At 05:30 PM 8/6/04, you wrote:
>Bill,
> Does the horsenettle remain a problem in managed grazing systems?
>
>Margaret
REPLY: Margaret,
Yes, horsenettle remains a problem on well-managed pastures. One can argue
that the numbers could be smaller in a dense sward, but if there is a
source of seed from past years, it will still be there. Since it is
rhizomatous, it only takes one plant to gain a toehold and then you get
more by vegetative reproduction. It is one of those plants you do not want
to introduce into a pasture by feeding hay that has horsenettle in
it. Flea beetles will attack it and chew it up bad, but it tends to
survive anyway.
Wicking a labeled use broadleaf herbicide on the horsenettle while it is
flowering and shortly after a paddock is grazed by cattle will be the best
way to avoid applying a herbicide on any clover or other valuable broadleaf
plant in the pasture. It should be the tallest broadleaf out
there. Otherwise spot treatment can work provided the horsenettle is not
scattered all over the place. You lose whatever clover or other legume is
growing in the area of the horsenettle, but at least you do not kill it all
along with the horsenettle with a whole field spraying.
Jim Cropper
James B. Cropper
Forage Management Specialist
Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit
Curtin Road
University Park, PA 16802-3702
814-863-0942
814-863-0935 FAX
jbc9@psu.edu
