In our last newsletter we talked about the importance of proper weed identification before making decisions on control measures. We mentioned some of the literature that the Vegetable IPM Team uses at the Yuma Agricultural Center.
An increasing number of PCAs and growers are using several phone applications for weed ID.
In this update I would like to share some data that was collected from a group of students of the 2024 PLS 300 Applied Weed Science class.
Professor Barry Tickes asked his students to download two phone applications and test the accuracy of the weed species ID. The recommended applications used were PlantNet and PictureThis Plant Identifier, which according to some Pest Control Advisors are reasonably accurate.
We provided a display of 9 weeds to the students to take images and upload to the phone apps for ID and here are the results obtained:
Weed PictureThis PlantNet
Annual bluegrass 6 0
Creeping woodsorrel 8 6
Nettleleaf goosefoot 4 3
Prickly lettuce 8 0
Spiny sowthistle 6 1
Spinach 8 6
Malva 6 1
Silversheath knotweed 5 0
Littleseed canarygrass 0 0
PictureThis Plant Identifier performed better than PlantNet in this evaluation. Interestingly in 2022 the weed science class evaluated PlantNet with results showing that 84.6 % of the time the application was correct. If you have another application that you recommend, please send it in your comments and we will share it with others in this newsletter.
Get your free copy of the Weed Seedling Identification Pocket Guide at the Yuma Agricultural Center.
