Newest First
By a on 08-11-12 @ 12:33 pm
It is important to have stories like this one. If we can be warned of what’s coming we can take steps to deal with while it is a few plants and before it becomes a million plants. The first thing to do is to
identify the plant, then research how to deal with it. For small acreage owners like myself, it is may be
reasonable to pull this weed and not let it go seed. That can only happen if I catch it early and
because of this story I will be looking for it. Thanks, Beacon.
By Craig moore on 08-11-12 @ 12:37 pm
Scientists discover? Nice grasp of the obvious. Farmers already knew and have been spreadingthe word for some time. What they want to know is what to do with an already known threat.
By JCW on 08-11-12 @ 7:47 pm
STOP spraying 2-4-D..!! STOP spraying Roundup..!!! STOP SPRAYING for weeds..!!Every drop POISONS 100,000 gallons of water. It causes DISEASES in humans. Heart, kidney,
liver problems. Do some of you wonder why your kids have AUTISM..?? Birth defects…?
Allergies…? LEARNING DISABILITIES..??
This stuff is what’s CAUSING IT….....!!! It’s been PROVEN. And they still keep selling it to
STUPID PEOPLE WHO WILL BUY IT..!!
I haven’t ran into a weed yet that is FIRE RESISTENT or GARDEN FORK RESISTANT. Get off your
butts..!!
By a on 08-12-12 @ 8:47 pm
JCW I have to agree with you. Of course you are right, but, it’s a big but. we don’t live in that kind of world anymore. The population is just to big. In a world that humans only had a few children, yeah.
what you say would work, but we have this idea that humans are so important and must be saved at
all costs, even the earth.
By Passin through on 08-12-12 @ 9:10 pm
Well then JCW you have not run into wild parsnip…. test run on it in seed form have found yes some die but enough hang in to just repopulate a space.. and we are talking 1000 of seeds per
flower.That can be spread by just the slightest wind. Garden fork resistate you best make sure
you get enough of the root to kill it unlike some where just harming the root will do it in, not with
this weed. It is the same with one called Wild Hogweed. I wished I could go back in time and
smack the guy who frist brought these weeds to the new world, such a piece of mind I would give
him. Oh the plant can grow to be over 5 foot tall, so reaching for the flowers can be fun.
I am on my second summer of trying to get of as much of the Wild Parsnip out of my yard and
flower gardens. I go out as many times a day as I can and cut as many of the flowers off ,putting in
the dark trash bags as the site I found on it says to do .and being very sure the sap dose not in
any way touch me… Yes it has said to use Round up on it but to do this will kill the flowers my
mother planted in these gardens many years ago, and I do not want to do that since she is no
longer with us.. and they are one of the few things of hers I still have. the dang salt mixed with the
winter snows have killed enough of her flowers in the front yard now since the plow throws snow
up in the yard more then it use to.
To be honest I would rather have purple strife growing at lest it dose not have problem with the
horrible blisters you get if the sap touches you… and it is a heck of a perttier flower.
But if you want to give it a try and get rid of it your way I know a good place to start, any help in
getting rid of it would be apperciated.
By Craig moore on 08-13-12 @ 8:42 am
Canadians have been all over this issue. Perhaps Montana’s scientists should just ask them forguidance: http://www.producer.com/2012/07/growers-urged-to-take-up-kochia-fight/
====quote====
Coles said farmers tend to spray fields just after seeding with fairly low herbicide rates. By
that time, kochia can be well established and is even more difficult to control as the plants
mature.
“Really small kochia is really easy to kill. The other problem with it, though, is when they’re
small, they’re harder to hit.”
Low drift nozzles with bigger droplet sizes can miss kochia, allowing it to thrive in the crop.
The weed also has multiple flushes, so killing older plants can open the canopy and allow
younger ones to grow.
Fortunately, kochia seeds are not viable beyond two years, and 70 to 80 percent of seeds will
germinate in the first year. That means a short-term perennial rotation or some other means of
keeping fields clean for two seasons could eliminate the problem on a localized level, Coles said.
After harvest, he suggested farmers check their fields for kochia and treat or mow before they
set seed.
The weed is a formidable adversary, Coles added.
“It’s the earliest up, earliest germinating weed. It’s drought tolerant, it’s saline tolerant,
it’s got the best water use efficiency.”
Kochia can send a taproot five metres into the soil to find moisture, making it extremely
competitive with crops in dry conditions.
Coles said Beckie and Blackshaw have yet to report interim results from their trials, but it
appears herbicide tank mixes containing dicamba are effective against glyphosate resistant kochia.
====end quote====
IMHO this problem traveled north from Dixie via custom cutters. Farmers should require that
all machinery and vehicles that have come from “weed” states wash them before entering their fields.
By thinker on 08-13-12 @ 9:41 am
Well, Craig Moore, thanks for the enlightenment. I’m getting really tired of uninformed people reporting alarmist stories.
By Craig moore on 08-16-12 @ 4:51 pm
Hankie, do you think Jon Tester could equally help us out since he took $177,744 in USDAsubsidies from 1995-2011. Not bad in addition to his Senate salary.
http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A08324815
Then there is always Brian Schweitzer. The good guv took $271,271 in USDA subsidies for the
same period. A paycheck from both the federal govt and Montana at the same time.
The views expressed in the comments section do not reflect those of the Beacon.