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  • From: Brian <bcluton AT aol.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Effective control of Galinsoga
  • Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:11:21 -0400

Hi Andy

I've always associated Galinsoga with excess fertility as it always seems to be a compost and manure pile weed. It's also reputed to thrive in soils low in Calcium, which would also support the excess/imbalanced nutrients principle  Manure, compost, presumably mulches and peat bring in and/or by decomposition can drive up potassium particularly on lighter soils.  And I've read that Potassium levels in excess can interfere with calcium availability.  So the two seem to support each other. This makes some sense to me because I've seen Galinsoga pop up in areas that inadvertently received excess compost and also have found it to pop up in areas where during plowing heavy cover crops we bunched up and dragged a pile of material. This pile is likely excessively made up of cover crop material with soil mixed in the out of whack decomposition seems to encourage high fertility weeds in that spot in spite of the fact that at least temporarily there is likely nitrogen sequestration going. So maybe it goes back to the potassium excess interfering with calcium. Who knows?!  

Regardless what the soil cultural factors are once there's seeds in the reservoir something needs to happen on the direct management end. Cultivating and a bare fallow during the first flush when seedlings are small would help.  Deep burial with the mold board could help to. It's seeds are said to have fairly short viability so burial and then subsequent shallow working for cash crops might help.  Definitely a weeding intensive weed and a pain that requires physical intervention but I wouldn't discount looking into the soil at the foundation. It's here and there around the farm but really only bad in the areas I've mentioned.  We manage most fertility with cover crops and are blessed(and cursed) with stoney soil that tends to be high in calcium so perhaps there is something to be said of the soil balancing approach. 

Brian
Stonesthrowfarm.biz

On Oct 24, 2011, at 9:55 AM, <sunnfarm AT netscape.com> wrote:

In organics you pull weeds by hand. Which is one reason I don't care much for organics. Dual and Sandea do a great job controlling galinsoga. I remember touring a farm in Vineland NJ and we were standing in a completely weed free leek field and I did what any farmer would do. I kicked the dirt a little to see what the soil was like. Next moment I felt a hand on my shoulder and a gentleman wispered in my ear...PUT THE SOIL BACK JUST LIKE YOU FOUND IT... I thought he was kidding but he was dead serious. Galinsoga he said. He had sprayed to control it. Some folks take weeds very seriously....Bob.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

--- artisanfarms AT gmail.com wrote:

From: Andy Fellenz <artisanfarms AT gmail.com>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Market-farming] Effective control of Galinsoga
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 20:11:18 -0400

For the first time ever I had a real problem with Galinsoga this season.  Both became established in several beds and the Galinsoga is also getting well established in one of the high tunnels.  Is it possible that the galinsoga could have hitchhiked in on peat moss?  The reason I ask is that we spread several bales of peat in the high tunnel and within days of spreading the peat had an infestation of galinsoga.  Out in the field, my guess is that it came in with a mulch hay I used this season as it was heaviest in areas where the first planting had been mulched. I cultivated with a hoe and it seemed that for every cultivation I ended up with a new bed of the galinsoga. 

I'm certified organic, so am limited in what I can do to manage these weeds, but I'm curious as to what others have tried that has worked in managing them.  For years my worst problem was pigweed, but the galinsoga makes the pigweed look easy to manage. 

All ideas are welcome as I'd like to get this under control early next season rather than dealing with it all year.

Andy
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