To prevent the spread of this pest, agricultural quarantines specify conditions for moving soil, plants, or machinery out of infested areas. Eradication Eliminating witchweed requires finding and killing plants before they go to seed and eliminating seeds already in the soil. Herbicides are used on fields infested with witchweed. Extensive field research has provided information on the best chemical or combination of chemicals for the given crop, weed species, and field conditions. Eliminating the microscopic seeds is another important part of eradication.
Some seeds die of natural attrition or sprout only to be killed by an herbicide.
However, since witchweed seeds can persist in the soil for a decade, efficient eradication requires accelerating the natural rate of seed germination. Witchweed seeds can be eliminated from the soil by creating conditions that cause them to germinate when no host is present. This phenomenon is known as suicide germination. Ethylene gas, a natural ripening agent produced by fruits, vegetables, and flowers, is injected into the soil under proper environmental conditions. It stimulates seed germination, but lacking a host, seedlings die.