Integrated Pest Management

                 Invasive non-native plants are a serious threat to native species, communities, and ecosystems in many areas around the world. Integrated Weed Management (IWM) uses all available weed control strategies in the best possible way to manage weed populations. Such strategies include cultural, biological, mechanical and chemical methods of weed control.

BROAD LEAVED WEEDS

Eclipta alba

False Daisy (Bhrangraj or Angda)

• A diffuse erect with many branches, rooting at the lower nodes.
• The leaves variable, shortly petiole, oblong, tapering into a very short petiole.
• Disc flowers with campanulate limb exceeding the short narrow tube.

Ageratum conyzoides

Bill Goat Weed (Kakrandha or Mahakua or Sarhand)

• Ageratum bears slightly larger flowers which remain sky blue even at maturity.
• The germination occurs between June & October with maximum growth during March & April.
• The seed are disseminated by wind, water and machinery.

Commelina benghalensis

Commelina (Kana)

• It is erect, annual/perennial plant found in shaded waste areas. LEAF MATURE SHAPE: Ovate/Lanceolate 
  EDGE: Smooth ; ARRANGEMENT: Alternately 
  HAIR UPPER SURFACE: None 
  HAIR LOWER SURFACE: None 
  WIDTH: 1.1 - 1.5 to Less than inches
  FLOWER COLOR: Blue 
  

Physalis minima 

Ground cherry plant (Chirpoti or Rasbhari)

• Ground cherries are bushy summer annual or perennial broadleaf weeds. 
• Cotyledons are yellow-green to gray-green. 
• First leaves are oval to triangular, have smooth or slightly wavy margins, and a strong odor when crushed. 
• Mature plants have erect, hairy stems that form many branches. 
• Leaves may be oval, triangular, or lance-shaped, and have toothed, smooth, or wavy margins depending on species and growing conditions. 
• The narrow bell-shaped flowers have five lobes and are yellow or whitish with yellow, green, or purple centers.

Portulaca oleracea

Purslane (Jangali Palak or Nonia)

• The reddish stems originate from a central rooting point, radiating out like spokes of a wheel. 

• The stems vary in length, commonly up to 12 inches.
• Leaves are stalk less, oval, smooth, succulent, and shiny, and vary from 1/2 to 2 inches in length. 
• Small (3/8 inch), five-petal-ed, yellow flowers are borne singly in leaf axils and open only in sunshine.

Solanum nigrum

Black Night Shade (Makoi)

•  Black nightshade plants vary greatly in form and color. 
• Seed leaves of black nightshade are elongate-oval and pointed; the first true leaves are spade-shaped with smooth edges. 
• Lower surfaces are often purple. Berries turn from green to black when mature and the calyx covers only a small part of the fruit surface. Petioles, stems, and leaves have some hairs but are not densely hairy or sticky. 
  

Xanthium strumarium 

Cocklebur or Burweed (Gokhru or Bichu Ghas)

• True leaves on seedlings are notched on the margins and taper to the tip.
• Cotyledons are bright green, shiny on the upper surface, pointed, and about 6 times longer than wide.
• Mature plants have thick, highly branched, fleshy stems with purple or black spots. 
• Leaves are lobed, triangular, coarsely toothed, and are borne on long stalks. 
• The plant produces clusters of green male flowers at the top.

Amaranthus spinosus

Spiny Amaranth (Kateli Chauli)

• Spiny amaranth are annual plants that germinate from seeds from late winter through summer.

• Seed leaves are long and narrow and are often red underneath. Leaves have distinctive light colored edges. 

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Achyranthus aspera

Snake's Tail or Prickly Chaff Flower (Chirchita or Lathzeera)

• Erect or ascending herbs or shrubs; leaves opposite, the blades entire.

• Flowers are hermaphrodite, solitary in axils of acute.                                

Amaranthus viridis

Wild Amaranth (Janglee Chauli)

• Monocots annual herbs;

• Stems erect or occasionally ascending, 1-8 (-10) dm long, sparingly to densely branched.

• Leaves deltate-ovate to narrowly rhombic, blades 2-7 cm long.

• Flowers green, in slender, axillary or terminal and often paniculate spikes                                

Anagallis arvensis

Scarlet pimperneel (Krishna Neel) 

• A low-growing annual that resembles chickweed but has showy reddish-orange flowers.

• Leaves are opposite, oval to elliptic in outline, reaching 1 inch in length.

• Lower leaf surfaces have small dark purple spots.

• Stem are square, branching at the base, and may reach 10 inches in length.

• Solitary flowers arise from the area between the stem and leaves.                                

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Argemone mexicana

Prickly Poppy or Mexican Poppy (Satyanashi)

• It is a prickly, glabrous, branching herb with yellow juice and showy yellow flowers.

• The height of this plant varies between 0.3 to 0.12 meters.

• Leaves are thistle like. Stem clasping, Oblong                                

Bidens pilosa

Beggarstick  

• It is annual or short-lived perennial can grow up to 5 feet tall.

• Leaves are opposite, divided, 2 to 10 cm long and 1 to 3.5 cm wide. Leaf edges are toothed with the underside of leaves being hairy.

• Stems are erect or bending at the base, may root at lower nodes.

• Flowers are daisy-like, yellow center with white petal-like rays.                 

Brassica kaber

Wild Mustard  (Janglee mustard) 

• It is a Annual/Winter Annual, erect plant

• The Leaf is oblong arranged alternately.

• The flower is yellow in color and cluster.

• Lower stem stiff hairs. lower leaves irregular lobed; upper-not lobed none to short petioled.                                 

Cannabis sativa

Hemp  (Bhang) 

• It is an annual erect/bush plant.

• The leaf is linear in shape arranged opposed.

• The flower is white/green/yellow in color and very small/panicle.

• 5 to 9 leaflets. stem coarse; grooved; rough; hairy.

• Fine hairs causes plant to be sticky to touch.                                 

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Carthamus oxycantha

Wild Safflower  (Janglee Kusum) 

• Carthamus oxyacantha is a spiny-leaved annual herb up to 1.5 m tall                                

Cassia tora

Sickle Senna  (Kankor) 

Celosia argentia

Quail Grass or White Cock's Comb  (Safed Murg) 

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Chenopodium album

Dogs Tooth Grass  (Bathua) 

• The most distinguishing feature is its white mealy coating on the seedlings.

• It is a rapidly growing summer annual weed.

• Stems are erect and sturdy with freely ascending branches.

• Stems are often tinged with red or striped with pinkish, purple or yellow.

• Leaves vary in shape from triangular to ovate to lancerolate.

• Mature plants are pyramidal, have many branches and are crowded with clustered spikes of dull green flowers.

• It is propagates by seed.                                

Chenopodium murale

Nettle Leaf Goose Foot  (Khar Bathua) 

• It is the most common summer annuals.

• Leaves are fairly thick and usually shiny green on the upper surface.

• Young leaves have a moist, dewy coating, especially on the lower surfaces.

• Mature plants are up to 3 feet tall, with branches arising mostly from the base of the main stem.                                

Cichorium intybus

Chichory  (Kasni) 

• Perennial plant of daisy famiy, compositae- up to 1m

• Errect stem, glabrous, bristly ,very irregularly branched.

• Basal leaves rosette, toothed, upper ones very small with smaller tooth.

• Flowers till 4 cm, blue in color

• It is seen on dry lands, roadsides                                

Cirsium arvensis

Canada Thistle  (Katela) 

• It is a perennial broadleaved weed with creeping roots that extend up to 5 m horizontally and 6 m deep.

• The plant grow 2 to 5 feet high. Stems are slightly hairy when young and grows hairier with age.

• Leaves are alternate and oblong and stalkless.

• The flower heads are flask-shaped contain many small tubular flowers.

• Seeds are brown, smooth and slightly tapered at the end.

• It grows well where summer temperatures are moderates and rainfall and survives in all types of soil.                                

Commelina communis

Day flower  (Kenna) 

• It is erect, annual/perennial plant found in shaded waste areas.

• The alternating lanceolate leaves are between two and four inches long and are about an inch wide.

• The characteristic flowers possess two blue petals and one white petal and bloom for only one day.

• The fruit is a tiny brown capsule.                                

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Convolvulus arvensis

Field Bind Weed  (Hiran Khuri) 

• Seedlings of field bind weed are erect and sturdy.

• The seedling stem is 2.5 to 5 cm long and thick. It is smooth, shiny, green and often purple-tinged.

• When the plant is about 15 cm tall, it bends over and begins its vine-like growth.

• Flowers usually appear singly on stalks, which are about 1 inch long and each stalk has a pair of small green leaf like bracts.                              

Corchorus spp.

Corchorus  (Jangali Jute) 

Desmodium triflorum

Three Flower Beggar Weed  (Teenpatia) 

• A small prostrate annual or perennial legume with a woody taproot.

• Strongly branched stems to 50 cm frequently rooting at the nodes to form a mat.

• Trifoliate leaves with leaflets up to 12 mm long and 10 mm wide.

• Inflorescence with a cluster of 1-3 pink to purple flowers in leaf axils.                                 

Elephantopus scaber

Elephants Foot  (Samudulan) 

• Elephantopus scaber Linn. is a wild shrub about 20-40cm high and very pubescent.

• It has a basal rosette of leaves with very short and white hairy leaf stalks close to ground.                               

Euphorbia geniculata

Spurge  (Choti dudhi) 

• Annual herb.

• Stems are branched, hairy, up to 2.5 m high.

• Leaves, simple, lanceolate, narrow ovate or ovate.

• Stems and leaves have milky substance.

• Fruits capsule composed of three seeds.

• Reproduced by seeds.

• Found in upland crop fields and waste lands.                                 

Euphorbia hirta

Pill Pod Spurge  (Badi Dudhi) 

• This hairy plant grows up to 2' in height; it has numerous small flowers clustered together with opposite oblong leaves.

• The young yellow fruit is a small hairy capsule with 3 reddish - brown seeds.

• The plant flowers and fruits all year long                              

Fumaria parviflora

Fumitori  (Ban Soya or Gajri) 

• Fumitory is a somewhat erect or climbing plant.

• The flower stalks have approximately 20 white or pink-flushed flowers with blackish-red tips on the lateral petals.

• The small leaves are divided into narrow segments                               

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Indigofera galndulosa

Wild Indigo  (Janglee Neel) 

• Erect annual or perennial (short-lived), herb

• The leaves are pinnate with 5-31 leaflets, the terminal leaflet present; leaf size varies from 3-25 cm long.

• The flowers are small, produced on racemes 2-15 cm long.
                       

Ipomoea spp.

Morning Glory  (Sakla) 

• Morning glories (annual) have heart-shaped, first true leaves with deep lobes at the base.

• Seedling leaves are more deeply notched.

• Mature plants have long stems that climb and twine.

• The funnel-shaped flower varies in color, from violet or blue to pink and red.

• It is a fast-growing, usually emerge following irrigations                       

Lathyrus aphaca

Wild Pea (Junglee matar) 

Launaea nudicaulis

Wild Cauliflower  (Jangli Gobhi) 

Leucas aspera

Leucas   (Gumma) 

• An erect, hirsute herb.

• Flowers are white;

• It is common on wasteland.

• The leaf paste is applied to wounds to promote healing                    

Medicago denticulata

Bur Clover  (Janglee leucerne) 

Melilotus alba

White Sweet Clover  (Safed Senjee) 

• White sweet clover is an annual or biennia legume with a strong taproot, erect or decumbent herb.

• Stem 1 m or more tall, leaves trifoliate,

• White sweetclover 39-78" in height                     

Melilotus indica

Yellow Sweet Clover  (Peeli Senjee) 

• It is annual or sometimes biennial plant with mainly yellow flowers in spike-like racemes.

• Glabrous sweet-smelling erect herb up to 1 m high with yellow flowers and small pods.

• Stems erect or ascending, 0.3-2.8 m tall, leaves trifoliate                      

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Parthenium spp.

Wild Carrot Grass  (Gajar Ghass) 

• It is a annual plant with a profused branched root system.

• Stem is angular, profusely branched.

• Leaves are alternate, sessile, resembling that of carrot.

• The weed produces large number of white flowers through out the year.           

Phyallanthus niruri

Niruri  (Hazar Dana) 

•  Phyllanthus niruri is an annual, herb; height varies between 30-60 cm.

• Stem is angular with numerous distichous, elliptic-oblong leaves.

• Flowers are yellow and very numerous;

• Fruits capsule, very small, globose, smooth, seeds 3-gonous, longitudinally ribbed on the back.

• Seed to seed cycle occurs in two or four weeks.

• The flowering time in Indian conditions is July to August.           

Spergula  arvensis

Corn Spurry  (Satgathia) 

• It is annual, spreading by seed
• Leaves fleshy but very narrow. Stem and leaves covered with sticky hairs
• These forms irregular clumps. Can grow in a mound up to 12 inches high and 24 inches wide. Mostly seen growing between, around, and through other weeds.
• Flowers are perfect, have 5 white petals.  

Trianthema monogyna

Carpet weed  (Patharchata) 

• Herbs annual to perennial.

• Stems procumbent to ascending, often much branched.

• Leaves opposite, entire, those of a pair unequal, terete to flat, petiole broadening at base forming a sheath around stem.

• Flowers sessile or pedicellate. Perigone tube campanulate, short to long, smooth to hairy; lobes 5, inside white, green, or pink to purple, outside fleshy.            

Vernonia cinerea

Little iron weed  (Phulni) 

Vicia sativa

Common Vetch  (Gagela) 

• Occasional in waste or cultivated ground.

• Flowers c 20 mm long, leaflets c 15 mm

• Flowers usually in pairs. Calyx-teeth near-equal and all as long as the tube of the flower.

• Leaflets often with notched tip and point in the notch

• Tendrils often branched.         

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Methods of Weed Control

Cultural Control

• Summer ploughing 2-3 times and leave the field for solarization
• Solarization can be done by giving light irrigation in morning and then covering the field by polythene so that the weeds are killed due to heat effect. 
• Prepare stale seed bed and allow the weeds to germinate either by irrigation or pre monsoon shower and then killing them by shallow harrowing.
• Always use certified and weed free seeds.
• Timely sowing should be done.
• Narrow row spacing and higher seed rate is effective in reducing weed growth.
• Line sowing should be done to facilitate inter-culture operations.
• Plant population should be maintained to its optimum right from its beginning to minimize the crop weed competition.
• Inter-culture operation-using hoe to remove all the weeds in between the row.
• Mulches like straw hay etc can be used and then these can be placed in between the rows to suppress the weed growth.

Mechanical Control

• Two hand weeding can done
• Hand weeding either by hand pulling or with the help of khurpi.
• Sick-ling is done when sufficient labour is not available.

Biological Control

• Improved and competative grasses like Setaria, Guinea grasses should be planted after herbicide application.
• Common purslane plants that have been attacked by the purslane sawfly produce fewer seeds and are much less competitive with garden and crop plants. 
  

Chemical Control

• Pre Planting Incorporation of Fluchloralin at 0.9 to 1.2 kg/ha controls some broad leaf weeds.
• Two hand weeding along with two interculture by kolpa + diuron 0.75 or pendimethalin 1.5 kg/ha.
• An application of 750 ml Diuron 80 WP/ha as Pre-emergence (PE) in 700 - 800 l water/ha.
• An application of pendimethalin as Pre-emergence (PE)1.5 kg/ha is also found effective in controlling the weed population. 
  OR
• Pre-emergence (PE) application of alachlor at 2.0 to 2.5 kg/ha.