What if you had a simple, web-based app that could analyze weather data and issue an alert when pesky weeds are most likely to emerge and compete with your cash crop? That’s what University of Florida researchers hope to provide to growers who are battling black medic, a low-growing weed that competes with strawberry crops and slows down harvesting.

 Though herbicides can control black medic, application timing is critical. The best results are achieved only when the weed has first emerged and is most vulnerable – and when strawberry plants are small enough for the spray to penetrate plasticulture planting holes.

As a first step in the development of an automated, predictive emergence model, researchers recently conducted lab experiments to study the impact of temperature on the germination of black medic seeds. They found the optimal range was between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius (50 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit).

Further data is needed before an effective app can be developed.  One example: Though moisture has been confirmed as a factor in black medic germination, research is still needed on the season-long moisture profiles of plasticulture strawberry beds.  So stay tuned!

If you would like to know more about the project, explore the article “Black Medic (Medicago lupulina) Germination Response to Temperature and Osmotic Potential, and a Novel Growing Degree-Day Accounting Restriction for Heat-Limiting Germination” – now available in Weed Science Volume 67, Issue 2.

Photo credit: Black medic (Medicago lupulina) courtesy of Shutterstock