North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Joe and Ellen Hecksel <jhecksel@voyager.net>]

Hellos all:

I walked around the orchard and garden today and pondered the
differences in weeds.  The dominant weeds in the orchard are annual
grasses (mostly foxtail), mallow, and patches of catnip, nettles and
perennial grasses (mostly orchard grass)

The garden was heavy on dead lambsquarters with some some Winter Cress.
  I also have some turnips volunteering.  Un-tilled patches of the 
gardens are typically bright yellow with flowers in late-May and June.

The weed profile in the garden is more favorable for beneficial insects
than the weed profile in my orchard.  It made me go "Hmmmmm!"

Weed control strategies (WCS) inevitably favors some species at the
expense of others.  Historically, the weed control strategy in my
orchard has been to spray Roundup (glyphos) in early May and to control
the most noxious later weeds (burdock, nettles) with spot applications
of 2-4-D.  All spraying is done with a hand sprayer so desirable plant
communities (like patches of violets) can be bypassed.

The early-May time window (say, one week before the first apple trees
start blooming) is late enough to meet the label requirements for soil
temperature (minimum 50 degrees F) and early enough to minimize spray
drift damage to leaves.  Early application of contact herbicide also
minimizes weed competition for fertilizer that I typically apply mid-May
to early-June.

The disadvantage of this WCS is that it is devastating to biennials. The
dictionary defines biennials as plants that take two seasons to mature.
  That is a little bit misleading.  Most biennials originate in regions
characterized by dry-hot summers, wet spring/falls and temperate
winters.  The seeds of the biennial germinate with the onset of late
summer rains and grow through the autumn.  The plants go dormant in the
coldest weather. They then resume rapid growth as the temperatures warm
in the spring and explode into flower with the long days of late-spring.
  The plant dies and the seeds lay on the ground awaiting the rains that
signal the end of summer.

The rapid growth in the spring is what makes them particularly
vulnerable to herbicides.  Contact herbicides function like a
stick-in-the-spokes of some critical metabolic process.  A
stick-in-the-spokes does not have much effect if the wheels aren't turning.

The fact that long day length triggers flowering is what makes
them particularly valuable as orchard food sources for beneficial insects.

A simple strategy for favoring biennials would be to offset the primary
herbicide application (or mechanical cultivation) until well after June
21. That will allow the seeds to have matured within the seed pods and
they will not be vulnerable to spray or mechanical damage.  July 4
weekend is a convenient window for many people.  The timing requires
some tuning. Large amounts of viable seed will result if
spraying/cultivation is delayed until after 50% of the stems that
connects the seed pods to the plant are no longer green.
*******************************************************************
Specific cultivar recommendations:

According to the Brassica Home Page
http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/casdept/agronomy/forage/docs/species/brassica.html
Premier Kale and Calder rutabaga are listed as being particularly cold
hardy.  No specific recommendations are made regarding rape, perhaps
because it is intrinsically very hardy.  Leafy turnips are identified as
being less damaged by cold than less-leafy turnips.

Territorial Gardens lists Winter Red kale as being hardy to -10 F and
characterizes Wild Garden Kale's as "very cold tolerant".  Wild Garden
Kale is described as a blend of semi-wild kales: Pre-packaged genetic
diversity.

Winter Cress (aka Yellow Rocket or Barbarea vulgaris R.Br.) is a common
weed that has nearly ideal bloom (just a little early) characteristics
and is extremely hardy.  Seeds are easily harvested by letting some go
to seed and collecting.  Fallow wheat fields in Corn-beans-wheat
rotation are a prime place to find this weed.

Walking around my garden and looking at greens that have not been
harvested, Mizuna mustard looks to be in great shape for over-wintering.
  Many thanks to Doreen Howard for telling me about this cultivar.

Most brassicas can be made more hardy by planting later in the season so
plants are small and closer to the ground.  Micro-micro climate?

Wisconsin Fast Plants are a possibility.
http://www.fastplants.org/contact.html
*********************************************************************************
Getting started:
-Spray contact herbicide or mechanically till July 4 weekend.  Biennial
seed require light to grow and will be choked out by weed growth.
-Sprinkle a mix of seeds on target areas.  If using root vegetable
seeds, plant about four weeks later than usual to enhance hardiness.
Planting rates run between 1/2 oz (15 grams) to 1 oz (30 grams) per
thousand square feet (100 meters^2)
-Spot control noxious weeds.
-Time primary weed control so it is after half the seed pod stems are no
longer green.

Good luck!


--
-Joe Hecksel
My personal web site: http://my.voyager.net/~jhecksel
"We are only here for a short time.  So let's make it a good time."
-Cary Dye  1957-2002