Common Vetch [Vicia sativa]

Pest Profile

About the weed

A scrambling dicotyledon, the stems grow to 20 - 120cm in length. The leaves are divided into 3 to 8 pairs of oval leaflets and end in a tendril. The flowers are like those of a pea and occur in the last few leaf axils.

Key features

Young plant: The first true leaves are long and narrow with no leaflets.

Biology

Common vetch was once grown as a cultivated plant. It is found in grassy field margins, but may also be seen in arable crops, sometimes as cultivated forms where vetches form part of the cropping rotation. Common vetch usually germinates in autumn and overwinters; more rarely it is a summer annual. Undisturbed plants may be biennial. It is often seen in spring-sown crops where it can interfere with harvesting and seed can contaminate grain.

Symptoms & Diagnosis

Life Cycle

Seed longevity: >5 years
Seed weight: 100 mg
Seeds/flower: 4 - 12

Treatment

Management

Seedlings can be harrowed out, but once established it is not readily controlled except with hoeing. Vetches are generally susceptible to sulfonylureas and some hormone herbicides such as mecoprop-P and dicamba.