Concepts of Ecological Weed Management PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY The purpose of this book is to provide you with information about the biology of agricultural weeds, including identification, management strategies and ecological facts that will help you understand and manage them. The book is focused on the weeds of arable crop- ping systems. It does not discuss the management of weeds in forests, turf, permanent pastures or perennial bioenergy crops. Weed...
More Description Concepts of Ecological Weed Management
PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY
The purpose of this book is to provide you with information about the biology of agricultural weeds, including identification, management strategies and ecological facts that will help you understand and manage them. The book is focused on the weeds of arable crop- ping systems. It does not discuss the management of weeds in forests, turf, permanent pastures or perennial bioenergy crops. Weed management issues in forage production are discussed to some extent since forages are often rotated with other crops.
The basic philosophy behind the book is that understanding the biology of weeds is critical to eco- logical weed management. Ecological management of weeds is information intensive rather than input inten- sive. This book is intended to provide the information you need to grow crops without synthetic herbicides, great expense or backbreaking work. By understanding how weeds work as organisms in the context of your farm ecosystem, the task of weed management be- comes easier. By learning about the biology of weeds that cause you problems and then exploiting their weaknesses you can make weed management an integral part of your overall management effort. That does not mean that learning about particular weed control practices is useless. On the contrary, ecological weed management depends on a large bag of tricks. The key to success, however, lies in knowing when to apply a particular tactic, and that requires an under- standing of how weeds operate, both in general and as particular species.
The premise of this book is that although weeds can be useful as food and as protection for the soil, most farmers will prefer to strictly limit their abun- dance. Weeds are neither always bad nor always good,
but usually they tend to reduce yield, hinder harvest and cause a variety of other problems.