How to Pull Weeds in our Schoolyard Habitat

Plant competition, be mindful of seeds, and be aware of wildlife. 

7 VERY SHORT VIDEOS, 0:09 to 1:11

How to pull up weeds. Use a shovel and container. Be mindful of seeds. 

We want to slow the spread and deplete the seed bank of nonnatives. It is bad for the habitat if we wait until weeds have gone to flower and seed. When pulling weeds that have already gone to seed, have a container to catch seeds. 

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Reclaim the paths. 

We want students and community to feel comfortable, so if it's growing on the path it should be pulled out. You can transplant anything from the path to your house. I've transplanted Elderberry and Catalina Island Cherry to my own yard.  

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A weed is a subjective and descriptive term.

Our habitat contains native plants, so all nonnative are weeds. Also, if a native plant is growing abundantly and is competing with other natives, it might be refereed to as a weed. Mugwort grows like a weed in our habitat. It is thriving and will out-compete other natives. We want plant diversity which attracts diverse wildlife, so we maintain the spread of Mugwort. We also maintain the spread of CA Sunflower. CA Sunflower has out-competed CA Daises, and we no longer have CA Daises.

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Be aware of wildlife! 

One goal of our habitat is to attract wildlife. When weeding, you can get carried away and pull up Narrow-leaved Milkweed that has monarch caterpillars or eggs on it. That's okay if it happens. We just need to know what milkweed looks like, so we avoid pulling it up. You can also look for eggs or caterpillars before pulling milkweed.

Flowering milkweed 

Also, we have a variety of nesting birds. If you hear a bird calling loudly, they are sending a warning call because their nest is nearby. When that happens, walk away from the area or watch the bird carefully tracking to find out where he flies back. You might also be able to hear the chicks and know where the nest is. You will find out what area to avoid. There is always plenty of weeding to do somewhere else. We do not want to scare parents, or they might abandon their nests.

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Listen to CA Towhee warning call