If you can’t play good golf, might as well participate in Weed ID Wednesday

Greatly appreciate Matt Helmers accompanying me to Welch Avenue Station to watch Purdue BB since my TV antennae won’t pick up TBS. I think he’s concerned that me going to a bar by myself is a sign of a drinking problem. Go Boilers!!

After years of promoting mechanical control, I decided to practice what I preach and put away my glyphosate and attack the honeysuckle with a brush puller. Works great other than being designed for someone much younger- but I’ll get by

Segregation of two Lamium species. Henbit to the west, purple deadnettle to the east. Deadnettle is fairly uncommon in central Iowa.

Guess I'm not the first Hartzler that enjoys weeds. Actually have no idea if I'm related, although my grandfather did move from from OH to IN in the 1920s. Good to see that the recs for controlling CT without chemicals haven't changed much in nearly 100 years.

Some of our winter annuals are questioning their decision to break dormancy a month or so early

You might be a weed nerd if . . . you go out to collect weed specimens under 4” of snow for a Saturday morning extension meeting. Happy that Meaghan Anderson invited me along for the adventure.

Being weed smart is essential in getting through life. This week’s NYT’s Flashback Quiz (weekly quiz involving placing random historical events in chronological order) featured a question about the introduction of an invasive weed. Guess I know more about weeds than poetry

I’ve been looking for emerged kochia along the UP tracks in Ames for the past 3 weeks, finally found it. I was looking 2 blocks east of this location, I should have known it’s better adapted to the western ecosystem. There’s also a Russian thistle in the pic.

Poison hemlock is announcing that spring has arrived in Iowa. A recent MIPN survey lists it as one of two emerging weeds in Iowa which I find odd. I would consider it as being naturalized in the 40 years I’ve lived here. bugwoodcloud.org/mura/mipn/asse…

Getting old sucks. Conversation with my supervisor at savanna restoration project.

Me: I’m not nimble enough to clear the honeysuckle and cedars on the steep bank above the road.
Supervisor: No worries! I can have some spry college interns knock that out.

Oh, to be young again.

A new (to me) ecosystem service for poison ivy. I had to look for the aerial roots on the stem to make sure it was PI since I can’t remember seeing ‘free hanging’ vines before.

About 40 years ago Herb contacted me to see if I would restart the IA State Fair Weed ID Contest. I was skeptical, but the contest has grown into one of my and Meaghan Anderson favorite activities. First Friday of the fair in front of the John Deere Ag Building. #ISUExtension

I suppose winter annuals germinating in February in Iowa is somewhat tolerable, but no way should summer annuals (prostrate knotweed) be popping out of the ground (or cracks in sidewalks).

I love any conference where a speaker ridicules Iowa’s Noxious Weed Law

Getting a great reminder of the difference between a botanist and a weed scientist in terms of plant ID

Another abnormality of the winter of 2024: a Russian thistle/tumbleweed strolling through downtown Ames.

Waterhemp is the Gloria Gaynor of Iowa weeds.

Suspected 2,4-D Resistant Waterhemp Population Discovered crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2024/…

Now I know what a plant sprayed with a HG 14 feels like. The porphyrin ‘lotion’ is absorbed by cells with damaged chromosomes. The blue light creates free radicals that kill the sun-damaged cells. It is not a pleasant experience, I feel sorry for the plants

Learn new things when you get in a different ecosystem. Didn’t realize sedges were so hardy