Roundup Ready Weeds?

Corn stubble and lambsquarters residue from 2010 growing season.

This post is not necessarily about gardening but what happens in this field and the other fields around my house does affect my garden yet I don’t have much say. So I will vent through this blog. My problem is “Roundup Ready Corn”! My father-in-law owns a dairy and insists on controlling what we raise in our fields.  Every six years we must rotate out of alfalfa (I don’t disagree with this) to another crop which he insists must be corn and it must be “Roundup Ready” to control weeds. My observation over the years is it doesn’t really kill the weeds.


Recently I attended a landscape and nursery conference in Reno and the Nevada Department of Agriculture conducted seminars on pest control. One of these seminars was about weed control where pictures of lambsquarters which had treated but not killed with “Roundup” were shown. Amazing! They looked just like the lambsquarters in our field last summer even weeks after they had been sprayed with “Roundup”. The instructor said just what I was suspicious of; “These plants survive to produce ‘Roundup’ resistant seed that sprout into ‘Roundup’ resistant weeds in subsequent years.”

The picture at the top of this page is a photo of the corn stubble in our field interspersed with the residue of the lambsquarters and other weeds that were not completely killed by a single application of “Roundup”. In fact if you will notice in the close up picture at the bottom of this post, some of the “Roundup” treated weeds got quite tall. The ones pictured are about 3’ tall. Unfortunately my father-in-law is not unique is his use of “Roundup Ready Corn”. Other dairymen/slash farmers in my valley do likewise with similar results; weeds that are only knocked back long enough for the corn to outgrow them. In fact local wildlife officials who have the responsibility for managing water righted land the government has purchased have repeatedly said the fields that have been in corn are the hardest to rehabilitate because of the weed problem.

One may ask why I think this problem affects my garden. Well these seeds don’t just stay in the fields where they are produced. They get caught in the coats of the wildlife that wanders through my fields and into my garden or are spread by the wind that blows over my fields and into my garden. Weed seeds respect no boundaries!

What do I want to suggest to my father-in-law but know he won’t listen? Use cultural practices that discourage weeds and find another crop that can be planted with much closer spacing that crowds out the weeds such as the Sudan grass (residue of which is pictured after the close up of the lambsquarters residue). There are other things he can do as well but that will be the subject of another post. He’s actually introducing weed seeds into my fields with another one of his practices. My father-in-law is a real agricultural menace that is impacting more than agricultural land!

This lambsquarters grew to 3' inspite of being treated with Roundup!

Residue from sudan grass that was seeded much heavier than corn, not treated with herbicide and appears virtually weed free.

Fresh Manure Brings Bad Odor and More Weeds

I had a wonderful trip to the Grand Canyon over the Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately I came back to a smell house because my father-in-law, the dairyman, decided to put fresh dairy manure on the fields on the windward side of our house. Not only is this a nasty smelling mess it's also likely to generate a lot of weeds.


Most people are familiar with animal manures being very high in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which are all required for plant growth. They are also high in organic matter which improves soil structure and water holding capacity. So one would think I should be perfectly happy that my father-in-law added dairy manure to our fields and they should be very productive next year. However, my experience over the past 23 years has been everywhere I put dairy manure in my garden I fight more weeds than produce vegetables or nice flowers. I've also heard my share of people in this community brag about the free dairy manure they spread on areas where they wanted lawn only to find out they got nothing but weeds. The problem with the manure is it wasn't properly composted before it was applied and that is exactly the case with the manure in the fields around my house.

Proper composting of animal manures requires piling it up in an area with a mixture of dry organic matter such as straw, autumn leaves, or other dead non-diseased plant residues. When mixed together and allowed to sit the bacteria in the piles works on breaking down the organic matter. During this process the pile gets very hot. Once this pile reaches a peak temperature in the center it should be stirred up to allow materials on the outside of the pile to also break down and cook. The heat from this decomposition process is hot enough to kill most weed seeds and insures that nutrients aren't tied up in the organic matter or bacteria once the compost is added to the soil. Also completely composted manure and organic matter has a much more pleasant odor.

If you don't have space for composting animal manure get it from a reputable garden center of dealer who has thoroughly composted the manure. Many communities don't allow composting or the application of fresh animal manure because it can leach into the local watershed causing environmental problems. In this case you will have to purchase your manure from a garden center which should only be getting it from sources that thoroughly compost it.

If you choose to compost manure yourself, check the Internet for proper ways to thoroughly compost it. There are lots of resources. Manure can be a good way to add organic matter soils in arid regions such as the Great Basin. These soils are typically low in organic matter. However, thoroughly composted manure can be a blessing but fresh manure can be a curse. My father-in-law cursed our whole property. Worse yet he's been doing so for years because that's the way his daddy did it and his son (my husband) will continue to do it. They don't readily listen to anyone who has a better idea. They claim the weeds can be taken care of by using 'Roundup Ready' seed but if you look at the photo at the top of this post you will see the results of 'Roundup Ready' corn. This field was treated with Roundup when the corn was a few inches tall. Between those rows of corn stubble and piles of manure are the residues of last season's weeds. Yes, the Roundup knocked back the weeds enough that the corn was able to out compete the weeds but no more Roundup was applied when the corn grew taller and made subsequent herbicide applications impossible. More weeds came up and even though they were shaded and somewhat stunted they still produced viable seed. The fresh manure in those piles will only add to the seed bank and some will blow onto my garden where I've stopped using animal manure. So I'll spend more time weeding than enjoying the fruits of my gardening.

Overdue Greenhouse Faucet Repair

This post isn't the informational post that I intend to do for my blog but I couldn't help but develop a story around my experience of the day. Today I finally got my husband to relent and fix my greenhouse faucet.

I had a greenhouse built 14 years ago so I could propagate plants that were more appropriate to the growing conditions I have here in the Great Basin than the plants available at the local retail nurseries or garden centers in the big box stores that have sprung up like weeds in the past couple of decades. The past couple of winters have paid a toll on the plumbing in this greenhouse and the faucet has been leaking and creating an enormous puddle. I've been after my husband to either let me hire a plumber or have one of his workers fix it. Since we farm and the work is never done, fixing the faucet has been on the "to do" list for over two years.

Finally the level to turn in the faucet "froze" up so I could turn it off (see picture below).

So finally my husband sent a worker to fix it. The first task was getting the water off to the greenhouse. This entailed finding the right valve to turn off. However, when we opened the box where the valves are located we could find them through all the murky water that had collected from the artificially high water table created by continuous flow of water from the leaky faucet (see picture below).

The next task to get all the hoses off the faucet. This will be no easy task since they are now so slimy it's hard to get grip on them to unscrew them from the faucet (see picture below).

After getting the hoses off it's time to dig up the faucet. Unfortunately the trees from the neighbors tree line are enjoying the leaky faucet too (see picture below).

The faucet still isn't fixed and it may take days to do it. The moral of this story is you may be able to save time is if you don't keep putting of that pesky little chore until next year.

Nice Crop of Fall Weeds May Become Fire Hazard Next Summer

Wow! The winter annual weeds have come up here in Northern Nevada and my yard now is a lawn of cheatgrass and mustard weed. It looks pretty now but it won't be fun next spring and by June if I don't have them cleared out I will have a real fire hazard on my hands. I think I'll experiment with some herbicidal soap since I have a neighbor who is certified organic and I can't spray any chemical herbicide near his property and the weeds know no boundaries. If I can kill some of them now maybe I can get a head start on my spring weeding.

Winter annual weeds germinate in the fall and this year they're doing exceptionally well because we had record rainfall in early October. Here in Fallon, Nevada where I live and garden we had just over 2" of moisture which is about half of what we normally receive for an entire year. Half of a year's precipitation in only three days' time! Wow! I wonder if we are going to have a record year or the rest of the year is going to be exceptionally dry.

Regardless of whether we have an exceptionally dry winter or a wet one I better take try to reduce my weed population now. Herbicidal soap kills weeds by destroying the cuticle, thus desiccating them when they lose control of moisture lost to the atmosphere. It works best on annuals because they don't have the extensive root system or any rhizomes with leafy shoots that can be missed by the spray. It also works best if on seedlings because they don't have a well developed root system to sustain them. In theory if I can burn off the leaves and prevent the cheatgrass and mustard developing a good root system before the ground freezes I may be able to kill most of them and reduce the seed bank produced next year.

So today I started spraying them and if it works I should notice wilting leaves by tomorrow. I only sprayed a small patch and have just over an acre to go. I don't want to put too much effort into spraying unless it looks like it's going to work. Stay tuned for progress on this project.

I finally found the time to control a bunch of aphids and whiteflies that had been building up on some red Pac Choi growing in my greenhouse. Now the plants are really covered with these insects and controlling them is no easy matter since I also have a preponderance of weeds and other plants. Also I wanted to control aphids and whiteflies around vegetables with something "environmentally friendly." So I'm opted to spray with neem oil.


My aphid and whitefly control mission needed a plan. First I had pretty much neglected my greenhouse for a few weeks so a lot of weeds and volunteer mint came up on the floor. Both the weeds and mint were potential breeding and hiding places for more aphids and whiteflies. Since I didn't really need the mint and the weeds were just breeding more weeds I removed as many of these plants as I could.

Next step was spraying every bit of foliage in the greenhouse; even if I couldn't find any aphids or whiteflies on every plant. I chose neem oil which can now be purchased at many garden centers. The active ingredient is Azadirachtin which is a hydrophobic extract of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) which to arid regions of India. This botanical insecticide deters feeding and interferes with the normal life cycle of insects. However, for this insecticide to be effective all foliage must be sprayed so as to leave no attractive place for the insects to land and feed.

Unlike chemical insecticides, neem doesn't kill the aphids or whiteflies instantly. So I'll have to wait until they starve because they have stopped feeding. However, I should be able to eat the vegetables right after they have been sprayed by just washing the insects off. Neem is not poisonous to humans.

Now I have reduced my aphid and whitefly population for a while but I need to monitor it with sticky traps that will capture all the flying aphids that are still alive. Especially now that weather outside the greenhouse is getting colder because the insects will now be migrating to the more hospitable climate inside the greenhouse.

Winter

Vegetables

I’ve figured out how to get fresh locally grown vegetable in Northern Nevada! I can grow my own in a cold frame! The best part is these are vegetables I’d given up trying to grow in Nevada because of our unpredictable springs and incredibly hot summers.


The trick is to use protective covering such as a cold from or cool greenhouse. Right now I have kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower growing in an unheated greenhouse. I’m using grow boxes filled with potting soil set over a tray of water that is being wicked up through the bottom of the grow box. However, there is no need to spend the money to for a greenhouse and grow boxes if you want to try growing kale and other winter vegetables in Northern Nevada. A low to the ground cold frame and direct planting into the soil works just as well. The relatively warm air trapped in the cold frame will keep the ground from freezing solid.


I started my cool season vegetables in early fall in a seed tray in the greenhouse. If you want to start seeds now it’s best to start them indoors at a temperature of around 60°F. The seeds can be started in a shallow, well drained tray filled with moist but not soggy potting soil. In the presence of ideal germinating conditions the seeds should sprout in 4 to 7 days.
Let the sprouts put on at least one to two additional pairs of leaves before transplanting them into the cold frame or grow box in an unheated greenhouse.


Cold frames and unheated greenhouses only keep the temperature a few degrees above freezing so expect that these plants will be exposed to freezing conditions. However, they should still survive because they are tolerant of cold conditions. In fact these vegetables actually taste better if they do get a little bit frosted.


Once transplanted be sure to check soil moisture around the plants regularly because snow and rain outside will not necessarily translate into adequate soil moisture inside the cold frame. One discovery I’ve made, using the grow boxes, is that kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts tend to consume less water in the winter than they did this past fall. There are two possible reasons for this; 1. They completed their most active growth during the fall, 2. The cold weather reduced the amount of water transpired through the leaves. This means watering requirements of winter grown vegetables is greatly reduced over summer water consumption.


In addition to reduce water consumption these plants need less fertilizer so be very sparing with any fertilizer applications. None may actually be better.

After the Frost

This past Saturday night we had a hard frost that burned all the roses and brought an end to my outdoor vegetable garden. The timing of this frost didn’t work well for showing off my garden to some out of town dinner guests the next afternoon. The roses were burned and the vegetables were limp. Luckily my garden is more than flowers or vegetables.
One of my gardening interests is using native grasses as ornamentals. Grasses, native and non-native, do well here in the Great Basin and they still look great after a hard frost. One of my dinner guests was admiring my ‘Little Bluestem’ (Schizachyrium scoparium) that was just outside my dining room window. The sun was at just the right angle to show off the bearded seeds still clinging to their stalks.
‘Little Bluestem’ is not native to the Great Basin but does well here if you water it a little. In spite of it being native to the Great Plains and Eastern United States where natural summer moisture is more plentiful it’s still relatively drought tolerant. Although it won’t survive here without summer watering it requires much less water than most lawn grasses and needs no fertilization. In fact the only maintenance I give my ‘Little Bluestem’ besides drip irrigation through the summer is I clip it back to the ground early each spring.
One reason it won’t survive in the Great Basin without summer watering is that it’s a warm season grass and doesn’t send out an inflorescence until later in the summer. This is unlike most of the native grasses in the Great Basin which are cool season grasses and send out their inflorescence in the spring. The reason most native grasses in Great Basin are cool season is that most of our moisture falls in the winter and early spring.
Many non-native plants that are very hardy to an area can pose a threat to the local ecosystem if they are too well adapted and escape cultivation only to out compete the native vegetation. The possibility that ‘Little Bluestem’ would escape cultivation in Great Basin is not likely to be long lived since it needs summer moisture to complete its life cycle and the likely of summer moisture in the wilds of Nevada is slim and none.