Japanese Hawkweed - Youngia japonica

[dayna]

I've got this growing everywhere on my property.

Anyone know if it's rabbit safe. So far I'm not finding out much... other than it's safe for people.

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?Lat ... a+japonica

 

[the reluctant farmer]

I'm not sure, but found "It is a close relative of dandelions and contains all the same beneficial nutrients" from this site
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/03/ja ... kweed.html. That sounds promising...I hope it is bun-safe, cause I've got it around here, too.

 

[dayna]

Well, I guess what I'll do is take my least favorite bun and do a trial run! Done it before. lol Sometimes that's the best way to try out a possibly healthy delicious plant.

 

[MaggieJ]

I couldn't find any information about rabbits eating it, but it is probably safe. In my experience, most plants that people can eat raw are also safe for rabbits. I do hope, Dayna, that if you test it on a rabbit you will report the outcome in this thread.

 

[LPH_NY]

We have both the yellow and the smaller orange kinds of hawkweed here. Last fall my rabbits were all on 80% forage and 20% hay. I included hawkweed in their forage and they had no problems with it. I spent a great deal of the summer researching every single local weed I could find and annotating whether it is edible. I can't say "yeah, it's 100% safe-go for it." But I can tell you my rabbits liked it and suffered no ill effects.

I put a flag next to the only remaining orange hawkweed flower in my yard back in October. I was waiting for a seed head to develop so that I could save it and replant where I wanted in the spring. Right before the gorgeous flaming orange was spent, my son picked it. I almost cried.

 

[Zass]

It looks like rabbit food to me.

Totally test it out, and if you don't, I will on some of my older growouts this summer. I usually have some between 14 and 16 weeks hanging around just growing fur. Those make good test buns.

 

[dayna]

Well I've started testing it out. Just one weed per day for a week, then I'll up it to two weeds per day for a week then up it again.

 

[KelleyBee]

Well I've started testing it out. Just one weed per day for a week, then I'll up it to two weeds per day for a week then up it again.

What was your outcome I've got it growing, too.