Herbicides are frequently used to remove undesirable plants from a landscape during the restoration process. However, there are plant-back restrictions when you use herbicides, which means, that the herbicide will have activity for a given period of time. Plant-back restrictions are fairly well understood for major crops, but not many native species. Therefore, we are conducting research with pre-emergence herbicides to see how long it is required to wait before seeding with native grasses.
To answer our question, we started by spraying soil collected from a field and planting seed into flats, some treated with herbicide and some without herbicide as a control. We will record germination twice a week for 45 days to look for differences between treated and non-treated flats. We will plant weekly for the first month and then every month thereafter for 18 months. -Kelly V. Tindall, CSR Senior Scientist.
Filed under: Biology, education Tagged: | Herbicide Application, native plants
Will you also be monitoring effects of herbicide on other native species: arthropods, birds, reptiles, etc.?
This is such a great question, that we felt our response should have a blog post of it’s own. Please click on over to read: http://bit.ly/Mn31GV