Ok, huuuuuge weeds in my ditch. Kinda ugly too. What are they? And 2ndly, what is that stuff all over them, that looks like foam of some kind? (I've seen this on occasion on my trees, but not in this much quantity!) Perplexing, it is..







Meg

meg
that white foam is actually some fluid secreted by a bug that lives on that weed. i call them,well have heard others say it too, spittle bugs. i don't know if they are beneficial or not tho. as far as the plant itself i'm not too sure

Yup! Spittlebugs. Philaenus spumarius. The fast-moving adults are known as froghoppers.

The weeds may be red sorrel--rumex acetosella.??

wow cool do yoou know how big the adults get,and dothey resemble frogs??

Adults are 1/4-1/2 inch long and are similar to leaf hoppers, but are described as "frog faced".

Great, yuck.. another suck the life out the leaf kinda bug. (google is a wonder with info once you know what to look for!) They feed off of plants, and live in the foam they make. I read that you can blast the foam with a hose, then spray with insecticidal soap. Got both, will do!

The weed is butt ugly. It's going down.

Meg

you go girl!!!! have they "spread" to any other plants? we have some growing around here bu ti never knew what it was. now when i see,or well, if i see it in my yard it will "go down" as well.
glad you found the info you did. i didn't know the "bugs" were bad

Yea, I've seen the foamy stuff on a couple of my trees.. but not in that much quantity. Just one little dab on one or the other.. but now, I'll be looking for it closely, and will blast them if I see any.

Meg

Meg, you've got yourself some
"Common Ragweed and Spittle Bugs"....

Get rid of the rag weed...
I am no fan of that stuff....
A million seeds, hay fever......
and the kids love to pull the seeds off
the top, and throw them around.. :p


Weezie

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

No wonder all our allergies are going KA BLOOOOO IE!!! Die evil weed, DIE!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

No wonder all our allergies are going KA BLOOOOO IE!!! Die evil weed, DIE!!!!!!

My neighbor is going to think I'm going nuts. I'm sitting here laughing until the tears run down my cheeks.

I wonder if anyone knows how militant gardeners can be? If they did no one would ever pluck a flower or kick over a planter again.

Thank goodness it's all directed at bugs and weeds.

I have nothing to add to this, in the way of a solution to the dilemma.

You say they're growing in the ditch - unless you plan on gardening in the ditch (which I doubt), I'd think about getting rid of the plants themselves.

If the ditch is required for drainage, then plants (weeds or otherwise) oughta' be whipped outta' there.

If it is not required for drainage, you might think about filling the ditch in.

I've seen that one plant before with the spittle -had no idea what it was. So I learned from this thread.

Carly, I *hate* this ditch, but it's there to serve a purpose. I can't fill it in. I'd love to rip it all out, fill it in with good stuff, and plant lovely things in it.. but I don't think the township would approve..lol. The drainage ditch around my house is part of a whole series of them around the circle I'm in, and I swear, mine is about the deepest one of all! And when it rains fast & hard, it floods, sometimes up into the edge of the yard, over the sidewalk, and will cover the road as well.

We weedwack the ditch, but it grows faster than we can hack it down! (And sometimes, I don't like to wack them all down.. we get *some* pretty flowers in it!) I'll be taking photos of those, for sure! Also, I took my can of wildflower seeds, and sprinkled some thru the ditch, so hopefully, we'll get more flowers out of it..lol.

Meg