Even while farmers try to choose the best seed, feed or custom operator to do the big jobs on the farm sometimes its very hard to manage and a weed sneaks in. Even when my grandpa was farming, decades ago, common mustard could be found in some grain fields.

In early days, before any chemical weed control was available, farmers (or their children) could be seen in . . .

grain or even hay fields pulling yellow rocket or mustard by hand. This was one of the most hated jobs for farm kids. Back then, most farmers grew their own seed from selected, clean fields that had no weeds or they traded seed with a trusted neighbour. Then hybrid seeds, bred by seed companies, became more productive and had to be purchased from the breeder because if the farmer planted seed from that hybrid plant, the resulting crop would not be as productive as the crop that he selected the seed from. It would not even be as productive as the seed that he and his neighbour grew before the new hybrid seed came along.

Even though Agriculture Canada tested and kept a close watch on the purity of seed being sold, sometimes a few weed seeds that looked like the seed being sold would sneak through quality control and a new weed would appear in the farmer’s field. This is how white cockle got onto our farm. White cockle appeared on several neighbouring farms that same year. I don’t buy much seed from that company anymore.

On a little trip yesterday, I noticed a grain field with a lot of mustard ready to go to seed and I hope no farmer buys grain for animal feed from that field or some of that mustard seed will surely get through the combine and pollute the farm of an unexpectant buyer. There has been a very inexpensive weed spray for mustard for more than 60 years.

Velvet Leaf grows a little higher than whatever crop it is in. In a soybean field it grows three feet tall, but in a corn field it might be 12 feet tall.

Many years ago, a farmer in our county purchased a large used combine from a dealer hundreds of miles away. That combine was used to do custom combining on many local farms that didn’t have a combine. The next year, every farm that the combine had worked on the fall before had a few velvet leaf plants growing in their field. One velvet leaf plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds that are as small as ground pepper. That weed has to be either individually sprayed to avoid killing the crop, or pulled by hand before it goes to seed. Our family spent hours hand pulling velvet leaf. The seed can even survive going through the digestive tract of an animal and germinate when the manure is spread.

Triazene resistant weeds like pigweed, foxtail and ragweed also snuck into our county hidden in a used combine. They too must be either pulled by hand or sprayed with another weed killer than Atrazine.

Very few weeds make me sick, but stinkweed is one that makes me violently sick even after it is ensiled in haylage. It can also be found in grain dust and sometimes causes a symptom called Farmers’ Lung. It is also suspected to have arrived hidden in grass seed.

Giant hogweed can occasionally be seen in ditches. If touched it can cause severe swelling and irritation. If seen, it should be reported immediately to the council or whoever is responsible for the road.

Purple loosestrife was new to our county only a decade ago and can usually be seen in wet ditches. It has a very pretty purple flower about five inches long on top. Some people even use it in bouquets of flowers. It is a very invasive species and should not be taken home or used in bouquets.

Sometimes seeds can lay dormant in the soil for decades until just the right moisture, temperature and sunshine brings them to life. When I looked out my window Sunday morning, I was surprised to see thousands of white clover plants growing in our lawn. For at least 70 years no white clover has been planted in our lawn. As we drove through the countryside we noticed many many lawns with an abundance of white clover growing.

Some people hate white clover and spray to kill it. Some of my agricultural friends tell me that if there is white clover growing abundantly in the lawn, there will be no white grubs, skunks or racoons digging the juicy little grubs up. Also, all kinds of bees enjoy white clover flowers. White clover grows very short and actually looks nice. Grandpa always put a little white clover seed in the pasture mix for the milk cow pasture. White clover seed is one that can lay dormant in the soil for many years and magically appear after decades of absence.

Today, most crops of hay are cut before either the hay or any weeds go to seed. This practice will eradicate most weed without spraying. Weeds in corn, beans, or small grains pose a major problem unless they are weeded, handpicked or sprayed. Gardeners and homeowners may inherit weed seeds in topsoil.

Keeping roadsides, hydro right-of-ways and railway properties clean from weeds before they go to seed should be mandatory.

If property owners are mandated to keep weeds cut, why not all government properties too?

Chris Judd is a farmer in

Clarendon on land that has

been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com

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