Native Plant Nuisance in Local Perennial Peanut Pastures

 

On my last site consultation before COVID-19 confined everyone to our offices and homes, I visited with a local perennial peanut hay farmer who was very concerned about a “new” weed infiltrating a pasture which is two years into the establishment phase.  He was particularly worried because it had managed to escape his February glyphosate + 2,4-D amine burn-down application totally unscathed.  Upon arrival, it was plain the 15 acre pasture was indeed infested with several hundred plants per acre of the native and sometimes nuisance pasture weed, St. Andrew’s Cross (Hypericum hypericoides).

 

St. Andrew’s Cross is a smallish (18”- 3’ in height) shrubby perennial native to the eastern and central US, Mexico, Central America and much of the Caribbean.  It is characterized by its extremely tough nature, reddish-brown peely bark, woody twigs, opposite leaves and cross-shaped showy yellow flowers.  Unfortunately for this farmer in Calhoun County, St. Andrew’s Cross is ubiquitous to the wet flatwoods areas that dominate much of our pastureland.  However, it can also be found along floodplain forests, wet hammocks, near the edges of the numerous cypress domes and gum ponds and even persists in sandhills.  If you haven’t run across it yet, there’s a good chance that you could!

 

 

St. Andrew’s Cross is not normally a significant weed in Bahia and Bermudagrass pastures, where growers have access to numerous herbicide options containing active ingredients extremely effective on woody broadleafs (i.e. Triclopyr), but it can occasionally become a pest in perennial peanut pastures due to the limited weed control options.   Since there are only four active ingredients effective on broadleaf weeds labeled for legal use in perennial peanut, and the farmer had already demonstrated that label rates of Glyphosate and 2-4D amine were ineffective, his only legal herbicide option to control St. Andrew’s Cross was hexazinone (Velpar).

 

While hexazinone is the primary option for St. Andrew’s Cross control in perennial peanut (should the plant become a big enough problem to warrant spraying), growers will have to weigh the herbicide’s drawbacks against the benefits of control.

 

On established stands, apply 1 pt/A for control of winter weeds when perennial peanut is dormant. If weeds are emerged at time of application, use surfactant at 1 pt/100 gal. If perennial peanut is not dormant during the time of the application, expect injury and yield loss. During the season, Velpar can be applied after hay removal, but before perennial peanut regrowth has occurred. In this situation, no surfactant is needed, but weed control is often marginal. If peanuts have leafed out, expect moderate to severe injury.  Source:  Weed Control in Perennial Peanut

 

As painful as it may be for those of us who prefer to control our weeds from a tractor, the best option for St. Andrew’s Cross control, if severe peanut stand injury can’t be tolerated or if surrounding hardwoods are to be preserved, might be hand pulling.

 

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.