The Seeds of Weed Control

The Seeds of Weed Control
Advice for suppressing the growth of unwelcome plants. Transcript of radio broadcast:
17 March 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

When is a plant a weed? When its undesirable qualities outweigh its good points, say experts at Penn State University.

Weeds can take control of productive land. Crops generally produce several hundred seeds per plant. But each weed plant can produce tens or even hundreds of thousands of seeds. And some buried seeds can survive up to forty years, or even longer.

Eradicating weeds means you have to remove all the seeds and roots so the plants will not grow back. But birds or the wind can reintroduce them to the land.

A more common way to deal with weeds is to control them enough so that the land can be used for planting. Experts advise using two or more control methods.

Chemical weed killers or natural treatments like corn gluten can suppress weed growth. Dense planting of a crop can also act as a natural control. Bill Curran is a professor of weed science at Penn State, in University Park, Pennsylvania. He says dense planting is one of the most common methods for suppressing weeds.

He says a dense, competitive crop that quickly shades the soil will help suppress many weeds. The seeds need light to grow, so blocking the sun will reduce weed growth.

Other controls include turning over the soil, pulling the weeds by hand or covering them with mulch made from wood, garden waste or other material. Mulch is widely used, but even mulch has its limits. Natural resource specialists in the Queensland government in Australia note that weeds can be transported in mulch. This is also true of soil, grain, hay and animals.

Yet animals like sheep or goats can provide a biological control by eating weeds. Insects and other organisms can also act as biological controls.

Preventing the spread of weeds is an important part of weed management. Farm vehicles should be kept out of areas with weeds. If that is not possible, then clean off the equipment and your shoes when leaving.

People in Queensland are advised to take weeds and garden waste to a waste center or burn them, bury them deeply or make them into mulch.

Professor Curran says composting weeds is another way to make use of them. The process of making organically rich compost produces heat. This will kill many, though not all, weed seeds. The same is true of seeds that pass through farm animals that graze on weeds.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more information about weed control, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Jim Tedder.

----------------------------Google Translate



种子杂草控制
咨询打压的增长是不受欢迎的植物。全文电台广播：
2008年3月17日

这是美国之音特别英语农业部报告。

当是一个种植杂草？当其不良素质远远超越它好点，安全专家说，在宾夕法尼亚州立大学。

杂草可以控制生产用地。农作物普遍产生几百种子每厂。但每次杂草植物能产生数以万计甚至数以十万计的种子。有的埋种子可存活达40年，甚至更长时间。

铲除杂草意味着你不得不取消所有的种子和根部，使植株将不会重新长出。但鸟或风，可以重新提出他们的土地。

更常见的处理方法是杂草控制它们足以使土地可用于种植。专家提醒使用两个或两个以上的控制方法。

化学除草剂或自然疗法如玉米蛋白能抑制杂草的生长。密集种植的作物也可以作为天然控制。条例草案正着，是一位教授杂草科学在宾夕法尼亚州大学，在大学园，宾夕法尼亚州。他说，密集种植的是最常见的方法，为抑制杂草。

他说，人稠，有竞争力的作物迅速色调土壤，将有利于抑制许多杂草。种子需要轻成长，因此阻断太阳将减少杂草的生长。

其他管制措施，包括翻土壤，拉动杂草用手或涉及他们与秸秆制成木材，花园废物或其他物质。地膜是广泛使用的，但即使是地膜有其局限性。天然资源专家，在昆士兰州政府在澳大利亚注意到，杂草，可运送地膜。这也是真实的土壤，谷物，干草和动物。

然而，一些动物，如绵羊或山羊，可以提供一个生物控制所吃杂草。昆虫和其他生物也可以作为生物控制。

防止蔓延的杂草，是一个重要的组成部分杂草管理。农用运输车应妥善贮存的地方杂草丛生。如果这是不可能的，那么，清洁过的设备和你的鞋，当记者离开。

在昆士兰应采取的杂草，垃圾和庭院垃圾，以浪费中心或烧伤，掩埋深或使其成为地膜。

教授正着说，堆肥杂草，是另一种方式，使利用它们。制作过程中丰富的有机堆肥产生热量。这会扼杀许多，但不是全部，杂草种子。同样是真实的种子，经过农场动物，吃草就杂草。

这也是该美国之音特别英语农业部报告，写jerilyn沃森。欲了解更多关于杂草控制，去voaspecialenglish.com 。我吉姆tedder 。