WASHINGTON — Home and large-scale growers share a common struggle: weeds! The March 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog post explains what makes weeds survive—and how to tackle them.
“The reality is that weeds are super at competing for sunlight, water, and nutrients from our desirable plants. That can cause problems in your home garden or a farmer’s field,” explains Audrey Kalil, North Dakota State University.
Weeds have qualities that seems to guarantee their return, year-after-year. But there are proven techniques:
- Weeds steal sunlight, water and nutrients from our desired crops. One like Kochia is a prolific weed because each flower produces a seed with more than 50,000 seeds per plant! Credit: Vipan Kumar
Pull weeds early. Be sure to get the roots, too, as these can generate new plants.
- Don’t let weeds to go seed.
- If using herbicides, apply at the correct time of the growing season.
- Prevent their growth with mulches or landscape fabric.
- Give your desired plants the best environment to thrive, crowding out the weeds.
“The best way to tackle these plants is to know your enemy,” Kalil says. “Correctly identify the weed, learn about its growth habit (winter vs. summer annual, seed reproducing, rhizome reproducing, etc.) and then develop your management plan from there.”
To read the complete blog, visit Sustainable, Secure Food at https://sustainable-secure-
–American Society of Agronomy
Crop Science Society of America
For more articles concerning weed management, click here.
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