Tips on winter and spring control of a common greenhouse weed

Added on 17 April 2022

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Tips on winter and spring control of a common greenhouse weed

Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta L.) is an important weed species of container nurseries and greenhouse operations. It is an annual or biennial, dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Brassicaceae. It is native to the areas of Europe and Asia, but has established itself worldwide.

Hairy bittercress has been introduced throughout many parts of the U.S. It is known by different common names such as spring cress, lamb's cress, winter bittercress, hairy cress, flick weed, wood cress, and popping cress. It is a winter weed but may appear throughout the year in greenhouses because of favorable growing conditions and continuous irrigation availability.

In addition to its common weediness, hairy bittercress is also known to be a host of many nursery insects such as mites and whiteflies and various pathogens of nursery plants. In e recent e-GRO alert from Michigan State University's Debalina Saha and Manjot Kaur Sidhu, growers can learn how to identify and manage it in their greenhouses.

For example, when it comes to non-chemical control, prevention is the first step to control weeds in ornamental crop production inside greenhouses. It is important to use weed-free substrates/media, inspect new shipment of plant materials and containers to prevent introduction of new weed infestations, and maintain proper irrigation inside the greenhouses. Reducing irrigation for container production is not recommended; rather, adequate amount of irrigation need to be applied (while avoiding over-irrigation) as hairy bittercress prefers moisture.