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Roundup did not kill Arundo Donax in Topanga Canyon
Roundup did not kill Arundo Donax in Topanga Canyon:
An alternative of cutting the arundo and laying plastic over its roots was more effective at eliminating the hardy tall bamboo-like grass. “The Roundup would knock it down, but then it would grow right back. I’ve got a problem dumping toxic stuff like that, especially when it doesn’t kill the alleged visitor.”
Date: 11/22/2011 5:05:54 AM ( 13 y ) ... viewed 1937 times http://ovnblog.com/?p=4927
Referring to the use of similar herbicides to control the spread of arundo donax and other non-native species in Matilija Canyon, he said that spraying of arundo in Topanga Canyon had to be averted because it was ineffective.
“They sprayed somewhere between 12 and 15 times and it didn’t kill the arundo,” Bernhoft said,
noting that An alternative of cutting the arundo and laying plastic over its roots was more effective at eliminating the hardy tall bamboo-like grass. “The Roundup would knock it down, but then it would grow right back. I’ve got a problem dumping toxic stuff like that, especially when it doesn’t kill the alleged visitor.”
But Offerman defended the county’s efforts and said the spraying along county roadways and bike paths is a standard method of controlling weeds that would otherwise creep in and destroy asphalt. He also said spraying in Matilija Canyon has been beneficial in controlling weeds there and to improving the canyon’s ecosystem.
“There has been a dramatic improvement in Matilija Canyon,” Offerman said. “This is strongly supported by all the resource agencies.”
http://ovnblog.com/?p=4927
SUPERWEEDS ARE ON THE RISE
'Superweeds' Revive an Old, Highly Toxic Herbicide
—By Tom Philpott| Wed Oct. 19, 2011 12:57 PM PDT
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Roger Smith/Flickr
Ecologists call it the "pesticide treadmill": pests like weeds and bugs evolve to resist the poisons designed to destroy them, forcing farmers to apply ever-higher doses or resort to novel poisons.
But Monsanto's empire of Roundup Ready crops—designed to resist lashings of its own herbicide, Roundup—appears on the verge of sending the pesticide treadmill into reverse. As Roundup loses effectiveness, swamped by a galloping plague of resistant superweeds, farmers have already played the card of dramatically boosting Roundup application rates.
Now they're being urged to resort to an herbicide called 2,4-D that first hit farm fields in 1948, and that made up half of the formula for Agent Orange, the infamous defoliant applied to disastrous effect in the Vietnam War. Reports Southeast Farm Press:
2,4-D is coming back. What many might consider a “dinosaur” may be the best solution for growers fighting weed resistance today, said Dean Riechers, University of Illinois associate professor of weed physiology.
http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/10/superweeds-revive-old-highly-toxi...
Wonder what the nature of commercial food production was before the advent of fertilizers and pesticides? Any famines? We certainly must have had fatter insects. God, thank of the jobs created just by pulling weeds from the fields. Maybe a return to this state of affairs can help reduce U.S. unemployment. Rick Perry should put this concept into his new jobs bill.
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3 people liked this. Like Reply
David 10/27/2011 02:59 PM
As a boy, I used to use 2, 4-5 on our lawn to kill the dandelions. It was very effective the first time, but the next time, it had less effect. Over the years, even when I upped the concentration to 4x the amount, it had little impact! This was my first observation of "resistance in action."
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