Indicator Weeds and Soil Conditions
at Garden-Helper.com
Understanding your garden soil is the first step toward successful gardening. Existing weeds on your property often have a story to tell about the existing soil conditions and soil composition. By understanding the weeds that already grow where you intend to garden, you can understand more about the soil makeup and be better poised to treat the plot and provide ideal growing conditions for your plants.
Indicator Weeds and Soil Conditions |
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| Name of Weed | Soil Condition(s) Indicated | |
| Bindweed Convulvulus arvensis |
Hardpan soil with a crusty surface. Often a light sand soil texture. | |
| Bracken, Eastern Pteridium aquilinum |
Low Potassium in the soil as well as low phosphorus. Acidic soil. | |
| Buttercups Ranunculus |
Tilled or cultivated soil. Creeping Buttercups indicative of wet and poorly drained garden soil. | |
| Campion, bladder Silene cucbalus |
Neutral or alkaline soil pH | |
| Chickweed Stellaria media |
Tilled or cultivted soil with very good fertility. If these weeds are pale in color or stunted in growth then soil fertility is low. This is one weed that you can generally be happy to see in place you intend to plant. | |
| Chicory Cichorium intybus |
Heavy textured soil such as clay. Like chickweed this weed indicates a good soil fertility unless plants are pale or stunted. | |
| Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara |
Heavy clay soil that is waterlogged or drains very poorly. | |
| Daisy, oxeye Chrysanthemum leucanthemum |
Waterlogged or poorly drained soil which has been left uncultivated or worked. Low lime and low soil fertility. | |
| Dandelion Taraxacum officinale |
Heavy clay soil. Especially on lawns. Acidic or low lime. | |
| Docks Rumex |
Waterlogged or poorly drained soil most often clay. Often acidic soil. | |
| Hawkweeds Hieracium |
Acidic or low lime soil. | |
| Horsetail, field Equisetum arvense |
Sandy and light soil with low lime / high acidity. | |
| Joe-Pye weed Eupatorium purpureum |
Wet or waterlogged soil. | |
| Knapweeds Centaurea |
High potassium soil with low lime | |
| Knotweed, prostrate Polygonum aviculare |
Tilled or cultivated acidic soil. | |
| Lamb's Quarters Chenopodium album |
Tilled or cultivated soil with high fertility unless weeds are pale in which case soil fertility is low and lacking in humus. | |
| Lettuce, prickly Lactuca serriola |
Cultivated soil | |
| Meadowsweet Spirea latifolia |
Wet or waterlogged soil. | |
| Mosses Musci class |
Poorly drained, waterlogged soil with high acidity. | |
| Mullein, common Verbascum thapsis |
Neglected uncultivated soil with acidic pH and low fertility. | |
| Mustard, white Brassica hirta |
Neutral soil pH. | |
| Nettles Urtica dioica |
Tilled or cultivated soil with acidic pH. | |
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