50th Annual National Collegiate Landscape Competition
March 18 - 21, 2026
Michigan State University
Updated 12/11/2025

Turf & Weed Identification

Description: The student (maximum of two individuals per school) will be required to identify, by botanical name (genus and species) and common name, from a group of 50 weeds, desirable turf grasses, turf grass insects, and turf grass diseases, either from photographs or live samples. Some of the multiple choice questions may pertain to the corrective measures needed to solve the problem created by a weed, insect, disease or cultural practice. The turf and turf pest specimens will be selected from the master list posted to the NCLC website prior to the event.

Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes will be allowed each student

JUDGING CRITERIA

Points: 100 possible points per individual; individual scores are combined toward the team score for a total of 200 possible points.

Each specimen (or multiple choice question) will be worth a maximum of two points:

• .5 point for correct spelling
• .5 point for correct botanical name (genus, species, and cultivar, if applicable)
• 1 point for common name

Time will only be used as a tiebreaker.

Students are required to bring the following materials to the event: Two sharpened pencils with erasers, clipboard, and magnifying glass. No scratch paper will be allowed into the event.

Sponsor is required to supply the following materials for the event:

• Live specimens or photos of specimens (selected from the master list provided by NALP)
• 130 answer sheets with cover page
• Stopwatches
• Laminated numbers for each specimen
• Final solution ready for scoring the students’ solutions
• Sufficient number of judges and event monitors
• Any other items deemed necessary for this event