Weeds Are a Bane of Western Organic Growers
July 29, 2020 It’s no surprise that organic growers struggle with weeds more than conventional. After all, there are no systemic herbicide on the OMRI list. But it is eyeopening that growers in the more arid West struggle with weeds more than their East Coast counterparts. That’s one of takeaways I had when analyzed the 2020 State of the Vegetable Industry Survey.
Top Weeds Impacting Growers
Overall, most growers responded that pigweed (54%) was the most problematic weed in 2019, followed by nutsedge and lambsquarter (~35%). Pigweed was also the most problematic weed in 2019 in each of the six growing regions. For Western growers, pigweed and nightshade had the same number of responses (51.3%) for the problematic weed.
How Different Groups Compare
Here are the highlights from how weed pressure differs for eastern and western growers:
- Pigweed was the most problematic weed overall in 2019 and slightly more problematic in the West.
- Nightshade was more than twice as problematic for western growers
- Lambsquarter and purslane were slightly more problematic for western growers
- Marestail was almost three times more problematic for western growers.
- Across all species, weeds were marginally more problematic in the west (33%) than in the east (28%)
And here’s what I found when comparing organic growers to conventional:
- Overall, most of the major weed species were more problematic for organic growers
- Marestail was almost two times more problematic for conventional growers.
Weed Impact Organic Growers by Region
The three most reported weeds (pigweed, nutsedge and lambsquarter) were more problematic for organic growers, particularly in the West. Also in the West, nutsedge and lambsquarter were about two times more problematic for organic growers. Pigweed was slightly more problematic for organic growers in the East, however.
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