Foxtail barley has become a perennial problem in minimum tillage fields across Western Canada. But how did it get this way? The plant is a poor competitor and can be killed with a variety of herbicides. Tillage is the most effective control, but most producers no longer use it. Hordeum jubatum thrives where there has […] Read more
Tag Archives Weed of the Week Archive
Weed of the Week: dandelion
Like many plants we now call weeds, dandelion was brought to the new world as a useful plant. It has a history of being used as a medicinal herb and as food and feed for people and livestock. It might be an annoyance in a lawn, but it causes significant yield reductions in grain and […] Read more
Weed of the Week: White cockle
It might look like other night flowering weeds, such as catchfly, but this invasive pest is expanding rapidly through reduced tillage fields in Western Canada. The pest typically shows up as white flowers amongst a yellow canola crop, where it competes for water and fertilizer resources. It is a tough weed to control for many […] Read more
Weed of the week: shepherd’s purse
Weed of the Week Archive Some weeds have become the problem children of reduced tillage. Shepherd’s purse is one of those bad kids. The weed has little resistance to applications of steel, but along with narrow-leaved hawk’s beard, cleavers, flixweed and stinkweed, it now appears early in the spring season to rob fields of water […] Read more
Weed of the week: white cockle
White cockle is a tough weed to control once it reaches its short-lived perennial stage. The weed’s proper name is Lychnis alba and is also known as evening lychnis and white campion. It produces large numbers of seeds, has a tough, deep taproot and once established is challenging to remove from fields. Mature plants are […] Read more
Weed of the week – foxtail barley
Wild, or foxtail, barley is a pest that has benefited from the movement to reduced tillage. Foxtail barley is a prolific seed producer and a growing problem for producers across Western Canada. Hordeum jubatum is also known as wild barley or by a series of names that compare the weed’s bushy awns to the tails […] Read more
Weed of the week – saltcedar
Saltcedar has arrived in Western Canada, but it wasn’t unexpected. Producers who deal with it and purple loosestrife consider saltcedar the worst of the two pasture pests. Also known as tamarix, the plant was found in southern Saskatchewan last year. Saltcedar wasn’t always thought of as a problem. It was originally imported to improve riparian […] Read more
Weed of the week: Spiny sow thistle
Spiny sow thistle is an annual pest in many parts of Western Canada, and has developed Group 2 herbicide resistance in Alberta. With reduced tillage, the spiny annual sow thistle has become a major weed in Western Canada. The plant will germinate in spring or in fall, becoming a winter annual and appearing where late […] Read more
Weed of the Week: Canada thistle
Creeping thistle, as it is known in some parts of Europe, is best known on the Prairies as the perennial Canada thistle. This unwelcome European immigrant makes its way through the fields of western Canada by seed and root. Thistle patches might start from a seed, but the colonies often form from root buds that […] Read more
Annual smartweed
The annual smartweed is a dicot that produces 3,000 seeds per plant and can grow up to a metre tall. Plant densities of 150 per sq. metre can reduce wheat yields by 35 percent and canola yields by 25 percent. Fifteen to 20 plants per sq. metre in canola will reduce yields by five percent. […] Read more
