Controlling Grass Weeds on Hard Surfaces: Effect of Time Intervals between Flame Treatments

Abstract

An experiment was conducted on a specially designed hard surface to study the impact of time interval between flaming treatments on the regrowth and flower production of two grass weeds. The goal of this experiment was to optimize the control of annual bluegrass and perennial ryegrass, both species that are very difficult to control without herbicides. Aboveground biomass from 72 plants per treatment was harvested and dry weights were recorded at regular intervals to investigate how the plants responded to flaming. Regrowth of the grasses was measured by harvesting aboveground biomass 2 wk after the second flaming treatments that were implemented at different time intervals. Flaming treatments decreased plant biomass of both species and also the ratio of flowering annual bluegrass plants. However, few plants were killed. The first flaming treatment affected aboveground biomass more than the second flaming treatment. A treatment interval of 7 d provided the greatest reduction in regrowth of perennial ryegrass, whereas the effect of treatment interval varied between the first and second repetitions of this experiment for annual bluegrass. In general, short treatment intervals (3 d) should be avoided, as they did not increase the reduction of aboveground biomass compared with the 7-d treatment interval. Knowledge on the regrowth of grass weeds after flaming treatments provided by this study can help improve recommendations given to road keepers and park managers for management on these weeds.

Integration Effects of Mulching and Burning With Hoeing on Sugar Beet and Associated Weeds.

“…The successful use of prescribed burning for the control of invasive annual broad leaf and grass species and enhance yield. These results were in harmony with those obtained by Ditomaso et al (2006); Cisneros and Zandstra (2008) and Rask et al (2011).…”

“…The excellent examples of successful use of prescribed burning for the control of invasive annual broad leaf and grass species. These results were in harmony with those obtained by Ditomaso et al (2006); Cisneros and Zandstra (2008) and Rask et al (2011) suggested that hoeing improves aeration of the soil which may encourage germination of additional weed seeds. Similar finding for the excelsior effect of hoeing were obtained by Wevers (1995).…”

Shifting the Paradigm: An Ecological Systems Approach to Weed Management

“…For example, some tools that may be closer to commercial use than expected are spot and spray technology (i.e., H-Sensor (Agricon GmbH, Ostrau, Germany) and See and Spray (Blue River Technology, Sunnyvale, CA, USA)) [99], variable rate applications (both herbicides and irrigation) [100,101], autonomous tractors (concept vehicle by Case IH), targeted tillage [102], unmanned aerial vehicles [103], and robots that target weeds underneath the crop canopy [104][105][106][107]. More unique options that expand on weed recognition [108,109], which itself is still a work in progress, to complementary techniques include tactics, such as laser weeding [110,111], stamping [112], microwaves and radiations [113][114][115], electrical discharge [116], flaming [117][118][119][120], pressurized air [121,122], or solar irradiation [123][124][125], have been tested in the past and are being revisited in light of new technology. These technologies have begun to be incorporated into modern remote sensing systems.…”

Yield loss prediction models based on early estimation of weed pressure

“…The prediction of yield loss can be integrated with decision making process of other weed control methods. The non-destructive estimation of infestation of weeds can also be used in non-chemical weed control (flame weeding, mechanical weed control) for assessment of infestation of weeds and assessment of treatment response (Rask et al, 2012a;2012b;.…”