Hopornbeam Copperleaf (Acalypha ostryifolia L.)

About Hophornbeam Copperleaf:

Hophornbeam Copperleaf is a summer annual weed that can produce more than 12,500 seeds per plant in optimal growing conditions. This weed is native to North and Central America and prefers moist, open ground.

Family: Euphorbiaceae (spurge) plant family]

Hophornbeam Copperleaf Scouting and Prevention:

At full maturity this plant can stand to be about 40 inches tall. The Hophornbeam Copperleaf has rounded egg-shaped leaves that alternate one another along the stem with red coloration in the main veins and serrated margins. They are also monoecious plants, meaning that they have both male and female flowers on a single plant. The male flowers grow from the axillary spikes, whereas the female flowers grow from long, terminal spikes. The capsules on a mature plant will split open and release wrinkled, raindrop shaped seeds. The emergence of Hophornbeam Copperleaf occurs in late May and continues until early June.

Common locations

• - Moist soil
• - Fields
• - Gardens
• - Soybean fields

Prevention

A soil-applied herbicide that has cloransulam, flumioxazin, metribuzin or sulfentrazone should do the trick to prevent Hophornbeam Copperleaf from growing in your soybeans. It is important that you use soil-applied herbicides no earlier than two weeks before planting.

Hophornbeam Copperleaf Control:

Cultural Control

Crops with canopies provide shade, which helps suppress the growth of Hophornbeam Copperleaf. Narrow row spacing and uniformed crop standards also have been shown to decrease the amount of sunlight. This tells us that a good competitor against Hophornbeam Copperleaf is soybeans; it has been shown to reduce the production of seeds by 1000.

Chemical Control

If you are looking for a more aggressive way to control Hophornbeam Copperleaf in your soybeans, post-emergent herbicides containing aciflurofen, fomesafen, glyphosate, or lactofen all work well against the growth of Hophornbeam Copperleaf. It is important that these herbicides are applied before the plant grows larger than 10 to 15 cm for best control. Herbicide management on smaller Hophornbeam Copperleaf weeds that are about 5 cm tall can be done with Atrazine in combination with pyridate and mesotrione, which gives satisfactory control when followed by cultivation.

Latin / Alternative Hophornbeam Copperleaf names:

• - Acalypha ostryifolia L.
• - Three-seeded mercury

Additional Hophornbeam Copperleaf Resources