Back in 2021 the California Invasive Plant Council (CAL IPC) and UC IPM launched the online decision support tool “WeedCUT” for wildland weed mangers to help assist making management decisions for wildland weeds. This tool focused on non-chemical weed control techniques and included detailed information for 21 physical methods that could be filtered by site and species characteristics as well as 18 plant taxa that could be targeted with biological control.
We are excited to announce that we have worked to improve this online decision support tool over the past three years, to make it even more user friendly, information-rich, and robust! Click here to check out the new tool.
The New WeedCUT layout!
WeedCUT now also includes information on 18 herbicides commonly used by wildland weed managers, but even more exciting is that users can filter effective tools by selecting any of 293 species listed in CAL IPC's invasive species inventory! Furthermore, the tool continues to allow users to add site characteristics to their query to help narrow down what management practices may be suitable and effective for their specific situation. Non-chemical techniques are listed first in their order of effectiveness, followed by biological control options, and finally effective herbicides.
Species Selection Page.
This tool gives practitioners a valuable “first cut” of potentially suitable techniques for a given situation. It also gives them a chance to learn about the various alternative tools and techniques that may work on the weed species and sites they are dealing with. However, WeedCUT is not a replacement for the land manager's critical thinking and experience and is only as good as the data entered into it.
Our goal is that WeedCUT will strengthen practitioners' use of IPM by providing information on all approaches for the safe and effective management of weeds on the landscape. This newly updated resource can also continue to be updated with new information as it comes in. Check it out and let us know how it works for you! Contact info@cal-ipc.org using the subject header “WeedCUT.”