In order to best time weed removal, I need to know when a plant will set viable seed. I need to know how much material I can leave on site and when to bag it and haul it out. Needless to say, it's much more work to bag and haul then to cut and leave.
The bull thistle pictured above, even though barely beginning to flower, already has seed inside the head that can mature and become viable. But I found out through seed growing trials that if the bull thistle is in bud without any purple showing, the seed does not mature to be viable.
Italian thistle has a more forgiving timeline. Even though some purple shows, the seed inside has proven not viable when dried and subsequently sown in the greenhouse. Therefore it can have a bit of purple tinge to the opening flower but it can't be too far along.
Ripgut brome proves to be the trickiest so far. It can look very immature with soft milky seeds. But when dried and sown in the greenhouse, the seed germinates within a few days.
I'll continue to collect weed seed from different species at different maturities in different parts of the Reserve to grow in the greenhouse. This will directly inform my weed management strategies. I need all the help I can get.
Ripgut brome is an AWESOME name...and sounds like an especially nefarious weed. I love your experimental approach to all of the weed control -- good luck!
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea you could time the weed removal to make sure they didn't drop viable seeds. I'm excited to see what kind of results I can come up with now that I know.
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