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The term "weed" feels pretty outdated at this point. People consider many beneficial plants to be weeds just because they didn't put them there. For example,

The term "weed" feels pretty outdated at this point. People consider many beneficial plants to be weeds just because they didn't put them there. For example, people remove clover, a wonderful nitrogen fixer, from their lawns in order to maintain their unsustainable monoculture of nonnative grass. Is a weed-killing robot solving the right problem? Modern agriculture works against nature rather than with it.

andygates 9y ago
A seedling-removing bot (which is what this is) absolutely helps compared to chemical sprays or time-consuming faff. Once a gardener decides to keep a plant, they're not weeds any more.
tengbretson 9y ago
Agreed. I think the term undocumented cultivar is a more appropriate word to describe what these plants have to offer to us all.
- lostlogin 9y ago
  ... and the wall around your plants keeps them safe. Solar power pays for it all.
dpark 9y ago
A weed is essentially any undesired plant that self propagates effectively. The fact that some of them are beneficial in some aspect is irrelevant if they are unwanted. The entire point of a garden is that it's full of stuff that some human wants.
- reustle 9y ago
  Their point is that if a clover is necessary for healthier vegetables, maybe the education around what weeds are should be fixed.
  - jessaustin 9y ago
    Clover is certainly not what concerns typical gardeners. Is there a reason I should love the morning glories that are constantly trying to kill my tomatoes?
    - dpark 9y ago
      Only because it's impossible to defeat. :(
  - dpark 9y ago
    Clover is not necessary for healthy vegetables. Also he was talking about clover in the context of lawn, not garden anyway. So this robot wouldn't even be relevant. The whole comment seems bizarre to me. It's like some strange gardening pretension.
  - davexunit 9y ago
    It's not necessary, but clover is very beneficial for all sorts of plants because it fixes nitrogren. I can't reply to some other person but yes, it's good for vegetables, too, because more nitrogen means more growth.
    - lostlogin 9y ago
      Had some builders in who trashed the lawn and it needed covering quickly to reduce the mud. I threw down a clover and fenscue mix and within 7 days had a full lawn that is near bullet proof, winter and summer. I'd prefer not to have clover but it's extremely drought resistant and the bees love it.
erickhill 9y ago
As shown in the video, plants you want to keep can be saved from the Turtle. 'Weed' is just a term people recognize as "something to remove from my lawn." If you want to save clover, that's a fixable problem. Which they fixed.
rabboRubble 9y ago
Weeds as the westerner farmer understands them to be are often transplanted from other parts of the world and without a natural predator, and can take over fields pushing out the crop. http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532879755/a-pesticide-a-pigweed-and-a-farmers-murder http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532879755/a-pesticide-a-pigwee... Mom fights a never ending battle with foreign weeds like knapweed (from eastern Europe) and Canadian thistle (from southeast Europe and Asia) that was introduced thru contaminated seeds. Every year she sprays and manually digs the weeds out of the ground. Edit: also should point out that what we call weeds push out the local plantlife too. I also forgot kudzu, the weed that (or didn't? depends who you ask) ate the south. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/04/the-vine-that-ate-the-south-the-invasive-plant-kudzu-is-swallowing-the-southeast-of-the-us/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/04/the-vine-that-ate-... http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudzu-vine-ate-south-180956325/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudz...
Alex3917 9y ago
> The term "weed" feels pretty outdated at this point. As they say in botany class, a wildflower is just a weed with a better PR department.
adrianmonk 9y ago
As far as I know, the term is fine. A plant you don't want is a plant that you don't want, regardless of whether you appreciate why you should want it.

andygates 9y ago

A seedling-removing bot (which is what this is) absolutely helps compared to chemical sprays or time-consuming faff. Once a gardener decides to keep a plant, they're not weeds any more.

tengbretson 9y ago

Agreed. I think the term undocumented cultivar is a more appropriate word to describe what these plants have to offer to us all.

lostlogin 9y ago
... and the wall around your plants keeps them safe. Solar power pays for it all.

dpark 9y ago

A weed is essentially any undesired plant that self propagates effectively. The fact that some of them are beneficial in some aspect is irrelevant if they are unwanted. The entire point of a garden is that it's full of stuff that some human wants.

reustle 9y ago
Their point is that if a clover is necessary for healthier vegetables, maybe the education around what weeds are should be fixed.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  Clover is certainly not what concerns typical gardeners. Is there a reason I should love the morning glories that are constantly trying to kill my tomatoes?
  - dpark 9y ago
    Only because it's impossible to defeat. :(
- dpark 9y ago
  Clover is not necessary for healthy vegetables. Also he was talking about clover in the context of lawn, not garden anyway. So this robot wouldn't even be relevant. The whole comment seems bizarre to me. It's like some strange gardening pretension.
- davexunit 9y ago
  It's not necessary, but clover is very beneficial for all sorts of plants because it fixes nitrogren. I can't reply to some other person but yes, it's good for vegetables, too, because more nitrogen means more growth.
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    Had some builders in who trashed the lawn and it needed covering quickly to reduce the mud. I threw down a clover and fenscue mix and within 7 days had a full lawn that is near bullet proof, winter and summer. I'd prefer not to have clover but it's extremely drought resistant and the bees love it.

erickhill 9y ago

As shown in the video, plants you want to keep can be saved from the Turtle. 'Weed' is just a term people recognize as "something to remove from my lawn." If you want to save clover, that's a fixable problem. Which they fixed.

rabboRubble 9y ago

Weeds as the westerner farmer understands them to be are often transplanted from other parts of the world and without a natural predator, and can take over fields pushing out the crop. http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532879755/a-pesticide-a-pigweed-and-a-farmers-murder http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532879755/a-pesticide-a-pigwee... Mom fights a never ending battle with foreign weeds like knapweed (from eastern Europe) and Canadian thistle (from southeast Europe and Asia) that was introduced thru contaminated seeds. Every year she sprays and manually digs the weeds out of the ground. Edit: also should point out that what we call weeds push out the local plantlife too. I also forgot kudzu, the weed that (or didn't? depends who you ask) ate the south. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/04/the-vine-that-ate-the-south-the-invasive-plant-kudzu-is-swallowing-the-southeast-of-the-us/ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/04/the-vine-that-ate-... http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudzu-vine-ate-south-180956325/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudz...

Alex3917 9y ago

> The term "weed" feels pretty outdated at this point. As they say in botany class, a wildflower is just a weed with a better PR department.

adrianmonk 9y ago

As far as I know, the term is fine. A plant you don't want is a plant that you don't want, regardless of whether you appreciate why you should want it.