SusanCarrollHome.com

A couple of days ago I was talking to my daughters and they were both sniffling. As a concerned mother I asked if they were coming down with something and both answered, no, it was their allergies. My youngest daughter then added that the ragweed was really bad this season.

Since both my daughters work hard to stay healthy and try to avoid things that can make them sick I asked, what does ragweed look like. And to my surprise both said, “I don’t know.”

How could this be?

I mean, if you’re allergic to something you really should know what it looks like so you can avoid it. If you’re allergic to cats, you know what cats look like and avoid them. If you’re allergic to mold, you know what mold looks like and work to get rid of it or move. If you’re allergic to poison ivy you find out what it looks like so you won’t go near it again.

Now because neither of my daughters knew what ragweed looked like I decided to find a picture and share it with them so they try to avoid it. And that’s when I discovered:

10 Facts About Ragweed:

1. Ragweed is the top cause of fall allergies — 75 - 85 percent of people allergic to pollen are also allergic to ragweed.
2. Ragweed is common in most regions of the united states from mid-august through the first frost.
3. Each plant can produce 1 billion pollen grains in a season and the grains can travel up to 400 miles with the help of the wind.
4. Ragweed is frequently blamed for hay fever.
5. It is common along roadsides, cultivated fields, vacant lots and pastures.
6. It grows one to four feet tall.
7. There are around 40 types of ragweed.
8. Ragweed is both an annual that reseeds itself and a perennial.
9. Many think total eradication of ragweed to be impossible because of its tremendous seed-producing capability and it only reacts to some of the more aggressive herbicides.
10. While birds do eat ragweed seeds, ragweed is not a human food and can reduce the production of some food crops.

And while I didn’t find pictures for all the varieties, I did find pictures of 9 types of ragweed at plants.usda.gov.

There’s also a federal list of noxious weeds. And if you search through that list of 104 noxious weeds you’ll also see that ragweed isn’t on it!

On the same site there’s also a map that shows what states have ragweed. And you can see, ragweed can be found in 45 of our 50 states.

Since ragweed can be found in well more than half of our states and causes allergic reactions in more than half our population why isn’t something being done to get rid of it?

Is it because they think total eradication is impossible?

100 years ago they thought going to the moon and talking to someone overseas was impossible. 50 years ago they thought television was the best way to get information to people and didn’t know about the internet, google, youtube or twitter.

As a people we search for technological advances, medical cures and agricultural improvements. We look for ways to end suffering and ease pain.

Why then don’t we to at least try to do something to help all those allergy sufferers? And if we really can’t do anything to eliminate ragweed shouldn’t we at least make them aware of what it looks like like we do with poison ivy?

I know I’m allergic to poison ivy and have eradicated it from my yard which used to be full of it. I discovered that pouring bleach on it would kill it and keep it from coming back. And my husband discovered that you should never burn it because he did that once and got extremely sick when the smoke carried the oil into his lungs.

And like the poison ivy in my yard, it may take a few years. However, if everyone knew what to look for and knew a simple way to kill it, eventually we might have a fighting chance of getting rid of ragweed.

So why don’t we put ragweed on the noxious weed list? Why don’t we invent a ragweed herbicide? And why don’t we educate people about what to look for and what to do to help end the millions of allergy sufferers?

To Your Success,
Susan