Biggest Weed Contest at Farm Technology Days in Barron County

Mark Renz, UW-Madison Extension Weed Scientist

With cooler weather and rain the Weed Doctors are expecting a bumper crop of large weeds.  Have a weed in your field that you think is a prize winner?  Then cut it down and bring it to Farm Technology days and enter it in the contest.  All you need to do is bring it in to the Weed Doctors booth in the Progress Pavilion and we will enter you in the competition. We will have daily and an overall winner, and will report the winners at the conclusion of the event. Last year’s winner (giant ragweed) was 113 inches tall and 52 inches wide.  While it was slender its height made up for the lack of width as it beat common mullein, horseweed, and Japanese knotweed.  So start scouting those fields now for the winning entry. The only rules of the contest are that

  1. weeds can’t be woody plants (e.g. trees)
  2. weeds can’t be poisonous plants
  3. weeds must be “donated” for display at the Doctors booth.

Winners will receive a weed identification book and of course the honor of being able to grow the biggest weed in Wisconsin in 2013.