[RWG] [APWG] Native plant herbicides--just set up small scale test plots?

[Wayne Tyson]

"Correlation is not necessarily causation." --adapted from 'Author unknown'

WT


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>; <rwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 7:05 PM
Subject: [APWG] Native plant herbicides--just set up small scale test plots?


> Dear Wayne and All,
>
> Thanks for your email.
>
> You never ever need to know exactly what natural herbicide chemicals are
> working, to kill the weeds.  Just use the native plants against the weeds
> in small scale trials, like my Nassella straw that I just put down two
> inches thick at Arastradero a week ago.  Between now and when nights get
> cold is the best time to set up your test plots, using different plant
> materials vs. the weeds. .
>
> All you have to do is measure---how much allelopathic material did you use
> to suppress the weeds?  In my test plot, it will be two inches worth of
> Nassella pulchra straw.
>
> I usually measure the material in inches thick and also in ounces per
> square foot.   My two inches thick equals 1/3 pound per square foot.  By
> measuring weight per area, you can then calculate how much you need for a
> large project, like to do the whole 70 acres at Arastradero.
>
> The test plots do not need to be very large--I use as small as one square
> foot per treatment on the ground, or for ex-situ test plots in pots, I go
> down to 3 inch square pots.  I saw a presentation by Caltrans (our State
> DOT) last year, where they showed a Powerpoint photo of the 3 inch square
> pots they use as mini-test plots too.
>
> By the way, the managers of Arastradero were able to get a lot of wood
> chips from a tree trimming company, and a year ago, they planted beautiful
> native Nassella prairies using locally collected seeds, near the buildings
> to the right of the parking lot, and above the parking lot.
>
> By using the wood chips to their advantage, the allelochemicals in the
> chopped up tree branches suppressed all of the weed grass seedlings, that
> would have germinated and interfered with the Nassella planting.
>
> The weed grass weeds here in California are fierce, germinating at the
> rate of up to 40 seedlings per square inch, so if you do not discover the
> magic of native plant allelopathy pretty quickly, your weeding efforts or
> native plantings attempts,  usually have major, major problems.
>
> So get out and spread some native materials in weed areas, and within six
> months, you should see some results, if you use tree leaves, shredded tree
> trimmers  branches, dried plant stems, or native grass hay.   I will look
> forward to whatever anyone discovers in spring.
>
> WEED MANAGEMENT/RESTORATION=Carbon credits?  To bring up another topic, I
> think we need to bring all of our large scale weed management and
> ecological restoration, into the new carbon economy.  When we are planting
> out the native plants whose roots could sequester a certain amount of
> carbon per acre, perhaps there will be a market for that sequestered
> carbon sometime in the near future?
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
>
>
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