- Author: Cheryl A. Wilen
One point I always make is that the sooner you control annual weeds, the better. The reduces crop-weed competition, along with a host of other issues caused by weeds (we'll save that for another blog). But the real key to forward-looking weed management is to kill the weed before it produces seeds. Once seeds are produced, they contribute to the seed bank, pretty much ensuring that the weed population will be a continual problem.
But suppose you miss some weeds that are starting to flower but the flowers aren't open yet? I think most growers will just pull or cut the weed and leave it in or near the field.
I want to show you a time-lapse video I took. I cut the flowering stem off of an...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
Or rather, think about the weed seedbank, which is the reservoir of viable weed seeds held within the soil profile of an ecosystem. These seeds may be recent additions (e.g. seed that was produced on mother plants within the previous year) or else dormant seeds that have persisted in the soil environment across multiple seasons (e.g. seeds that have not germinated despite exposure to optimal environmental conditions). Whether we realize it or not, our ability to manage weeds in agricultural or horticultural settings can be significantly influenced by the density and diversity of the weeds seedbank. Numerous studies have demonstrated that as weed seed numbers increase, so do the numbers of weeds that survive management...
- Re-posted by: Gale Perez
- Posted by: The Weed's Network
- Author: Steven Fennimore
Introduction
Weed seed are the means by which annual weeds reproduce and disperse. The seed buried in the soil is referred to as the seedbank. Most seed in the soil seedbank were produced in the same field or greenhouse. Some of the seed in the seedbank moved there through the actions of wind, water, animals or the activities of man. Annual weeds usually regenerate from seed stored in the soil seedbank. The seedbank reflects the effectiveness of recent weed management practices in the field or greenhouse and will determine future weed infestations. This article will outline some of the factors that influence weed seedbanks and how to use steam to kill weed seeds.
Weed...
- Author: Douglas J Munier
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. We published an article on the weediness potential of Roundup Ready canola in California this past January in the Journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
Here's the abstract from the article:
Abstract: Canola which is genetically modified (GM) for tolerance to glyphosate has the potential to become established as a new glyphosate resistant weed, thus reducing the effectiveness of glyphosate. Volunteer from dormant canola seeds produced thousands of plants per acre...
- Author: Cheryl A. Wilen
Just a quick note about soil seed banks. If you are not familiar with the term, it is where seeds are stored in the soil until conditions are appropriate for germination or where they decompose. There are thousands of seeds in a seed bank and not all will germinate at any given time or any given set of conditions. That's one of the reasons annual weeds are a problem year after year, even if you kill the current year's weeds before they produce seeds.
If you need proof, I'm attaching a photo of a plot that was tall fescue turf for the past 5 years and there were few weeds in the plots. I then shut off off the water for a few months and the fescue died. I recently started irrigating a few plots and up came a bumper crop of...