Invasive Plant: Leafy Spurge

Click on image for full size viewDescription:
Upright herbaceous perennial up to 3 feet tall. The stems contain a milk juice called latex.  The leaves are bluish-green, narrow and linear in shape.  Leafy spurge produces a flat-topped cluster of yellowish-green flower-like structures called bracts.

The root system can reach a depth of 21 feet.  If the above ground plants are removed or killed, new foliage can be produced by both root buds and crown buds.  Toxic to horses and cattle, causes lesions and irritates mouth and digestive tracts.  Goats can eat it with no adverse affects.   Leafy spurge grows primarily in pastures, waste areas, and along roadside throughout Minnesota.  

Control:

• Biological - Leafy Spurge Beetle.  Becker County  BSWCD has 31 sites being used for biological control with 238,000 beetles placed since 2006
• Cultural - Repeated mowing or cutting, digging, tilling, or hand-pulling are not very effective do to plants producing new sprouts.   Mowing reduces seed production.  Clean mowers, four wheelers and other equipment that travel through leafy spurge. 
• Chemical - Roundup, 2,4-D, Banvel, Plateau, Escort and Tordon (highly persistent in the soil and may leach). Be sure to apply at the appropriate time. 

Photo Credits: Marsha Watland- BSWCD and Plant Conservation Alliances Alien Plant Working Group 
Resources: University of Minnesota Extension and Carol Estes Mortensen, Leech Lake Division of Resources Management, Marsha Watland-BSWCD-funding National Fish Wildlife Foundation