-E. Taylor
Below is a montage video of the setup for our 2010 study examining winter annual weed seed germination and decay over time. Enjoy!
*Closed captioning is available by viewing the video on the YouTube site, and clicking the “CC” icon.
Archive for the ‘Weeds’ Category
Winter Annual Weed Seed Germination and Decay Video
Friday, June 25th, 2010Raise your hand if you’re tired of RAIN
Friday, June 11th, 2010-E. Taylor 
It seems lately that it rains every few days in Michigan. Even small periods of heavy rain cause the fields to be wet for several days afterward. All of this unwanted precipitation has caused several issues for our research such as:
- Poor emergence of sugarbeets (one field required replanting)
- Delayed planting of soybeans a couple weeks ago
- Delayed planting of dry beans the past two weeks at the Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center and on campus
- Delayed initiation of our winter annual germination and decay study
So what do we do when we are “rained out”? Many times we will make sure all of the needed stakes are prepared, any chemical needed is weighed out and gathered, and the facilities and equipment are maintained at the Agronomy Farm. We also spend some time up in the laboratory processing weed seed and biomass samples, entering data, sewing storage bags for various experiments, and cleaning weed seed for greenhouse experiments.
Perhaps when the weather begins to cooperate there will be more interesting things to blog about 
Just as a reminder our MSU Weed Tour is coming up on June 30th at the Plant Pathology Field Lab. Information on the tour is available on our website.
IPM Pocket Guide for Weed ID
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010-E. Taylor
Late last year the weed science team here at MSU developed a new weed identification pocket guide for field cropping systems. The guide features 164 pages of photos and descriptions of common and not-so-common weeds that you might come across. Identification of weeds is the first step towards determining the potential impact they could have on a particular crop and if necessary deciding what steps are best for management. For more information about the guide and how to purchase a copy please view the brochure.
White Rust on Shepherd’s Purse
Friday, May 14th, 2010-E. Taylor
Healthy (left) and diseased Shepherd's purse (right)
As part of our winter annual weed research project I observe the growth and seed development of several species. This year in my weed plots I have noticed that the Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) plants are showing symptoms and signs of disease with curled flower heads and white fungal growth. The disease first appeared about 2 weeks ago and is now on about 50% of the plants. Our resident USDA-ARS sugarbeet pathologist, Dr. Linda Hanson, believes that the responsible pathogen is white rust (Albugo spp.). White rust is not a true rust (Basidiomycete) but a water mold (Oomycete) that affects plants in the mustard family (of which Shepherd’s purse is a member). It prefers cool wet conditions, which we have had a lot of lately. At first when I observed the disease I thought of biocontrol possibilities, but it turns out white rust is an obligate parasite (i.e. needs a live host to grow and develop) so it would be difficult if not impossible to propagate the disease for biocontrol applications. For more information regarding White rust and other oomycetes visit the American Phytopathological Society site.
Purslane speedwell, the mystery weed
Friday, March 26th, 2010-E. Taylor
Purslane speedwell image sent in for identification
When we are out in the field taking weed density counts we come across weeds typical to our area and cropping systems such as common lambsquarters, giant foxtail, velvetleaf, common ragweed, etc. When we come across something uncommon or new we get a little excited about identifying it. One such weed that we encounter periodically is purslane speedwell (or when you’re in the field without a good reference book “Mystery weed”). Recently, we had a blog reader from Kansas ask us to identify a weed from photos that turned out to be purslane speedwell, so I thought I would take the time to tell you what is known about this weed…though it is not very much.
Common names: Purslane speedwell, neckweed
Latin name: Veronica peregrina
Lifecycle: annual (occuring as a winter or summer annual it appears)
Distribution: throughout the U.S., likes moist soils
Purslane speedwell leaf
Botanical description*: Fiberous root system, erect stems which are simple or branched below, leaves are opposite, oblong to oblanceolate (0.5-3 cm long and 1-9mm wide), and are usually irregularly toothed, flowers bloom in a terminal inflorescence with bracts similar to the leaves and each floret has very small white corolla, fruit form as capsules.
Links and sources:
- plants.USDA.gov
- Missouriplants.com
- *University of Washington- The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
- Uva, R. H, J. C. Neal, and J. M. DiTomaso. Weeds of the Northeast. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY. 1997.