Our relationship with plants: waterhemp

The last few weeks have been surprisingly great; surprising because people are actually reading what I am writing. Along with the positive remarks, a complement of suggestions begin to follow. “I look out for your articles … you should talk about weeds more.” The human fascination with plants is completely overlooked, if not, taken for granted. It shows that our relationship to plants is as natural as walking, or eating Colby cheese. Offi ce spaces are warmed up with the presence of a potted plant. Increased mental health has been linked to managing a garden (but some days I wonder, as I reflect back watching my mom toiling, weeding the garden and thinking to myself: “this is fun?”) and western civilization/ democracy owes its existence to the humble wheat (but that is for another day, and another article).

As much as we are enthralled by plants that give us so much, we are frustratingly fascinated by the weeds that take away. Our human existence on this planet has been manipulating our surroundings to suit our needs, such as planting trees or cutting them down, putting down drain tile to increase drainage, ripping iron across fields to seed down row crops, and spraying weeds to bring back pollinator habitat. So, when we find something in our ag-systems that defi es our progress and expertise, it’s more than just vexing; it’s absorbing. And I cannot think of a better example of this than waterhemp, the weed of our generation. Waterhemp is the bane of farmer’s existence, but it is also a marvel. During the season it can grow over one inch per day, which out-competes the growth of farmer’s crops and reduce yield/eliminate the plants altogether, if not controlled. The weed is very difficult to control because of its robust tolerance against the most widely used herbicides, the main one being glyphosate, or “Round-Up.” Part of waterhemp’s ability to build resistance is due to its evolutionary approach to having male and female plants. By having separate plants in different gender roles, they can create robust, diversifi ed genetics that is passed down to the next generation. Immunity is built faster, stronger. One plant can produce up to one million seeds per plant, and the seed is the size of a flake of pepper, but the flake is more like a small, incredibly smooth, black marble. When harvest equipment enters the fields, it is easily caught in every nook-and-cranny in choppers, combines, and then dispersed onto the next field. Oh, and the seed floats on water, survives animal digestion, and can survive in the soil for decades. Mankind couldn’t have even engineered a plant like this, and ask any farmer: they wished their crops had that kind of resilience.

So what options are there for farmers against the mega-weed? The main task is to stop it before it can get out of the ground, through aggressive herbicide applications that leave a lingering residue (or residual as they call it) near the soil surface to kill seeds that sprout, or soon-after it emerges and stop it before it gets four to six inches tall. After it becomes that height, it is unkillable. If those actions don’t work then the next options become more creative: mechanically cutting the plant before it heads-out, or spray to retard the development of a seed head, not allowing the seeds to get incorporated (reduce/eliminate tillage on the field, and leave the seed on the surface), or rotate the field to perennial cover, like a hay field, so that continuous cutting and plant removal will eliminate plants. Cover crops have even been used to combat it. Plants vs. plants.

I recently had an article on not cursing plants for weeds, but in this instance I will let that slide. If you are wondering if this power-weed is in your field or yard, there is an easy way to identify; check for smooth stems. They will look like a pigweed, but it is absent of hairs on its stalk/ stems. If you see hair; it’s a pigweed. Males will have large, long pollen heads, and the females with have short, bunched-up seed heads, and will be more bushy (branched out, to catch the pollen). If you are uncertain, our area has many experienced agronomists that will help you identify and help you come up with a plan to control.

THE SOIL

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