- (Public Value) UCANR: Protecting California's natural resources
- Author: Thomas Getts
A few months ago Rob Wilson wrote an excellent blog highlighting perennial pepperweed patches he was seeing in the Klamath Basin. It is a terrible noxious weed, which is found throughout much of the state, from sea level up to 8,000 ft. in the Sierras.
Where I live in the Honey Lake Valley, perennial pepperweed is widespread and has completely overtaken vast acreages of unmanaged pastures and riparian areas. At one point, it was estimated around 64,000 acres of land were infested throughout Lassen county. Generally, the Honey Lake Valley and Long Valley are hotspots that contain the majority of the acreage. While I live in the Honey Lake Valley, I also...
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Have you listened to the new field bindweed podcast on Growing the Valley?
Field Bindweed with Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie
Dr. Lynn Sosnoskie may have moved across the country to Cornell, but she is still interested in finding new and better ways to kill field...
- Author: Rebecca Ozeran
A few months ago, I was asked about the toxicity of various plants in a horse pasture after the death of a miniature horse using that pasture. While many of the identified plants were chemically harmless (such as filaree [Erodium spp] and some native clovers), the pasture did have fiddleneck (Amsinckia spp) and popcorn flower (Plagiobothrys spp), two native forbs with potentially toxic chemistry.
Popcorn flower (above) has small white flowers. Fiddleneck (below) has slightly larger yellow flowers. Both plants have similar overall shapes: slender flowering stems, relatively small leaves, and hairs on all parts except the flowers themselves.
Fiddleneck is a known...
- Author: Thomas Getts
- Posted by: Gale Perez
From the Lassen county Farm Advisor's Update newsletter (Aug. 2020)
Highlighting Two Uncommon Noxious Weeds
Let's keep them uncommon!
There are two species of noxious weeds I want to bring to your attention, as they are not that common in our area: rush skeleton weed (Chondrilla juncea) and sulfur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta). Both of these perennial species have relatively small populations in the Intermountain...
- Author: Thomas Getts
- Author: Rob Wilson
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) also known as tall whitetop is a root-creeping perennial weed. It is commonly found along roadsides, ditches, and drains. It is also a big problem in pastures, non-cropland, and even cropland that is not tilled on a yearly basis. Unlike many other weeds of the state, pepperweed is problematic throughout many ecotypes, from low elevation wetlands around the delta up to high elevations in the Sierra's. Perennial pepperweed spreads by seed and root fragments and is very persistent and difficult to control once established.
Up in the Klamath basin, I've been amazed at the number of perennial pepperweed patches flowering along the road and ditches this year. The plants' tiny white...
