Italian ryegrass is a major weed in winter cereals in the south-central United States. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) tactics that aim to remove weed seed from crop fields are a potential avenue to reduce Italian ryegrass seedbank inputs. To this effect, a 4-yr, large-plot field study was conducted in College Station, Texas, and Newport, Arkansas, from 2016 to 2019. The treatments were arranged in a split-plot design. The main-plot treatments were (1) no narrow-windrow burning (a HWSC strategy) + disk tillage immediately after harvest, (2) HWSC + disk tillage immediately after harvest, and (3) HWSC + disk tillage 1 mo after harvest. The subplot treatments were (1) pendimethalin (1,065 g ai ha−1; Prowl H2O®) as a delayed preemergence application (herbicide program #1), and (2) a premix of flufenacet (305 g ai ha−1) + metribuzin (76 g ai ha−1; Axiom®) mixed with pyroxasulfone (89 g ai ha−1; Zidua® WG) as an early postemergence application followed by pinoxaden (59 g ai ha−1; Axial® XL) in spring (herbicide program #2). After 4 yr, HWSC alone was significantly better than no HWSC. Herbicide program #2 was superior to herbicide program #1. Herbicide program #2 combined with HWSC was the most effective treatment. The combination of herbicide program #1 and standard harvest practice (no HWSC; check) led to an increase in fall Italian ryegrass densities from 4 plants m−2 in 2017 to 58 plants m−2 in 2019 at College Station. At wheat harvest, Italian ryegrass densities were 58 and 59 shoots m−2 in check plots at College Station and Newport, respectively, whereas the densities were near zero in plots with herbicide program #2 and HWSC at both locations. These results will be useful for developing an improved Italian ryegrass management strategy in this region.

Flame cultivation (FC) uses brief exposures of high temperature to control weeds. Three sites in southeastern Massachusetts with dewberry present were studied over a 2-yr period to determine if seasonal timing and frequency of exposure to FC would reduce dewberry stem length and biomass, both in the year of and the year following treatment, and also to evaluate whether FC treatments altered the ratio (sugar : starch) of nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) in dewberry roots. Dewberry plants were treated with a 9-s exposure to an open-flame hand-held torch at seven different timing regimes (one application in June, July, or August or two applications in June/July, June/August, and July/August, or nontreated). After 1 yr, all treatments showed reduced aboveground dewberry biomass compared to nontreated plots. The timing and frequency of FC treatments were not significant when the weed was growing amongst cranberry vines, but were significant when weeds were treated in the absence of cranberry. Exposure to FC did not affect the ratio of NSC in roots in the year after treatment, indicating that the relative amounts allocated to each type of storage carbohydrate did not differ from nontreated plants, even though the overall amount allocated to root biomass was reduced.