Virginia Tech Hosts the 2007 Northeastern Weed Science Society's Weed Contest

A participant engaging in weed identification during the contest.

The annual Northeastern Weed Science Society's Weed Contest was hosted by Virginia Tech in July 2007. A total of 45 graduate and undergraduate students participated from six universities. Students participated in four contest segments including weed identification, unknown herbicide identification, sprayer calibration, and farmer problems. Shawn Askew, associate professor and extension turfgrass weed specialist, organized the contest with planning assistance from Julie Keating, program support technician. An array of herbicide-injury identification plots were planted and maintained by John Willis, Ph.D. graduate student. The contest included "real-world" problem-solving scenarios, such as: invasive weed identification and management for a newly-acquired property, a brush pile burn that deactivated the preemergent herbicide applied to a corn field, insect repellent that left green footprints on a golf putting green, contaminated hay mulch that killed tomatoes and "Your glyphosate killed my goat" in which Scott Hagood, professor PPWS, gave a stellar performance as the irate and devastated goat farmer.