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[Flo]

Horse tail takes over the world despite being the most venerable of aged pensioners. If you have an allotment full of it, I can assure you that destruction is quite ethical.

[Weedo]

Odsox this raises a discussion (polite word) that has been going on in the "weeds" world for many years and I don't want to start it again here BUT; there are three things that it centres around.

1/ What IS a "weed"? Essentially the concept of a weed is a human construct and doen't exist in nature
2/ Human spread of plant species and introduction of "weeds". (in Oz there are, at last count, about 27,500 introduced plant species and these out number the native ones) the question is "Is the human species and its actions part of a natural evolutionary process in the same way as for any other species?"
3/ If the answer to 2/ above is "yes" then why are we trying to protect our concept of a natural environment?

[Flo]

Answers on a postcard to Weedo
1. A weed is a plant in the wrong place according to gardeners and growers
2. Of course humans spread plant species without any knowledge of its bad habits (Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed here)
3. People don't like change and want to see what they imagine their environment has been like from time immemorial.

2 and 3 are the result of lack of education in the growing of things

[Weedo]

Playing devils advocate
1/A weed is a plant whose virtues are yet to be found
2/Humans are a naturally occuring species that is expanding its range; ergo, as a vector for plants, animals and diseases this spread is a naturally occuring and necessary process.
3/ Hmmmmm! can't really argue with that one.

[Odsox]

No to #1, Weedo, I agree with Flo, certainly for growers.
For instance in spring I have tomato seedlings sprout in my tunnels, as well as other last year's crops,. Their virtues have been known for centuries, but they need weeding out as they "are in the wrong place".

2, if humans are treated the same as all other naturally occurring life forms, then they should be treated as an invasive species where they didn't occur naturally. Therefore they should be eradicated from places like New Zealand.