- Author: Steve Dreistadt
Brooms are shrubs introduced into North America from Europe in the mid-1800s. Common species include Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) and Portuguese broom (Cytisus striatus). Brooms initially were introduced as ornamentals, but then used extensively for erosion control along roadsides and in mined areas.
Now throughout California forests, roadsides, and wildlands they are weeds that increase the risk of wildfire and crowd out desirable vegetation. They form impenetrable thickets that invade other vegetation, shade out tree seedlings, and make reforestation difficult. They burn readily,...
- Re-posted by: Gale Perez
From WeedsNews4791 | February 22, 2014 | 11:30 pm
Posted by Zheljana Peric
Abstract: For widespread adoption of biodegradable plastics as agricultural mulches, dependable biodegradation across contrasting conditions is necessary. The in situ degradation of four potentially biodegradable mulches (two commercially available starch-based films, one commercially available cellulose paper mulch, and one...
- Author: Gale Perez
On Monday, March 17, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Planning Branch is organizing a two hour lecture by Dr. Joe DiTomaso on the biology, ecology and management of yellow starthistle. The department has not only arranged for the lecture to be presented to participants in attendance, but it will also be available as a live webinar. The presentation will discuss why and how yellow starthistle became so widespread in California and all the possible management strategies, including herbicides, mechanical removal, burning, grazing, and biological control and how these strategies can be best applied to minimize non-target species damage. Dr. DiTomaso will also include an...
- Author: Carl Bell
- Posted by: Gale Perez
From the Invasive Plants in Sourthern California blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/socalinvasives/index.cfm)
This blog should be filed under, “They'll try anything, especially if they think there is lots of money in it and they don't know the business.”
Since I moved from an agricultural assignment 14 years ago in the low desert to do invasive plant extension work I have seen a whole bunch of strange ideas and practices floated out there that are sexy, but don't make sense. These have included steaming with a sugar-enhanced foam, tons of sugar dumped on the soil to fool...
- Author: Gale Perez
Todd Fitchette wrote the article "Herbicide-resistant weeds a growing problem" for the Western Farm Press (Feb. 18, 2014). Here's the link: http://westernfarmpress.com/management/herbicide-resistant-weeds-growing-problem