- Posted by: Gale Perez
- Author: Theresa A. Becchetti
Here's an article from the UCCE San Joaquin County Field Notes newsletter (May 2013.)
Medusahead has been invading our rangelands for years. The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has photo documentation from the early 1980’s with large stands of medusahead on the east side of the county. Medusahead can also be found in the Livermore area but until this spring I have never seen it on San Joaquin County’s west side. It is a very invasive grass that can potentially reduce grazing capacity by at least 50%. Early detection and control can help eradicate it on a ranch. Here I summarize the research projects that my...
- Author: Brad Hanson
The newest issue of the journal "California Agriculture" (April-June 2013) published by the University of California and UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources just came out and has two articles written by UC weed researchers
Check out the whole issue here or the specific articles at the links below.
For switchgrass cultivated as biofuel in California, invasiveness limited by several steps
by Joseph M. DiTomaso, Jacob N....
- Author: Brad Hanson
A repost and link today to a recent Weed Science Society of America press release entitled: "WSSA Scientists Stress the Importance of Early Response to Invasive Weeds" Click the link to go to the full article.
I'll also give kudos to the WSSA web team on the brand new redesigned (and really sharp-looking Society webpage here: http://wssa.net/ A great resource for weed science info, jobs, and links to issues...
- Author: Guy B Kyser
This is part of a talk I gave last week in Marin County. These three annual thistles turn up everywhere in northern California, so it's nice to know them by name. They're mostly on disturbed sites, roadsides, and waste ground, but they can also establish on rangeland, pasture, and natural areas.They germinate and grow into rosettes during winter, then in spring they bolt and produce purple flowers.
| Like a lot of our weeds, these species originated in southern Europe, southwestern Asia, and the Middle East. They 'learned' how to survive alongside human agriculture early on. |
Italian...
- Author: Brad Hanson
Two links to recent BBC news articles on invasive weeds.
The first one is about a weed that should be familiar to anyone who has traveled in much of the intermountain west - cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). The BBC article entitled "Wildfires fanned by invasive grass species" is a popular press discussion of recently article by Balch et al. in the scientific journal Global Change Biology. The focus of the research and reports was to discuss the effects that this fast growing (and fast dying) weed has on fire cycles and fire severity in the western US. Very interesting!
The second one, "
