Last week we participated in an online workshop on weed management and it was so good, we just had to share it here! One of the big take-home messages for us was the value of a curous mindset – learning what weeds are telling us about soil health including soil microbiology, about our land management practices and about our environment as a whole.

Below we’ve highlighted some key moments from the webinar for those of you who want to skip forward or re-play a specific part:

11.30: How are we looking at this (weeds) problem

14.00-16.40 : The characteristics of weeds – Weeds holding the soil together and filling gaps in our ecosystem, recycling nutrients, improve soil carbon, provide nutrition, provide ecosystem services (pollen) & break up compacted soil

17.00-18.30: Weeds as early succession plants – a diagram by Dr Elaine Ingham (community dynamics).

20.00: Transitioning Soil Biology (Bacteria:Fungi Balance)

21.20: Weeds that come about when the decay/ recycling function of soil is not working.

22.00-24.00: Germination Signals and the weed seed bank – the impact of weather, environmental impacts & land management practices

25.30: 6 reasons weeds grow by Nicole Masters ‘For The Love Of Soil’

• Colonise bare soil
• Low soil organic matter
• Open up compacted soil
• Mineral imbalances
• Microbe imbalances
• Safety valve for toxins

26.40: Weeds that turn up when calcium and humus are low.

27.40: Weeds that thrive in compacted soil

28.00: Weeds that love high potassium, low phosphorous conditions

28.30: Weeds liking high nitrates

29.10: Weeds taking advantage of bare soils

29.50: Weeds that indicate fungal/ sleepy soils (a sign that stock density is low and soil may not be getting sufficient grazing inputs)

31.30: Non mycorrhyzal weeds that thrive in bacterial dominated soils.

32.00- 34.00: Grazing management to manage weeds

39.00 – Process for listening to weeds

• Observe plant characteristics in the field
• Observe and monitor soil health (including soil microbiology)
• Consider paddock history
• Research the plant
• Consider reasons weeds grow
• Consider ecological processes
• Monitor over time.