Noxious Weed

Function of Department:

​To assist landowners and producers in Stafford County with the control of noxious weeds. The assistance may be by recommended procedures or by the sale of recommended herbicides.

Director:

Ryan Witt
coweed@gbta.net
Phone: (620) 549-3594
Fax: (620) 549-3499
400 S Exchange
St. John, KS 67576

Services:

  • Provide chemical sales for the treatment of noxious weeds
  • Provide custom spraying of noxious weeds
  • Offer roadside weed and brush control for county and townships

Cost Share Program:

Stafford County offers a 25% cost share program on approved chemicals for the treatment of noxious weeds.

List of Local Noxious Weeds:

Field Bindweed - tolerates a great range of environmental conditions and elevations and is found in all types of ground, including cultivated fields and waste places. It grows best on fertile, dry, or moderately moist soils and is extremely difficult to control. The flowers are typically white, but often they are light pink and have two leaf-like structures halfway between the main stem and the base of the flower.
​Muck Thistle – is typically found in lowlands or disturbed areas. The leaves of the musk thistle plant are deeply lobed, hairless, and are dark green. A silver-gray leaf margin is also characteristic of each lobe. The flower (head) of the musk thistle is a tightly-packed, rose-to-purple colored flower encased in a series of spine-tipped, green bracts.
​Johnson Grass – is one of the most costly weeds with which farmers must contend on a yearly basis. Johnson grass is a large, NON-NATIVE grass that can grow to cover extensive areas along ditches and into fields. It is well adapted to compete with crop plants. Johnson grass has stems up to 6 to 8 feet high or more which produce extensive rhizomes within six weeks of germination.
​Bur Ragweed – is a deep-rooted, native perennial. It is especially adapted to low places where moisture collects, but it will spread to other areas as well. A bur ragweed stem is erect and branched, reaching over two feet in height. The leaves and stem are covered with a dense mat of fine white hairs, which give it a greenish-gray appearance. The roots have been known to go down 15 feet or more.
​Sericea Lespedeza – is found in native rangeland, waste areas, CRP, and roadsides in Kansas. It is a perennial with erect stems up to five feet tall with small hairs laying flat along the ridges on the stem. The leaves have three leaflets and are less than 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches long and are 1/4 to 1/2 inches wide with the larger leaflets on the lower portion of the stem. Flowering occurs from mid-July to October and will be a purplish color and always dry to yellow.