From the Livestock and Range blog

Did you miss the Weed Management for Small Acreage Workshop? Don't worry! Here's the link to all the presentations: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLjlfxpbNglYGn38KY94aoo6z3pLjo7E4. 

Topics Included:

• Poisonous Plants
• Yellow Starthistle Control
• Herbicide Resistant Weeds
• Weed ID and Management 101

Watergrass

We are having more and more difficulties controlling watergrass over the past 20 or so years. We know that as of the early 2000s, we had found multiple-herbicide resistant late watergrass (also known as mimic), as well as multiple-herbicide resistant barnyardgrass. For early watergrass, we now have resistant biotypes (to thiobencarb), with none recorded as being multiple-herbicide resistant.

In 2017, two rice fields were identified with an unknown watergrass biotype (or species) that looked very different than the three main known species that infest California rice fields (late watergrass, early watergrass, and barnyardgrass). Both fields had...

Sutter County grows between 300 and 800 acres of fresh-market honeydew, mixed melon and cantaloupe each year. The fields vary between furrow and drip irrigation, with many fields in the Sutter Basin only receiving a pre-irrigation.

Because of the rapid growth of melons, they are competitive with weeds and one cultivation may be sufficient to control weed issues. The growing habits of melons reduce the need for herbicides, which is fortunate since the availability of registered and effective herbicides is limited.

Generally, in Sutter County, the field is tilled, pre-irrigated, worked again, and melons are planted into moisture. When weed pressure is high, a hand-hoeing crew comes in and cultivates. Since many of...

Article also published in California Weed Science Society Journal (March 2021 issue)

-Brad