Back to Search

Standing up to 1 meter tall with spoon shaped leaves and ray of little petals surrounding yellow centers, oxeye daisy is an invasive weed that many people mistake as a native wildflower. This weed has been listed as a noxious weed in the Weed Control Act due to the damaging effects it can have once established. Oxeye daisy is a perennial native to southern Europe and was first seen in Canada in 1862. The weed is a very prolific seed producer and can produce up to 26 000 seeds that can remain in the soil for a minimum of 2-3 years. It also has the ability to reproduce through its creeping root systems (rhizomes).

Oxeye Daisy is an incredibly competitive species and can thrive in a variety of conditions, though it is especially aggressive in disturbed areas with nutrient poor soils. This weed is very drought and frost tolerant, giving it a competitive advantage over our native species. The weed is most damaging once it invades pastures and meadows. The shallow root systems expose bare soil and promote erosion of the top layer of soil. Ultimately, this decreases the amount of soil organic matter and nutrients available for native species and crops/forage. Oxeye Daisy is generally unpalatable to cattle, and they will avoid grazing it if possible. This increases the grazing pressure on the desirable species within a pasture and eventually those species will be choked out by the increasing population of Oxeye Daisy. Due to the genetic similarities between Oxeye Daisy and other daisy species there is a possibility of them cross breeding and creating a hybrid that is hard to identify and control. This makes eradication all the more crucial.

Controlling Oxeye Daisy is a task that can be difficult but there are lots of strategies that producers and landowners have to tackle this job. As with most other weeds, an application of herbicide is going to give you the best results of control. There are several registered herbicides that are available that will kill off Oxeye Daisy. The weed can also be mowed down but this needs to be done before Oxeye Daisy has gone to seed. This will need to be done multiple times a year and continued for several years as the daisy will continue to grow from the leftover roots. For smaller patches, the plant can be hand-pulled, but it is important to make sure that the plant is put in the garbage and not in the compost. In large fields, cultivating is also an option to kill off the Oxeye Daisy. While cattle cannot graze Oxeye Daisy, other animals can. Horses, sheep, and goats will eat the weed, but it is important that keep an eye on the progress of control to ensure that the animals are eating down the weeds and not choosing other species. For more information on invasive weeds, please visit the Parkland County website or the Alberta Invasive Species Council website.