When weed killers fail: OSU talk will look at weeds’ growing resistance

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More and more Ohio weeds are developing resistance to weed killers, said Jeff Stachler, Ohio State University Extension weed specialist.

Stachler will discuss this trend more on April 11 from 11 a.m. to noon, as part of the spring seminar series of Ohio State’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.

His presentation about the history and current status of herbicide-resistant weeds in Ohio will available by video link at Ohio State’s Columbus and Wooster campuses.

Interested individuals can attend in 121 Fisher Auditorium on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s (OARDC) Wooster campus, 1680 Madison Ave., or in 244 Kottman Hall on Ohio State’s Columbus campus, 2021 Coffey Rd.

Admission is free. For more information, call (614) 292-2001.

“Herbicide resistance continues to increase in Ohio,” Stachler said, “This is especially true to glyphosate and to herbicide mixtures containing multiple sites of action.”

Ohio’s first reported case of herbicide-resistance came in the early 1980s, with the confirmation of triazine-resistance in common lambsquarters, he said.

Since then some 17 weed biotypes in Ohio have been confirmed to be resistant to ALS-inhibiting herbicides, PPO-inhibiting herbicides, 2,4-D or glyphosate, Stachler said.

Furthermore, scientists in 2003 reported the state’s first case of multiple resistance when they confirmed resistance in horseweed to ALS-inhibiting herbicides and to glyphosate.

OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.