Last summer several members of Team Echinacea began an experiment to determine the best way to eradicate Hawkweed from p1. Elizabeth, Cam, Allison, and Jared randomly assigned five treatments for removing Hawkweed in 16 1mx1m plots: 1. Hand pull, without tools, hawkweed basal leaves and flowers with the intent of removing as much root as possible (hand pull, no tool) 2. Hand pull with a tool with the intent of removing as much root as possible (hand pull w/tool) 3. Paint one leaf of each rosette with a 2:1 round-up herbicide solution with red dye (paint leaves) 4. Cut the flower head off of each hawkweed plant, paint 2:1 round-up herbicide solution with red dye on peduncle (cut head, paint stem). The 5th treatment was a control, where there was no effort to remove Hawkweed.
This summer, I revisited the plot where this experiment took place to observe how the Hawkweed looked after 1 year. I visually estimated percent cover in each plot, and am excited to compare the results from this year with data from last year to see how various treatments affect hawkweed presence after a year.
Hawkweed 2015 experimental plot 1
