will often see it in grassland and pastures. It has generally been seen in the northern hemisphere that weeds turn into flowers in the latter part of the spring. It grows well in sunny weather and requires well-drained, fertile soil.
Each flower consists of four overlapping petals and a black spot on it. Common Poppy plants grow up to 400 flowers and are covered with coarse hair. The weeds are spread by seeds that are contained in egg-shaped capsules.
More than eight years can pass before it germinates in the soil. After germination, the plant flowers take about four weeks to ripen and shed.
China, Taiwan, and Singapore all forbid the use of poppy seeds. Because they contain opiate traces, seeds with them are forbidden because it shows a false positive test in a drug test. Poppies are used to create morphine. It is made from the milky latex seed head of the opium poppy. In addition to being a desirable plant grown in gardens, the opium poppy is a species of the plant from which opium and poppy seeds are generated.
5. Crimson Clover
Scientifically known: Trifolium Incarnatum
Crimson clover is also known as Italian clover and scarlet clover. This crop is raised during the cold season and serves as a grazing crop for cattle and other livestock.
In some places, it has replaced the vegetation that was already present—crimson clover blooms in the spring and summer.
The weed is 10–13mm long and contains tiny red flowers. Each flower has five petals, and they grow in clusters to make the head of the plant. Each leaflet is heart-shaped and hairy.
The cluster consists of about 40-50 flowers and grows up to 8-20 inches tall. It has a long petiole that joins the stem to the leaves. The crimson clover’s roots help prevent soil erosion and help build up the soil.
Its soil prevents the nutrients from being eroded. It allows more precipitation in the soil, thereby enriching the soil for the future growth of the crops. It brings up the nutrients from the soil to the plant, thereby enriching its growth.
6. Red Sorrel
Scientific name: Rumex acetosella
Field sorrel and sour weed are other names for red sorrel. It is a species brought to the United States from Eurasia and the British Isles. There, it spreads widely.
The control of the Red Sorrel plant is difficult as it is a noxious weed spread by rhizomes and seeds. The seeds can remain in the soil for about 25 years and grow from the fragments of the weeds if we do not remove the roots and rhizome system.
The plant leaves are small, arrowhead-shaped, and grow in a rosette. They are edible with a tart flavor that is the same as sour apples or lemons. The grazing of livestock is secure, nevertheless. Oxalic acid, which has a considerable consumption, is present in high concentrations in the weed.
In soils with little or no nutrients, the plant grows. So, if we find red sorrel growing in more quantity in the garden than other plants, it is better to check the pH. If it is acidic, we can make the necessary changes to grow different other plants we want.
Conclusion
We can control the growth of weed before it becomes a problem. Getting rid of weeds early on is possible. As soon as we see a weed appearing, we should pull it off or cut it down, so it doesn’t spread. It is easy to pull it off when we have damp soil, especially after rainfall.
We should regularly monitor the garden to stop its growth. Your gardening tool should be kept clean as you move from one area to the other on the lawn.
