The most effective, economical, and ecologically sound method of managing invasive plants is to prevent their invasion in the first place. Resources can be spent most efficiently on proactive activities that focus on stopping the movement of plant seeds and other reproductive parts to new areas.
The Spring 2012 edition of UCNFA News, the online newsletter for the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance, is now available for viewing. This issue focuses on weeds and weed management for nursery and floricultural operations.
Woolly distaff thistle (Carthamus lanatus L.) is a yellow-flowered, spiny winter annual native to Mediterranean and central Europe. It has become a problem recently in northern California and southern Oregon.
Previously in this blog Brad Hanson discussed some of the research Kent Brittan (UCCE Yolo) and I have done with Roundup Ready canola as a crop and then evaluating it as a weed because of its seed dormancy characteristics.