Unsightly weeds can be costly

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

County residents who worried about wildfire this summer had a reprieve due to ample rains, but those same rains stimulated many unwanted weeds to vigorously grow, bloom and produce viable seed.

That nonnative mullein plant that looked so soft and pretty at the start of the summer is now over 6 feet tall and about to leave behind a dry woody stalk harboring seeds capable of producing another 100,000 more plants just like it anytime within the next 50 years.

Clearing unsightly and detrimental infestations of weeds seems logical, but unfortunately, many landowners just don't bother, according to Mike Carroll, director of the Larimer County Weed District. Residents need to know that the county and state list several invasive noxious weed species that are in fact illegal to knowingly have on your land, he said.

Lucille Schmitt, owner of Ponderosa Realty in Red Feather Lakes, said anyone selling property is required to fill out a seller's disclosure statement that specifically asks: "To the seller's actual knowledge have there been any governmentally designated noxious weeds on the property within the last three years?"

Schmitt said most people just don't know what those weeds are, but many real estate agents do, and they will respond if asked to list or identify them. She said many buyers appreciate knowing if a landowner has cleared noxious weeds from the land, but some want to be assured that the property is free of chemical herbicides. Whenever buying land outside the urban corridor, the old caveat "buyer beware" stands regarding what lurks in the soil.

Carroll said the weed district does roadside surveys of private land in the entire county, including along private roads in subdivisions, and it sends offenders a letter giving them a time period to respond by clearing illegal noxious weeds. If nothing is done, he said, the weed district does it for them for a punitive amount of money. A letter from the weed district is matter of public record.

In Larimer County, Carroll said, the eight weeds considered "governmentally designated noxious weeds" are yellow and Dalmatian toadflax; diffuse, spotted and Russian knapweed; Canada and musk thistle; and leafy spurge. All of these are nonnative and invasive, especially the knapweeds, since the roots carry their own toxic herbicide that depresses the growth of other species, he said.

Other native or nonnative species, like mullein, Russian thistle, tumble mustard, flixweed, bindweed and kochia, which grow so vigorously they create a monoculture, are undesirable but not technically illegal, Carroll said.

Fall is an ideal time, Carroll said, to start looking for the starter rosettes that will produce next year's problems, and eradicating them before they get very far along.

The weed district web site, www.larimer.org/publicworks/weeds/district.htm has information on identification, control and eradication of specific noxious weeds.