Stories of the Heartland - April 2026 | Page 18

Page 18 Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, April 19, 2026 hometownsource. com / heartland /

Sowing surprises & standout seeds: The 2025 trials

BY ROBIN TROTT U OF M EXTENSION SERVICE
ALEXANDRIA- Minnesota gardeners proved once again that they’ re both adventurous and resilient during the 2025 Master Gardener Seed Trials. Each year, volunteers across the state test new varieties for flavor, germination, productivity, and overall performance. This season, 255 Master Gardeners from 48 counties evaluated eight crops, from mini bok choy to rudbeckia, while navigating a growing season marked by dramatic weather swings.
The trials were planted in home gardens, 16 community gardens, two school gardens, nine teaching gardens, and one urban farm. To keep results unbiased, each variety was labeled only with a two letter code.
Weather played a major role. May swung between midsummer heat and spring chill. June brought heavy storms, hail, and high winds, followed by warm, wet weather in July and August. September and October turned warm and dry again, producing a season that challenged nearly every plant on the list. Mini Bok choy emerged as the standout vegetable. Mei Qing Choi led the pack with strong germination, high yields, and continued harvests well into October. Even lower performing varieties earned praise for their attractive white stems and green leaves, and bolting plants still attracted pollinators. Nasturtiums added color and culinary flair. Cherry Rose ranked first, producing nonstop blossoms and a mild peppery bite, though its vigorous vines surprised some gardeners. Jewel Cherry Rose followed closely with vibrant blooms and strong growth. Orange cauliflower struggled. Rich in beta carotene and striking when fully developed, all four varieties faced weather related setbacks, including poor head formation. Clementine performed best, but only 35 % of growers said they would plant it again. Parsley and parsnips provided steady success. Plain Leaf parsley topped its category with sweet flavor and reliable production. Warrior parsnip won the root crop category, with 81 % of gardeners willing to grow it again thanks to its excellent cooked flavor. Beets delivered dependable harvests. Merlin led with high marks for sweetness and consistency, while Red Ace posted the strongest germination rates. Rudbeckia and tomatoes brightened gardens despite challenges. Cappuccino rudbeckia impressed with large, colorful blooms and high“ grow again” ratings.
Campbell 33 tomato topped the slicing tomato trial, though all varieties felt the effects of the season’ s heat and storms.
The Seed Trials Committee extends warm thanks to every volunteer who planted, observed, tasted, and recorded data, all helping Minnesota gardeners make informed, successful choices in seasons to come.
For more information about the seed trials, visit: https:// extension. umn. edu / planting-and-growing-guides / master-gardener-seed-trials.

Spray water quality can impact the control of weeds

U OF M EXTENSION SERVICE
Joseph Ikley, NDSU weed management specialist, and Greg Dahl, director of adjuvant education, CPDA, joined UMN Extension IPM educator Eric Yu to talk about how water quality influences herbicide efficacy. This was an episode of the 2026 Strategic Farming: Let’ s talk crops! webinar series.
With the frequency of herbicide resistant weed species on the rise, it is more important that we take action to ensure that herbicides work as well as possible. Spray water sources vary, from private wells, to chlorinated, city water, to pond or river water and knowing the quality of your spray water source can help inform
whether there is a need to add an adjuvant to the spray mixture to ensure that active ingredients are readily absorbed into plant tissue.
Water hardness, carbonate concentration, turbidity and pH can all impact the ability of some herbicide active ingredients to stay in solution for plant absorption without being inactivated by binding to negatively or positively charged mineral ions in spray water. Water hardness, or the concentration( often in parts per million) of positively charged minerals( cations) such as calcium( Ca2 +), sodium( Na +), potassium( K +) and iron( Fe2 + or Fe3 +) can easily bind to weak acid herbicide active ingredients( such as glyphosate) that have
a negative charge in solution, rendering them unable to be taken up by plant tissues. When there is a critical mass of cations in a spray water solution, when the water from the solution evaporates, mineral ions bound to herbicides form crystals, oftentimes incapable of being absorbed by the plant. Leading to Dahl’ s memorable catch phrase,“ plants don’ t drink rocks”.
Not using an adjuvant required for an active ingredient to be taken up by plants can reduce the ability to control problematic weeds. Research from Kansas State University compared applying glyphosate alone resulted in between 40 and 73 % control of velvetleaf and volunteer sorghum, sunflower and corn.
But adding the adjuvant ammonium sulfate( AMS) improved control by 17 to 32 % and adding a surfactant to the glyphosate / AMS mixture added an additional 4 to 5 % control. There are numerous adjuvants that can lower pH, but as Ikley states,“ the quick story about hardness and conditioning water, is that sometimes AMS is all that is needed”. For additional information about spray water quality, water testing, herbicide absorption, and herbicide efficacy with and without the addition of adjuvants, a recording of the session is now available to view on YouTube at z. umn. edu / StrategicFarmingRecordings.