Activated Carbon Seed Technology Protects Seedlings From Two Pre-emergent Herbicides Applied in Tandem

Abstract

In response to the challenge of simultaneously controlling invasive plant species and restoring desired species, seed technologies have been developed that use activated carbon to protect desired plants from pre-emergent herbicides that target invasive plants, such as herbicide protection pellets (HPPs). One ecosystem imperiled by this challenge is the sagebrush steppe of the Western United States. Land managers in the sagebrush steppe may use consecutive or concurrent applications of different pre-emergent herbicides in order to control invasive annual grasses while restoring desirable perennial vegetation that helps stabilize soil and reduce the frequency of wildfires. We conducted a pot study looking at the efficacy of HPPs for six perennial species with novel herbicide practices used by land managers: an application of both imazapic and indaziflam. The six test species included four bunchgrasses, one shrub, and one forb. The bunchgrass species responded well to the HPPs with similar seedling counts and biomass to bare seed when herbicide was not applied and higher seedling counts and biomass than bare seed when a double herbicide treatment was applied. Our results demonstrate that broader testing of HPPs with the application of both indaziflam and imazapic is needed, especially across wide climoedaphic field conditions.