Forage

Weed of the week – Common Pokeweed

Common Pokeweed (AKA – Pokeberry)

Family:  Pokeweed Family

Life cycle: Perennial

Description: A large, 3 to 10 ft tall, perennial weed with thick, reddish-purple branched stems and dark purple to black berries. All parts of the plant are poisonous to cattle, horses, swine, and humans, especially the roots.

Seedlings: Cotyledons 7-33 mm long, 6-11 mm wide, egg-shaped but pointed at the apex. Stems below the cotyledons (hypocotyls) are without hairs, succulent, and often purple-tinged. Young leaves alternate, egg-shaped but pointed at the apex, and without hairs. Cotyledons and young leaves are pale green in color, with reddish tinted petioles.

Roots: Large, white tap root up to 6 inches in diameter.

 

 

Stem: Branch from the root crown at the base of the plant, erect, large, smooth, purple-tinged.

Leaves: Alternate, 3 1/2-12 inches long, 1-4 inches wide, egg-shaped, petiolated, without hairs, and are smaller in size toward the top of the plant.

Flower: Individual flowers small (6 mm wide) with 5 white to pink-tinged sepals.

Fruit: A berry, 7-12 mm, green when immature, dark-purple to black when mature. Contain a dark red juice.

 

Special identifying characteristics: Large, tree-like plant with egg-shaped leaves, purple-tinged stems and dark purple berries.

Pokeweed Control in Corn and Soybeans

 

Weed of the week – Poison Hemlock

Family: Parsley, Apiaceae.

Habitat: Wet sites, gardens, roadsides, wastelands, pastures, and meadows.

Life cycle: Biennial, forming a rosette the first year and producing flowers and seed in the second.

First Year Growth Habit: Basal rosette of finely divided leaves with a pungent odor.

Second-Year Growth Habit: 2-7 feet tall, branched plant with flowers.

Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, finely divided, toothed, and glossy green.

Stems: Branched, waxy with purple blotches; hollow between nodes and grooved.

Flower: June – August (second year). Clusters of small white flowers with 5 petals in a loose, umbrella-like cluster, 2-7” across.

Root: Fleshy taproot.

Similar plants: During the first year, poison hemlock resembles wild carrot, but has a strong, pungent odor. Further, young leaves of wild carrot are more finely divided and its stem is hairy. At maturity, poison hemlock can be difficult to distinguish from water parsnip and water hemlock. Look for purple blotches on the stem to identify poison hemlock. Water hemlock (Cicuta maculata), which is also highly poisonous, has a magenta-streaked stem and lanceolate leaflets with sharply-toothed edges. Water parsnip (Sium suave) is not poisonous and has toothed lanceolate leaflets.

The problem is….This plant is highly poisonous to both humans and animals. Poison hemlock is a large and impressive plant which has been planted as an ornamental in some areas. It grows quickly in fertile soils.

Seedling

Leaves

 

 

 

 

 

Stem – Note distinctive purple speckling

Flower

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for control options

 

Supplemental Forages to Plant in July After Wheat

by: Dr. Mark Sulc, Dr. Bill Weiss, OSU Extension

Some producers may be considering planting a supplemental forage crop after winter wheat grain harvest for various reasons. Some areas of the state are becoming very dry. In many areas, the wet weather this spring resulted in ample forage supply, but good to high-quality forage is in short supply because of the wet weather that delayed harvesting until the crop was mature, or it resulted in rained-on hay that lowered quality.

The table below summarizes options for planting annual forages after wheat harvest.

Continue reading Supplemental Forages to Plant in July After Wheat →

Blankets of Yellow Flowers

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

Fields of yellow flowers are abundant this year across the state as many annual crop farmers faced planting delays. Some pasture fields are covered in blankets of yellow too. The scenes are deceptively beautiful with their sunny appearance but may actually pose a deadly threat to livestock if the plant happens to be cressleaf groundsel, which is also known as butterweed. Cressleaf groundsel is another weed known to cause livestock poisonings in harvested or grazed forages.

Cressleaf groundsel is known to cause livestock poisonings.

Continue reading Blankets of Yellow Flowers →

Kill Poison Hemlock Now

 

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

Poison hemlock is a concern in public right of ways, on the farm, and in the landscape!

Poison hemlock has already emerged in a vegetative state around Noble County and beyond. Soon it will be bolting and blooming on stalks 6-10 feet tall. All parts of the plant are toxic to all classes of livestock if consumed and is prevalent along roadsides, ditches, and crop field borders. It is a biennial weed that does not flower in the first year of growth but flowers in the second year. The earlier you can address poison hemlock with mowing and/or herbicide application, the better your control methods will be.

Poison hemlock is related to Queen Anne’s lace, but is much larger and taller, emerges earlier, and has purple spots on the stems. Another relative that is poisonous is wild parsnip, which looks similar to poison hemlock, but has yellow flowers. Giant hogweed is another relative of poison hemlock that is also toxic. All of these plants have umbel shaped clusters of flowers.

Continue reading Kill Poison Hemlock Now →

What to do with Compacted Pastures?

Erika Lyon, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Jefferson and Harrison Counties

During the last couple of weeks in December and into early 2021, eastern Ohio saw warmer-than-usual temperatures and a lot of rain. What does this mean for our pastures and hay fields?

With rain comes the mud, and with mud often comes compaction. Compaction in forage crops often occurs within the top 3-4 inches of soil, but it can also appear at deeper levels, forming “hard pans” that restrict the movement of water.

Compacted soils mean reduced pore space to house water and air — two important components of healthy soils. Nearly half of soils should consist of pore space, whether macro- or micro-pores to allow roots to develop deeper and water to better infiltrate downwards.

Compaction can ultimately lead to increased drought and disease susceptibility of plants, even when it appears there is standing water in a field.

 

 

Continue reading What to do with Compacted Pastures? →

Take Action Weed Management Webinars

By: Dr. Mark Loux, OSU

Given how messed up the whole herbicide supply and price thing is right now, it might be a good time to take advantage of free resources to improve your herbicide and weed management acumen. The USB Take Action program and university weed scientists are once again conducting a series of webinars to cover several key topics in weed management. Three webinars occur this month, and will be followed by the release of videos covering other pertinent weed-related subjects. January webinars include the following:

Value of Residuals in Herbicide-Resistant Weed Problems – Thursday, January 20, 11 am EST

Harvest Weed Seed Control Practices – Thursday, January 27, 11 am EST

Registration information can be found here.  Videos of the webinars will be made available following their broadcast.

Another great resource is the “War Against Weeds” podcast.  This podcast features guests with expertise in a variety of aspects of weed science, and discussions on integrated weed management, herbicide resistance, and other timely topics. The podcast is hosted by Sarah Lancaster, Kansas State Extension Weed Science Specialist, Mandy Bish, Extension Weed Scientist at the University of Missouri, and Joe Ikley, Extension Weed Scientist at North Dakota State.  Podcast episodes are available at https://waragainstweeds.libsyn.com/ and also on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Podcasts.