Looking at weeds to get a sense of soil quality is nothing new. Two researchers have, however, just refined the process. In the article “Weeds as soil bioindicators: How to sample and use data,” which is available as a free downloadable pdf, the writers describe how sample weeds and interpret the data.
The article contains a list of many common weeds, their botanical family, and what conditions the weeds prefer. Preferences are divided among a few categories, such as soil reaction (acidity or alkalinity); water availability (dry or humid); soil compaction; soil texture (clayey or sandy) and soil fertility (low or high). One parameter that gives this table more weight than older guides is described in the last column: “trustability.” Each plant-soil interaction is described as having medium or high reliability.
One disadvantage is that the Latin, not common, names are listed. However, it is relatively simple to copy and paste from the pdf into a search engine to discover the common names and pictures of the weeds.
Source: Weeds as soil bioindicators: How to sample and use data. Stefano Carlesi and Paolo Barberi. Technical Note. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), CH-Frick and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA), IT-Pisa. 2017, http://orgprints.org/31696/
- Janet Wallace