By the time you see broomrape weed in your fields, it may be too late. There has been a resurgence of broomrape reports over the last decade in California. Retired UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Gene Miyao said although the parasitic weed is far from widespread, it could become so quickly. “The seeds are very small, the growth is primarily underground until it starts sending up shoots and then it very quickly starts setting seed,” he said. “A single seed attached to a tomato plant may send up half-a-dozen shoots, and each shoot might have 1,000 seeds or more.”
Because of the weed’s seed characteristics, Miyao added that managing it is nearly impossible. “It’s a problem for the industry and the individual grower,” he said. “Trying to contain this is a problem, especially in our day and age when we have more custom equipment and larger growers moving a lot of personnel and equipment to many fields in different little regions.”
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