Hereford, Angus, and crossbred calves show no signs of irritation when leafy spurge or potentially harmful chemicals in spurge are applied to skin, lips, mouths, throats, and organs of gastrointestinal tracts. The presence of leafy spurge influences foraging behavior of cattle. Leafy spurge had less protein, more phosphorus, and was generally less digestible than alfalfa. The Fire Effects Information System focuses mainly on interactions of invasive species with fire. This section summarizes current information on methods of control, but it is not a comprehensive evaluation.
Leafy spurge is an invasive weed offering great potential for the use of biological control methods.
A wide spectrum of control organisms exist within its native Eurasian habitat and several is currently being evaluated for use in North America. However, leafy spurge possesses a large number of native relatives, so high host specificity is needed for biocontrol organisms. A successful biological control project reduces the pest population density to environmentally or economically acceptable levels. Biological control does not eradicate the target species. Rhizoctonia solani and other multinucleate Rhizoctonia spp.