Super Weed

Hairy Fleabane

Crush 2008 is on! And that means plenty of work to do. And that’s why I have maybe 10 minutes of “spare” time to do some blogging before the press is finished with the 3.2 tons of pinot blanc we picked this morning. I’m in luck – the latest issue of California Agriculture sits on top of one of the many piles on my desk and a headline article catches my eye: Glyphosate-resistant Hairy Fleabane Documented in the Central Valley.

For those not up on Ag Speak, Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the world’s most important herbicide, Roundup, and Hairy Fleabane is a major weed in California. Roundup is commonly sprayed in vineyards to kill weeds between and under the vines. It’s been used (and abused) for many, many years. And that’s the problem. Weeds, like pretty much any organism, can and will eventually become tolerant of the poisons used to eradicate them.

The problem here is twofold. The first and more obvious problem is that once a weed becomes resistant to Glyphosate we will be unable to control it’s growth and development of other herbicides, probably even more environmentally unfriendly, will be necessary. Secondly, and much more alarming, is the fact that we simply just don’t know the limit of potential resistance. In other words, because of man’s reckless spraying the weeds are getting tougher and tougher. And what happens when our nemesis the Hairy Fleabane becomes impervious to any nasty chemical we can throw at it? It becomes a “Super Weed.” And there’s nothing super about that.

So what can we do? The problem is very complicated but here’s one thing we can start with – stop spraying Roundup.