The Rural Voice, 2003-10, Page 50Advice
Take action on velvet leaf while you can
By John C. Benham
Wellington County Weed
Inspector
1 have been getting some calls of
late about Velvetleaf and I have acted
on them. These are good farmers
who are concerned about the spread
of this weed. In some cases. corn or
soybeans infested with Velvetleaf
have been combined and a few seeds
are residual in the combine and are
spread onto the next field or farm.
I can assure you if you don't treat
this weed as an evil invader; your
property will likely be cursed with
that weed forever. ' We. in
Wellington. have been reasonably
free of this weed but it certainly is
gaining a foothold.
I have been told that the seeds of
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46 THE RURAL VOICE
this plant can live in the soil for at
least 60 years and each plant
produces thousands.
What does it look like? It can
grow to 10 to 12 feet tall and down to
4 to 6 inches. It has a large heart
shaped leaf with a yellow 5 -petal
flower on a short stem where the leaf
joins the stalk. This flower matures
to a black seed head shaped like a pie
crust marker. Each segment slits
open and the seeds drop out. I
suggest if the seed pods are mature
and you plan to remove the weed, put
a garbage bag over the standing
plant, close it around the stem and
pull it and carry it root up in the
garbage bag to contain the seeds. If
you don't, you will have a trail of
plants next year where you walked
this year.
It is an annual and is covered with
fine down like skin on the leaves and
stalk — thus the name Velvetleaf. It
has a very distinctive odour when
handled.
It is another one of the very clever
weeds. It grows so the top leaf covers
the growing point at the top of the
stalk. So when it is sprayed with a
herbicide all the leaves may be killed
but the growing point is, protected
and so continues to grow. Also, it
produces a flush of new plants each
spring and also germinates new
plants throughout the growing season
so you have plants at all stages but all
will be in bloom. Each individual
plant has buds, flowers and seeds.
Apparently, pre -emergent herbicide
spraying does not do a satisfactory
job of control. A post -emergent
spray for contact control with some
residual action to stop the late
emergers is required.
I can not emphasize enough the
need to control this weed. Some
think that herbicides will look after
every weed. Well if you think that
way just travel through southwestern
Ontario and observe. Take action
now before it is too late!O
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