Pink flowered sprawling weed ID

This thing is overrunning my root crops, paths, etc..

What is it?

Can pigs it eat? Will pigs eat it?

Ditto chickens?

Thanks!

it's a knotweed/polygonum of some sort.

Thanks. Just what I needed... clear the broom, get canada thistle, clear the thistle, get knotweed and reed canary grass...

D Nikolls wrote:Thanks. Just what I needed... clear the broom, get canada thistle, clear the thistle, get knotweed and reed canary grass...

Welcome to succession weeding!

A lot of the polygonums are edible for humans. I've got P. persicaria, spotted lady's thumb, which is edible. Yours looks different - doesn't have the red on the leaves.

Mine has lots of beneficial insects on it. I see birds on it a lot, too. I'm hoping they're also eating slugs and caterpillars while they snack on the seeds.

In spots where I don't want it, it seems easy to weed. I let it go to seed the first couple years, then got to it before it seeded one year. That one year of weeding before it went to seed cleared up 80% of it probably.