[APWG] Many ways to fight weed seedlings, with allelopathy & fungi

[Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company]

Dear Luke and All,

Thanks for your email.  Regarding lowering the number of weed seedlings in
an area, there are many ways to use the natural allelopathic effects, or
local native fungi, against the weeds:

1.) Planting native plants that have a stronger allelopathic effect than
the weeds, like planting the native Purple Needlegrass to eliminate the
exotic wild oats and ripgut grasses here in California.

By planting back the proper density of local natives, you can use the
allelopathic effect of the natives to put up a permanent barrier against
the weeds.  It is like planting weed antibodies.

You can see this method working for the last 14 years in Sausalito, CA. a
mile or so north of the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco, at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/sausalito.html

2.) Dried plant material and plant extracts that contain the natural
allelochemicals, or phytochemicals made by fungi, like one of the knapweed
patents, and use them as natural herbicides by spreading or spraying them
on top of the weed seedlings.

Dried plant materials that contain a lot of allelochemicals and work well
against weeds are weed-free native grass hay, oak leaves, walnut leaves,
wheat straw, alfalfa hay, and mustard stems.

3.) Native local plant fungi that are seen attacking the weeds, like one
of the knapweed patents, could be developed as a fungal spray to attack
the weeds.

4.) Native soil fungi, found living in native intact ecosystems, that
attack weed seeds as they try to germinate, and kill the weed seedlings. 
This is perhaps a previously unknown or underinvestigated method of weed
control.

I saw the action of a native soil fungus over a decade ago, in a soil
sample taken from a pristine native California Purple Needlegrass prairie,
that was free of exotic European grasses.  Why was this prairie free of
weeds?

I saw that when weed grass seeds were dropped into that prairie soil, and
the weed grass seed tried to germinate, the fungus would immediately
attack the roots and kill the seedlings 100%.

We need the government public land management agencies, plus Federal and
State highway departments, to step up with some serious annual funding,
for developing these innovations into on-the-shelf and commercially
available products, so they can become commonplace and easily available in
the near future.

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333