There was a post written a few months ago by Rebecca Ozeran entitled “A Tale of Two Grasses,” describing her experiences with cheatgrass and contrasting its characteristics with another invasive annual, medusahead. It was an excellently written blog, and I encourage you to check it out!

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=23889

As I rode my bike through a haze of smoke this morning, I decided it would be appropriate to describe the impacts I see this invasive annual having up in the northeastern corner of the state, because it is just about everywhere! (And I have some cool fire photos to share…) Cheatgrass...

I went out on a few farm calls in the past week, and have noticed a trend. Due to the unusually wet weather this spring, some of the weeds are already producing seed out in the field! This occurs when the field was moist or wet in the spring, and was not tilled or sprayed prior to planting.

If you have weeds that are already setting seed, follow the steps below:

1)  First, make sure to get proper identification of the weed species. Some weed species will produce seed and that seed can germinate and send up a second flush of weeds, in the same season! They are:

• Smallflower umbrella sedge
• Mexican...

Puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris) kept a low profile during the drought years but seems to have exploded following this year's rains. (It is still ‘lying low', so to speak, but there is a lot more of it.)

Also known as goatheads or caltrop, puncturevine is a prostrate annual that produces large, hard, spiked seeds. The seeds disseminate by sticking to animals, tires, and feet, and can easily puncture bike and ATV tires. I tried to do a puncturevine study once but couldn't get the seeds to germinate; my theory now is that the seeds have to be run over by a vehicle before they'll sprout. Conveniently, the plant is commonly found along dirt roads, on roadsides, and on the edges of ag...

In what has been dubbed “dandelion-gate,” members of the Washington State legislature spent 20 minutes complaining about weeds on the capital's lawn “In all the years I've been here I've never seen so many dandelions all over,” Sen. Mike Padden (R) said. “Is it your policy not to treat dandelions?” The department responsible for landscaping responded that the legislature cut its budget and now it only has 15 people covering the nearly 500 acre campus.  

More and more, cities and public agencies are being asked to review and revise (and in some cases develop) their pesticide use policies. Often...