Erasmus+

1. Osnovna škola Bartola Kašića
Vinkovci
Erasmus + projekt
Young citizens of Europe – our future
September 2015
COMMON RAGWEED
ERADICATION

2. Common ragweed ( Ambrosia atremisiifolia) is a plant
that is native to North America. It was brought to Europe in the
19th and 20th century by ships. It has become invasive species
in some European countries. Eastern Croatia has been badly
affected since the World War 2.

3. Ragweed grows in fields,
gardens, roadsides and
waste places. It is an annual
plant.
Each plant produces seeds
that are carried by wind.
Seeds can survive in the soil
for more than 30 years.
Common ragweed spreads
westwards between 6 and 20
kilometres every year,
depending on weather
conditions.

4. Each plant can produce a billion
grains of pollen every year.
Ragweed pollen is the greatest
allergen of all pollens and
major cause of hay fever.
Symptoms of allergy are eye
irritation, runny nose, sneezing,
inflamed nose and throat and
in some cases asthma attacks and headaches. The worst time of
the year is the late summer.
Every year more and more people develop ragweed allergy ,
which is a big public health problem , and it is very important to
eradicate it.

5. We decided to do something about it. First we visited the
Department of Public Health. Dr. Kata Krešić, Head of the
Department informed us about allergies and ways of eradicating
common ragweed.
She gave us leaflets and posters to distribute in our local
community.

6. Students put up posters on
shopwindows, bus stops, etc.

7. Leaflets
were thrown
into letter -
boxes or
handed out
to people in
the street.

8. There are three ways of eradication of ragweed:
- chemical spraying: it is not suitable for urban areas, because
ragweed reacts only to some of the more aggressive
herbicides
- mowing: it must be repeated every three weeks because
ragweed grows back rapidly
- manual uprooting: it should be done before flowering
We decided to uproot ragweed on two locations where there
are lots of children – near the school and near the city
recreational area. Students and teachers worked together.

9. Location 1

10. Location 2

11. We also have a
project song. It is
“Pjesma zadrugara”
from a famous
Croatian childrens’
film “Vlak u snijegu”.
Lyrics “Kad se male
ruke slože, sve se
može” are often
used by almost
everyone in Croatia.
The meaning is that nothing is impossible if we work as a team.
The song was performed by the school choir and orchestra,
conducted by music teacher Ružica Lacković.