- Author: Chris McDonald
On Earth Day. Managing weeds is a costly and difficult task. Yet their impacts to the environment are high. Herbicides or hoes cost money and the impacts to the environment when weeds grow unchecked are also significant.
The costs of managing invasive species are staggering. For example, it is estimated that the US spends about $128 billion annually managing invasive species. In 2011 just one federal department, the Department of the Interior (BLM, NPS, FWS, among others), spent $100 million removing invasive species. In the US, herbicide sales are over $5 billion a year, not to mention costs of application equipment, maintenance and labor.
In California over 5 million pounds (of active...
- Author: Brad Hanson
The newest issue of the journal "California Agriculture" (April-June 2013) published by the University of California and UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources just came out and has two articles written by UC weed researchers
Check out the whole issue here or the specific articles at the links below.
For switchgrass cultivated as biofuel in California, invasiveness limited by several steps
by Joseph M. DiTomaso, Jacob N....
- Author: Guy B Kyser
In ailanthus territory, you have to be careful not to park for too long in one place.
- Author: Guy B Kyser
This is a new-to-me weed, even though it's growing all around Robbins Hall where I've been working since typewriter times. Fumitory (Fumaria spp.) is a lacy, vine-like annual native to Europe. Looks sort of like parsley, though it's not related. It doesn't have tendrils, but it has 'grabby' foliage, and it drapes over other plants and fences by coiling its stem ends. Fumitory is in the poppy family (Papaveraceae). Its flowers are small, white to purplish, and bilateral in axillary racemes.
I figured out what this was by using this weed ID tool available through the
- Author: Brad Hanson
I wanted to share a link today to a paper published by CAST, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. This paper, entitled "Herbicide-resistant weeds threaten soil conservation gains: finding a balance for soil and farm sustainablity", was released about a year ago and addresses one of the less obvious issues resistance imposes - soil erosion. This paper can be viewed or downloaded (free!) at the link above.
The development and adoption of effective postemergence...