ONTARIO, Ore. — White top, an invasive weed, has exploded to alarming levels in Malheur County this year.

“This is the worst it’s ever been,” said Oregon State University Cropping Systems Extension Agent Bill Buhrig, who has lived in the county for 40 years. “It’s all over the place.”

White top, also known as hoary cress, usually blooms in stages throughout the year, said Malheur County Weed Inspector Gary Page. But this year it appears to have exploded virtually all at once.

It has also appeared in remote areas far removed from any previously known white top infestation, he added.

“We’re reaching a tipping point most likely where it’s just going to explode” to a level where it’s not economically feasible to manage, Page said.

The noxious weed competes with beneficial plants, crowds out grasses and is noxious for cattle, Buhrig said.

Page said it has invaded a lot of alfalfa fields and irrigated pastures and, if the problem worsens, could have a major negative impact on livestock grazing, the backbone of the area’s economy.

“If we don’t do something pretty quickly, it could end up being a big economic issue in livestock production,” he said.

Page and Buhrig have sounded the alarm over the white top problem and are asking for landowners’ help in controlling it.

Because it’s a persistent weed and hard to kill, many people mistakenly assume it can’t be controlled and give up trying, Buhrig said.

“It can be controlled with some available herbicides and that’s what we’re really trying to emphasize,” he said. “You can fight it.”

There is still time to control the weed in 2016 even though it has flowered, Buhrig said. “Anything you can do this year to keep it from going to seed is a good thing.”

One of the reasons the weed has gained a local reputation as being uncontrollable is because many people are using herbicides that suppress it but don’t kill it and it returns the next year, Page said.

He said most people who try to control white top are applying Roundup and 2,4-D, neither of which is overly effective at controlling it. He recommends using metsulfuron methyl or chlorosulfuron.

He said he prefers to use chlorosulfuron but metsulfuron methyl is cheaper and landowners can expect to pay between $2-3 per acre for that herbicide.

Page said the weed has been in the area since the 1920s but has begun to expand rapidly over the last four or five years and has significantly altered many miles of native habitat along the Malheur and Owyhee rivers.

For more information about the weed, contact Page at (541) 473-5102 or gary.page@malheurco.org.

PORTLAND — A return to moderate weather has blessed Oregon’s early strawberry crop with good size and flavor, growers report, and bodes well for state’s other signature berries as the summer unfolds.

“The quality is really good now,” said Matt Unger of Unger Farms west of Portland.

Unger said his berries came through a winter that brought record rain to the Portland area, then withstood an early April heat wave that included a record 85 degrees measured April 7 at Portland International Airport.

The warm weather was good for pollination, however, as bees were active, and a return to more typical spring weather after the unseasonable hot spell has improved sizing, Unger said. “Seventy-five to 80 (degrees) gives you the most sweet, beautiful berries,” he said.

The farm specializes in Hood strawberries that it sells to the New Seasons grocery chain in the Portland area. Hoods, known for their superior taste, have achieved cult status with some consumers thanks in part to a public relations campaign that annually trumpets their appearance in New Seasons stores.

Tom Lodge of Townsend Farms, a grower and processor in the Portland area, said the company’s berries were small and green when the heat wave hit and so weren’t effected. The farm grows the Tillamook variety of strawberries, most of which go through IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) processing and are bagged for store sale under various labels.

“This year should be a very good year,” Lodge said. “I think yields will be up a little over the past couple years; the quality should be good.”

The company also grows and processes blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, all of which are “coming along really good,” Lodge said.

He said blueberries should be ready for picking by mid-June or slightly after. “By June 25 or June 28 we’ll be inundated with blueberries,” he said.

Oregon ranks first nationally in blackberry production, primarily Marionberries, and ranks third in raspberry and strawberry production and fourth nationally in blueberries and cranberries. Berry crops are worth about $165 million annually.

Lodge said the reason for Oregon’s berry success is “100 percent climate.”

“We have nice cool evenings — not cold, not hot but cool — and warm sunny days,” he said. “That combination, along with the rains the Pacific Northwest is known for, all of that added together makes this a prime area for growing berries.”