Sharppod morningglory is a perennial vine commonly found infesting croplands in Texas and the southeastern United States. Previous research regarding morningglory competition and control primarily focused on annual Ipomoea. Interference, control, and herbicide translocation of sharppod morningglory could differ from that of other morningglories because of differences in growth and resource allocation. Therefore, field and laboratory experiments were conducted from 2001 to 2004 to: 1) determine the effects of seed-propagated and root-sprouted sharppod morningglory on cotton economic value, yield, harvest efficiency, and fiber quality; 2) evaluate sharppod morningglory control with cotton herbicides, and determine the effect of diuron rates on glyphosate absorption and translocation; and 3) assess the impact of cotton herbicide program and cotton-corn rotation on weed species composition over three years. A relatively large proportion of sharppod morningglory biomass was accumulated belowground during the first 8 wk of growth in the greenhouse. Consequently, up to 6 plants 10-m row-1 did not significantly reduce cotton lint yield. Sharppod morningglory density impacted color grade more than any other classification parameter. Through combined effects on yield and quality, cotton lint value was reduced by approximately 85% in the presence of 8 sharppod morningglory 10 m-1. Glyphosate alone did not completely control sharppod morningglory. The use of glufosinate, bromoxynil, or a combination of glyphosate plus diuron provided acceptable control. Sharppod morningglory absorbed up to 75% of glyphosate when applied alone, but most glyphosate was retained in treated leaves and did not translocate well. Diuron decreased absorption, increased leaf retention, and inhibited glyphosate translocation to roots. Rotation to corn and the use of preemergence herbicides in cotton improved control of grass and broadleaf weeds during the year of treatment. In the season following the 3-yr rotation, there were no lasting effects of crop rotation on density or control of grasses and broadleaves. However, hand-hoed and herbicide treated plots resulted in weed densities 2- to 3-fold lower than the untreated. Preemergence herbicides and/or crop rotation can reduce weed density and improve weed control, but these strategies must be employed long-term to reduce density of problematic weeds through depletion of the soil seedbank.

Field studies were conducted during 2006 and 2007 to evaluate control of saw greenbriar and southern dewberry by various pasture herbicides and to assess forage tolerance of Tifton 85 bermudagrass to these herbicides. Herbicides evaluated in each study included triclopyr, picloram, 2,4-D, fluroxypyr, dicamba, aminopyralid, metsulfuron methyl and various combinations of the above. Visual ratings were taken on each herbicide efficacy experiment. Visual evaluations of phytotoxicity, measurements of dry matter yield, and forage quality were quantified for each of the bermudagrass tolerance trials. Saw greenbriar was best controlled at approximately one year after treatment by triclopyr at 10.9% ae v/v with diesel as the carrier (88-98%), although the lower rate of triclopyr + diesel at 0.87% ae v/v + 5% v/v and triclopyr alone at 0.87% ae v/v provided 49 to 86% control. Triclopyr + fluroxypyr at 0.25% ai v/v + 0.086% ai v/v gave best control of southern dewberry in both years when applied as an individual plant treatment (IPT) six weeks after shredding. In general, shredding 45 days prior to herbicide application gave an advantage to southern dewberry control versus not shredding. In 2006, triclopyr + fluroxypyr (IPT) was the only treatment to decrease Tifton 85 dry matter yield at the first harvest, with no effect observed at the second harvest. In 2007, both broadcast treatments containing triclopyr + fluroxypyr and the IPT treatment of triclopyr decreased dry matter yield at the first harvest, with triclopyr (IPT) being the only treatment to lower dry matter yield at the second harvest. Field studies were also conducted in 2006 and 2007 to assess sharppod morningglory control in Roundup Ready Flex® and LibertyLink® cotton systems. Herbicides evaluated included glyphosate, glufosinate, prometryn, fluometuron, and diuron. Visual ratings of percent weed control and sharppod morningglory plant counts were taken to assess control. Prometryn at 1.8 kg ai ha⁻¹ and fluometuron at 1.8 kg ai ha⁻¹ provided significant preemergence control (33-81%) of seedling sharppod morningglory. All rates of glyphosate (1.06 and 1.54 kg ai ha⁻¹) and glufosinate (0.45 and 0.6 kg ai ha⁻¹) controlled sharppod morningglory from 55 to 100% at both application timings. The addition of diuron at 1.12 kg ai ha⁻¹ to glyphosate and glufosinate at the late season application enhanced sharppod morningglory control by 3 to 16%. Additionally, in both years, no reduction in cotton yield was observed in the morningglory infested treatment when compared to the weed free treatment.