In our pervious blog “Noxious weeds-what are they? Are they a nuisance or serious problem?”, we talked about noxious weeds, the problems they can cause, and ways they can be controlled. Of course, the best solution is to never let them get started in the first place. A healthy stand will provide competition, eliminating the opportunity for noxious weeds to move in. It is critical to start with healthy, clean seed.  

Our goal when cleaning seed is to get the lots as clean as possible, removing all other seeds to the best of our abilities. Seed lots are tested by accredited laboratories for purity standards set by certifying agencies and the seed industry. These labs are trained to identify noxious weed seeds within seed samples. (See photo examples of Curly Dock). This is not an easy task. These plants have adapted over time for survival. This quality control process helps to eliminate the spread of the unwanted and potentially harmful plants when transported in and out of states. Each state has a strict guideline for prohibited and restricted weeds that have been identified within their jurisdiction. This is a two-way street, meaning seeds can’t go out or conversely come in. 

With such a wide variety of growing conditions throughout the United States, when given the opportunity, small problems can quickly become much larger. Each year a list is reviewed and published by the USDA with federal and state regulations outlining species not allowed into each state. We as producers and conditioners are diligently reviewing this list and removing these seeds before each sale. The test is the law and we don’t ship seed lots that don’t make purity standards. We must all do our part to combat noxious weeds because in this case noxious weeds are not only a nuisance, but unacceptable.