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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024
‘Why do I have so many pictures of Kochia on my phone?’
seed has a very short duration of when it is viable. I can tell you that if you have a patch or an area and you make it your mission to pick or remove that, in two years you will not have Kochia in those spots. With some of that stuff, you can’t 100 per- cent rely on our herbicide program. You have to rely on other things.” Since 2021 was dry, with rain in the fall, Hanson said farmers were seeing regrowth of Kochia after har- vest. “We actually did a burn off of some fields in the late fall.” He added, “I tell my growers we shouldn’t say weed control. We should think of it as weed manage- ment. Most of it is focused from the spring and the summer. One thing is there are more plants but it’s also the size. The density and size of Kochia is what makes it so durable. When it gets bigger, it protects itself. It’s a coverage issue.” Tilling, he says, does not make a big difference. “They are going to live or die by burn offs and residu- als from now on. It’s important not to let it get ahead of us. It’s always a popular conversation: you need to quit seeding and you need to start spraying during seeding season. In some cases that is the difference.” The addition of a methylated seed oil seems to have an impact on emerged Kochia. “If products are oil based and you put in a methylated seed oil, you increase the effica- cy on small dense Kochia. From a foliar standpoint, if there’s no Ko- chia up, I don’t put it in. But with emerged Kochia, it makes a huge difference.” When it comes to the question of burn down or burn off, Hanson said the number one thing he tells all his clients is if it’s dry, you have to use pre-emerge, with a combi- nation of a burn down and a resid- ual. Hanson is also a big proponent of Metribuzin as an herbicide op- tion for Kochia control. “I use it any place I can. All my acres get it. It provides a burn down opportuni- ty. Plus, you get some residual out of it.” And at the end of the day, when it comes to managing Kochia, timing is vital. “Start in the fall with a plan. Be super aggressive on your pre-emer- gent, and don’t cut rates. Sprayer speeds should come down and wa- ter volumes should go up.”
fields, depending on the direction of the wind that day.” Another issue with Kochia is its adaptability. “It essentially has the capacity to accumulate carbon within the plant, to help it respirate, so it can handle dry weather better. That’s the reason our Kochia has picked up is because of the drought in 2021, and the past year. Those have been two big Kochia years for us in the number of seeds pro- duced.” Resistance is also a concern. Ko- chia often takes over saline or oth- erwise marginal areas where crops struggle to provide competition. When left to mature, Kochia plants spread seeds over a wide area. Each Kochia plant produces at least 15,000 seeds, often many more. Agriculture and Agri-Food Cana- da showed that Kochia in dense patches with low crop competition can produce millions of seeds per square metre. Most Kochia seeds will germinate or die within one to two years, so growers can quickly reduce the soil seedbank with management steps to prevent Kochia from setting seed. “If you ever had the privilege of picking Kochia, you will know there is such a diverse population of plants. Both in width of leaves and lengths. Some are like shrubs. Some are like trees. There’s multi-colours
by LORI PENNER J ason Hanson has a lot of pictures of Kochia on his phone. “I looked through all the pictures and vid- eos I have. I had 142 pictures and about four or five videos that just fo- cus on Kochia.” Hanson’s fascination with Kochia makes perfect sense. The weed is on the rise in Manitoba, and as an independent crop consultant with RocknRoll Agronomy, he is worried about its effect on local crops. At a recent presentation, he ex- pressed grave concern about the growing appearance of Kochia. Also known as burning bush and sum- mer cypress, the weed is native to Asia and central Europe and was in- troduced to Canada as an ornamen- tal plant by European immigrants. “Kochia can be difficult to man- age, mostly because of its ability to spread and quickly establish itself as a major weed, particularly during drought years,” he said. According to Manitoba Agricul- ture, a provincial weed survey con- ducted in 1997 ranked Kochia as the 14th most abundant weed in south- west Manitoba, an increase from the 26th position where it was ranked in 1986. It was ranked 24th and 30th re- spectively in the central and north- west regions of the province in 1997. Kochia was not observed in the
This weed is becoming something that we really have to be concerned about in our part of the world.We’re continually dealing with it. – Jason Hanson, independent crop consultant
LORI PENNER THE CARILLON Jason Hanson expressed grave concern about the growing appearance of Kochia.
eastern or Interlake regions during the 1997 survey. Although not a pre- dominant weed throughout Mani- toba, it is a serious problem in the southwest region and in localized areas of central Manitoba, particu- larly on saline soils. “This weed is becoming some- thing that we really have to be concerned about in our part of the world,” Hanson said. “We’re contin- ually dealing with it.” Kochia really took charge last year, with the tremendous amount of snowfall in December, which carried through all the way through winter. “The ground was not frozen and when that snow melted, the ground took all that moisture, and we had Kochia that was ahead of us right off the bat. So, we were having to do things that messed up our normal timing.” Hanson pays particular attention to those areas that are habitual for Ko- chia. “That’s where I start- ed to check. The south side of a tree row, shel- ter belt, culverts, or rock piles. Anywhere the sun accumulates a little bit more heat units is generally where I’m going to find Kochia. It’s one of my first weeds to deal with, which means I have to man- age it that way as well.” Kochia produces a tremendous amount of seed, which Hanson said is probably the biggest is- sue. “These plants can break off and they will roll and tumble, it’s like a herd of buffalo coming across the prairie. In the spring, we can go back, and we see all these trails where they criss-cross the
going on. When they pollinate, they drop pollen. I’m a firm believer that once you get to a point when that plant is still there in mid July, if you have pollen, it won’t be long until you have viable seed.” But there is hope, Hanson said. “There is a weakness with this plant. It does produce a tremen- dous amount of seed per weight of the plant, and it gets distrib- uted across fields when the wind blows. But t h a t
January 26, 1998
Farmers must speak louder Harry Enns tells KAP meeting
the process of drawing up regula- tions farmers will have to live with, he said. Enns told KAP delegates the fo- cus of livestock expansion is on hogs because that is shown to be the best opportunity in Manitoba, at this time. It is also the biggest challenge, he added. But the same economics fuel- ling the hog industry applies to beef and Enns hopes it will not be too long before he sees some processing coming back to Mani- toba. That may require a threshold number of 300,000 to half a mil- lion beef animals finished out an- nually to be viable, he noted. It will be the market that will dictate livestock expansion in the province, Enns said. “Pork will be produced because market conditions are right, not because it is being directed by government.” KAP delegates complained about proposed new livestock regulations and questioned the minister about the one-on-one approach the environment de- partment was taking instead of holding public meetings. Enns repeated his assertion that the government is listening and it was important that the voice of agriculture be heard at these open houses. The draft of the regulations pre- sented there will not be carved in stone; now is the time to effect changes, he said. He assured del- egates the new regulations would take into account the differenc- es between small, mid-sized and large operations. The regulations are not there to add unnecessary costs for farmers or to provide employment for en- gineers in lagoon construction. “Farm organizations need to make what they want very clear to me.”
by WES KEATING A griculture Minister Harry Enns says members of or- ganizations like Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) have an uphill battle keeping govern- ment and the public informed of the vital role agriculture plays in the province. Enns told delegates to the KAP meeting in Winnipeg that in spite of strong rural representation on the government side, he sits in the Legislature day after day, week after week without having an agri- cultural issue raised. Crime in the streets and en- vironmental issues are seen far above agriculture, and the public and government alike have lost sight of the important function of agriculture, he said. “If we don’t put food on the ta- ble, it affects all citizens.” Enns complained there was a whole generation out there which believes eggs come in those funny shaped cartons at the supermar- ket and most people believe the same thing about milk. There are animals and a whole lot of agriculture in between, Enns pointed out. Even urban perceptions of an- imal manure odors are different. Residents of Charleswood and Tuxedo obviously do not think horse manure stinks, and thought it was a real blow when they lost their riding stable, Enns said. “Would anybody be as con- cerned about losing a hog barn?” Enns said it would be up to farmers to attend a series of en- vironmental open houses during the current redrafting of livestock regulations and let the govern- ment know what they want. This would be a legitimate place for KAP to make its presence known, while the government is in Anytime... Anywhere For news that matters to people in southeastern Manitoba
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