Emergence patterns of weed seedlings in relation to cultivation and rainfall

Abstract

Summary: In experiments over 4 years, separate field plots were cultivated once only at 2‐week intervals and the weed seedlings recorded weekly. Soil disturbance resulted in a flush of seedlings of which 90% appeared within 10 weeks after cultivation in early spring and within 3 weeks after cultivation in summer. Weekly emergence then returned to the level prevailing on undisturbed soil. The species composition of the seedling populations varied with the time of year at which the soil was disturbed. In each year there was a spring flush of seedlings, probably associated with rising soil temperature; subsequent flushes were coincident on cultivated and undisturbed soil and were related to the rainfall pattern. In each year there were periods when lack of soil moisture restricted emergence, and this appeared to be the over‐riding factor determining seedling numbers. When cultivations were followed by long dry periods which prevented germination, the numbers of seedlings appearing when rain ultimately fell were no different from those when the soil was disturbed just before the rainfall.