weed control

I am not talking about the illegal weed, but this is about how to control the weed that affect our crops.
There are several methods to control the weed.


There are five general weed control categories
–Preventative weed control
–Cultural weed control
–Mechanical weed control
–Biological weed control
–Chemical weed control

 But in this post, I will just talk about the preventative weed control

•Preventative weed control is aimed at preventing weed spread by seed or by vegetative propagules to area where that weed was not present

•Other methods of weed control have overshadowed this concept

•Threshold concept has also de-emphasized preventative weed control

            

            1. Quarantines

 –Quarantines are used to isolate and prevent the dissemination of noxious weeds

•Example is witchweed, which was introduced in North Carolina in 1950’s and was the first weed to placed under federal and state quarantines to prevent it’s spread

           2.Seed Laws

        Federal Seed Act (1939)
–Purpose was to protect purchasers from mislabeled or contaminated crop seeds
–Required that the following information be provided on seed labels
•% of pure seed of the named crop
•% of contaminants
•name and rate of any noxious weeds present
–Created a list of nine noxious weeds that were prohibited from entering the US as contaminants
–Prohibited crops seeds containing more than 2% weed seeds of all kinds from entering the US


         Federal Noxious Weed Act (1974)
–Signed into law in 1974, but was not actually funded until 1979
–Imposed more strict regulations to prevent the introduction of foreign seed into the US
–Increased noxious weed list to 33
–Authorized inspections at ports of entry, weed surveys, and eradication and quarantine measures by USDA/APHIS PPQ officers.


         Mississippi Pure Seed Law (1964)
–Each state has it’s own seed laws to regulate the quality of seeds sold within it’s borders
–MS State seed law states that no agricultural seed shall be sold containing more than 2.5% by weight of weed seed


Aside from quarantines and seed laws other preventative measures include:
–Not allowing weed to reproduce
–Do not bring in weed infested soil, mulch, or manure to clean areas
–Clean tillage, mowing, and harvesting equipment before moving them to un-infested areas
–Do not bury seeds or vegetative reproductive structures in un-infested areas