Gary Powell with CANR Dean Fred Poston

Yesterday the annual MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Faculty & Staff Recognition Reception was held at the Demmer Center. Three people from weed science were honored at the reception.

Donald Penner received recognition for 45 years of service in the College and Bernard Zandstra was recognized for his 35 years of service.

Gary Powell received the CANR Staff Advisory Committee Outstanding Individual Staff Award for 2013. The following was written regarding Gary in the program…

“Gary Powell has been an exemplary weed science research assistant in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences for more than 30 years. Besides helping weed science graduate students with field research projects and running the herbicide evaluation programs in soybean, sugar beet, dry bean, and small grains, recently, Mr. Powell took on additional responsibilities in shepherding the corn herbicide evaluation program. All of these programs help formulate weed management recommendations that Michigan State University’s stakeholders and clientele around the state expect. Mr. Powell truly believes in the land-grant mission of MSU. The work that he does exemplifies the spirit of this mission. He strives to conduct research that will benefit the Michigan farmer and helps in getting this research information out to growers.

Mr. Powell possesses strong leadership skills. Each year, the department conducts more than 40 field weed management experiments. He is the driving force who makes sure the department conducts all aspects of these trials efficiently and with the highest quality. His leadership invigorates and motivates the graduate and undergraduate students in the lab. He has helped more than 45 graduate students be successful in their graduate programs and go on to future careers with industry, the government and universities. In addition, he has taken an important role on the department’s agronomy farm committee. He has been one of the main advocates in purchasing a grain truck and grain cart for the agronomy farm. He provided the benefits of these purchases in saved time and money and also helped in identifying the best equipment to purchase at reasonable prices.

An effective communicator, he spoke to more than 250 growers at two wheat grower meetings. Growers and agribusinesses enjoy listening to his delivery of MSU’s recommendations.

His dedication to his job is unprecedented. He works long hours to make sure the job is done and done well. Gary’s attitude toward his job has helped in making MSU’s weed science program one of the best for more than 30 years.”

Congratulations to all of you!

Today we just posted an extension bulletin to MSUweeds.com to help distinguish among the pigweed species currently found in Michigan. Species we currently have include:

• Powell amaranth
• Redroot pigweed
• Smooth pigweed
• Palmer amaranth
• Waterhemp

Some of these species in Michigan have been confirmed to be resistant to different herbicides (e.g. glyphosate and ALS inhibitors), so confirming the identity of your weed may be critical to the strategies needed for control.

Check out “Keys to distinguishing Palmer amaranth from other species” at MSUweeds.com.

It seems like more and more we are dealing with herbicide resistance issues when it comes to weed control. To look at how big a factor it is in our research I crunched a couple numbers from the 2013 Weed Science Society of America annual meeting in Baltimore, MD. There was no shortage of oral papers and posters on the subject from across the United States, out of 371 posters and papers at least 74 (~20%) dealt with herbicide resistance issues. Two of the five symposiums were dedicated to the subject: “Herbicide Resistance Management: The path forward” and “Environmental Assessment of Herbicide Resistance.” At the first symposium there was standing room only with over 200 people in attendance, which made up over 50% of the people at the meeting. Herbicide resistance is not an issue that is going away anytime soon and a lot of minds in weed management research are working together to strategize.

To learn more about herbicide resistance visit:

WeedScience.org

Or check out the 2013 WSSA abstracts (will be posted to this link soon)

We have just posted the 2013 Weed Control Guide for Field Crops (E-434)…enjoy!

We just returned from Baltimore, MD (home of the 2013 Superbowl Champions) where we attended the 2013 Weed Science Society of America annual meeting. It was a great opportunity to look at weed related research from around the nation and beyond and to take a look at how the rise in herbicide resistant weeds seems to be impacting agriculture across the U.S. (look for a future blog on that).

Now that we are back I posted the 3 posters that we presented. Our topics included…

• Influence of soil amendments on seed mortality of herbicide resistant Palmer amaranth
• Volunteer glyphosate resistant (RR) corn control in RR sugarbeets
• Cover crop influence on weed pressure in organic dry beans

Visit the Presented Research section to view the posters.

Better late than never! The 2012  North Central Weed Science Society annual meeting (St. Louis, MO) posters and oral presentation abstract have been added to the “Presented Research” section of MSUweeds.com. 2013 materials from the upcoming Weed Science Society of America meeting in Baltimore, MD will be posted shortly too.

This new video from AgBioResearch highlights the importance of facilities, like the Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center in Frankenmuth for improving Michigan agriculture. Keep an eye out for some of your favorite weed scientists in the video.

In December several of us were able to attend the 67th Annual Meeting of the North Central Weed Science Society in St. Louis, MO. The trip began with an opportunity for the other graduate students and I, along with Dr. Karen Renner to tour the headquarters of Monsanto and to visit the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It was a tremendous experience to be able to interact with some of the key scientists at Monsanto and to look at some of their ongoing projects. At the meeting MSU weed science research was highlighted in several poster and oral presentations given by the students and faculty. David Powell, Ph.D. candidate with Dr. Christy Sprague, was awarded 2nd place for his poster titled “Efficacy of PRE and POST Herbicides for Controlling Multiple-Resistant Palmer Amaranth in Michigan.” During the awards banquet, I also had the honor of receiving one of the Distinguished Achievement Awards for Professional Staff (NCWSS newsletter with article). On our last full day in town we also took the opportunity to visit the top of the Gateway Arch, which was only 1 block from the meeting venue.   Below are a few photos from our trip.

Recently two mentor relationships were highlighted by AgBioResearch.

In a Spotlight Story, Dr. Karen Renner is credited with mentoring former CSS undergraduate Nick Bancroft. Nick credits her influence to expanding his skills which have helped him to be a success in his role as VP of operations at Agro-Culture LIQUID Fertilizers in St. John’s, MI.

http://www.agbioresearch.msu.edu/spotlight/mentoring-michigan-future-scientists.html

In a Futures article, the mentor relationship between Dr. Jim Kells and Karen Zuver is highlighted. Their interactions during Karen’s undergraduate and graduate degrees at MSU have had a tremendous impact on her career as a Field Agronomist with DuPont, where she continues to interact with the University today.

http://www.agbioresearch.msu.edu/publications/futures/fall2012/fertile%20ground%20of%20resources.pdf

The weather in Michigan has grown cold and so our research program has moved indoors. Today we kicked off our first big greenhouse project of 2012 looking at how corn herbicides could impact the following rye cover crop. Field-collected soils from select corn herbicide treatments are used to evaluate rye emergence, injury, and biomass accumulation. These treatments are compared to greenhouse treated herbicide dilution series consisting of the same herbicides at rates ranging from 1/2x to 1/32x. Stay tuned for results from this study supported by Project GREEEN.

The greenhouse requires herbicide mixes of only 30 ml total instead of our typical 1-2 gallons in the field.

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