Dr. Isabelle Aicklen has been appointed the new Ontario Bean Growers (OBG) Professor in Weed Management. The announcement was made March 7 by the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College (OAC). Dr. Aicklen will be based at the University’s Ridgetown Campus where her research will directly benefit Ontario’s bean growers by identifying innovative and sustainable […] Read more
Tag Archives waterhemp
Professor in Weed Management appointed
Waterhemp is the new “oh-no” weed
Ontario biotypes are resistant to up to five different herbicide groups
It’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ waterhemp comes to your farm, it’s ‘when.’ Those were the words of Richard Anderson, a business representative with BASF, speaking last month at the Southwest Agricultural Conference at University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus. It was probably the most pertinent take-home message from a panel discussion on tackling waterhemp, […] Read more
Managing Ontario’s devious weed duo
Strategies offered on how to deal with herbicide-resistant fleabane and waterhemp
Are Canada fleabane or waterhemp consistent or growing problems on your farm? If so, it might be time to change the approach to chemical controls, according to field crop and weed expert Peter Sikkema. Even if the two species are not an immediate concern, adopting a longer-term, more multi-faceted approach to weed management could help […] Read more
How intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed
Science Notes: Herbicide resistance continues to challenge growers
New research in Science is showing how the rise of modern agriculture has turned a North American native plant, common waterhemp, into a problematic agricultural weed. An international team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia compared 187 waterhemp samples from modern farms and neighbouring wetlands with more than 100 historical samples dating as far […] Read more
Common waterhemp: An adaptable and potent foe
Problem weed continues to spread in Ontario while diversifying its herbicide resistance capability
Waterhemp with resistance to multiple herbicide groups continues to spread across the province, in part because of its similarity to other pigweed species. First detected in Lambton County in 2002, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) describes common waterhemp as “extremely difficult” to identify. Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) also describes […] Read more
VIDEO: Water hemp weed management
Field Talk with Chris Snip
In this edition of Field Talk, Farmtario contributor Matt McIntosh talks with Chris Snip, crop sales specialist with Agris Co-operative, about waterhemp in Essex County, wider herbicide management concerns – and the importance of dialogue with your farm neighbours.
Group 27 herbicide resistance arrives in Canada
Mesotrione-resistant waterhemp confirmed in Quebec
A persistent and fiercely competitive weed that has developed resistance to several herbicide groups since its arrival in Canada is now the first in the country to fight off a Group 27 product. Quebec’s Reseau d’avertissement phytosanitaire (RAP) last Friday reported a patch of waterhemp with resistance to mesotrione herbicide in the Haut-Richelieu municipality, in […] Read more
Weed of the week: Waterhemp
The challenging weed rapidly develops resistance, so rotating herbicides is critical
Waterhemp can be controlled through a variety of approaches, but identification is often difficult. The weed — a non-native member of the pigweed family first discovered in Lambton County in 2002 – is an annual plant producing tens of thousands of seeds every year. It features narrow leaves, wavy leaf margins, and (almost completely) hairless […] Read more
Tracking down resistant weeds
Multiple herbicide-resistant weeds found in vegetable fields
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Weed Management Specialist Kristen Obeid is part of a team entering the fourth year of an initiative — funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada — to genetically test weed samples from vegetable fields exhibiting herbicide resistance. Obeid is part of a team that has developed a process […] Read more
Study shows multiple routes to herbicide resistance
A team including evolutionary biologists from the University of Toronto have identified the ways in which herbicide-resistant strains of invasive common waterhemp have emerged in fields of soy and corn in southwestern Ontario. They found that the resistance, which was first detected in Ontario in 2010, has spread thanks to two mechanisms: Pollen and seeds […] Read more
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