Are these safe?

[Jumpy's mom]

Hi everyone!

I am wondering if these weeds are safe.

[vanessa]

Your first picture is chickweed. http://identifythatplant.com/stellaria-chickweed-species/ Take a look at this page. I feed chickweed to my birds and rabbits. They looooove it. It is very nutritious, but has a high calcium content. Even so – I do believe that animals forage on what is seasonally available. Chickweed isn’t always growing, so they don’t get that high calcium content year round. So in our homes – I wouldn’t feed it year round, although nature takes care of that for me by not allowing it to grow year round. When it is available on my lawn, I feed it generously. Chickweed does best with cooler temps, so you’ll find less of it during mid summer.

[vanessa]

Second one looks like ground ivy. Smells kinda minty when crushed. Don’t feed this to your bunny.

[Jumpy's mom]

Thanks

[vanessa]

Still looking at picture 3 and 4, I can’t see picture 5 and 6.

[Jumpy's mom]

Fixed it

[vanessa]

OK those are easier… #5 looks like a dandelion flower. Can you get a pic of the leaves? It looks like you have dandelion hiding in #1 and #2. See the scalloped leaves? See if you can get a pic of the leaves that go with the yellow flower. If it is dandelion, treat it like chickweed. Yummy, nutritious, lots of calcium, seasonally abundant. You have the same yellow flower in #3, 4, and 6. Still looking at that. You need to check the flower on the actual plant in #6. That yellow flower belongs to a different plant. If #6 flower has distinct petals, like that yellow flower in 3/4/6 has petals, it is oxalis. Poisonous, don’t feed. If it has a white/pink ball type flower without the typical easy to draw petals, it is clover, feel free to feed, but it is high in protein, so feed on a seasonal basis.

[Jumpy's mom]

Thanks! How often can I feed dandelion and clover?

[vanessa]

Honestly, I don’t limit them. They are naturally seasonal, so while they are in season, I feed them as long as they are available in my garden. The rule of thumb with veggies that are high in calcium, is not every day, just a few times a week. But I never found sludge problems with dandelion and chickweed. I only found chalky pee with feeding kale and collards everyday. So personally – I feed dandelion and chickweed as long as they are seasonally available. I’m in the middle of chickweed season in my garden. nce the weather warms up some more, the chickweed will die away, and the dandelion will be everywhere. So I just rotate with whats available. Chickweed and dandelion are winter/spring plants. Dandelion does last longer in the season. Clover is definitely a summer plant, and I’d feed it while it’s available. During winter they won’t be getting all the protein from the clover. That’s the natural grazing pattern of herbivores – they eat what is available when it is available. This is my experience as a park ranger, and my experience with what I feed my rabbits. But you won’t find a whole lot of written advice on how to feed garden weeds, and you will hear different opinions. I don’t pick weeds from the back yard because my dogs are there, and they poop and pee everywhere. I don’t either pick weeds fom under a tree – think bird poop. So be sure that the weed syou pick are from a clean area, and you could still wash them. While wild animals don’t wash their veggies – it is just an extr astep to make sure our fur babies stay healthy.

[Azerane]

These circled leaves look like sow thistle to me, if they are, it’s safe to feed

[Jumpy's mom]

Thank you!

[Yoyo]

pics 4, 6 & 7,.. look totally fine,.. the rest,.. I have no clue about,.. glad some of the others know more about them at least!

[Jumpy's mom]

Using some of the weeds, I made lots of dried forage. Jumpy loves it!

[vanessa]

Just remember to check the flowers on #7. petals = bad (oxalis/sorrel), ball-type = good (clover). The shape and color of the tri-leaves can vary a bit, and the color of the flower can also vary.

[Jumpy's mom]

Is the weed in the first photo clover? (Referring to vanessa’s photo)

[vanessa]

4 & 6 are dandelion. I agree with the sow thistle. It can be tricky to tell young sow thistle, prickly lettuce, and shepherds purse apart. All are safe. Prickly lettuce and sow thistle will develop thick hairs/spiny leaves as they get bigger. If you let them grow out, sowthistle will get to 1-3 feet, prickly lettuce can get up to 6 feet. By then the leaves are harder and hairier underneath with hairy spines under, on the ribs, and stems. That scalloped leaf in #2 amongst the ground ivy could be shepherds purse (I almost wrote shepherds pie!). It’s a bit rounded for dandelion. But those young leaves are all quite similar. So that leaves the yellow-flowered plant in #3 and #5. They are different. They each have a different number of petals, and the leaves are different.

[Azerane]

Posted By vanessa on 3/01/2017 9:14 AM

4 & 6 are dandelion. I agree with the sow thistle. It can be tricky to tell young sow thistle, prickly lettuce, and shepherds purse apart. All are safe. Prickly lettuce and sow thistle will develop thick hairs/spiny leaves as they get bigger. If you let them grow out, sowthistle will get to 1-3 feet, prickly lettuce can get up to 6 feet. By then the leaves are harder and hairier underneath with hairy spines under, on the ribs, and stems. That scalloped leaf in #2 amongst the ground ivy could be shepherds purse (I almost wrote shepherds pie!). It’s a bit rounded for dandelion. But those young leaves are all quite similar. So that leaves the yellow-flowered plant in #3 and #5. They are different. They each have a different number of petals, and the leaves are different.

You haven’t seen the sow thistle I got in my garden last spring! 4 feet at least Good to know the name of Prickly lettuce, I have that too, just figured it was a different species of sow thistle.

[Jumpy's mom]

Thanks!

[Jumpy's mom]

Is this clover?

Sorry for the amounts of questions.

[vanessa]

Honestly I wouldn’t risk feeding it until you see a flower. The leaves can be deceptively similar to Oxalis. Once it flowers, it will be available till winter.That yellow flowering plant is bugging the crap out of me… Here’s an idea, if you have decent online shopping where you are at, order a pasture mix and grow the seeds. A bag of pasture seed has around 10 or more varieties of grass, clover and other yummies that cows graze, and are also fine for bunnies to graze. I grow pasture seed in pots or pallets, and feed it to my bunnies. I also use pasture seed in marked off areas of my garden, so I can pick fresh yummies for the bunnies.
Don’t apologize for the questions. This is an interesting thread. I looove identifying plants. I’m sure others do too.

[Jumpy's mom]

I think I have about two types of grass in my garden. In the forage I made I put these grass and timothy hay (I used to live in the U.S.A).

[Jumpy's mom]

I think I have about two types of grass in my garden. In the forage I made I put these grasses and timothy hay.

[vanessa]

It might well have been clover, especially if you have fed it, and all turned out well. But without seeing the flower, I don’t want to say it is safe and find out I was wrong. I know which is which in my yard without seeing the flower, but that’s my risk. I wouldn’t want to say something that puts your bunny at risk.

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