Pre‐emergent herbicides are frequently used to control exotic annual plants prior to seed‐based restoration, but seeding must generally wait until herbicide toxicity has waned. The emerging seed‐enhancement technology of herbicide protection pods (HPP) allows for simultaneous seeding and herbicide application by protecting desirable seeds inside pods or pellets containing activated carbon, allowing for single‐entry and potentially cost‐saving wildland restoration approaches. This technology has shown promise in multiple recent lab and field experiments. However, the effect of pod size on efficacy has not been formally investigated, and important small‐seeded species have either not been tested or have shown less‐promising results when used with this technology. Using emergence trials in two different laboratory environments with two small‐seeded species important to restoration in the semi‐arid western United States (Wyoming big sagebrush [Artemisia tridentata Nutt ssp. wyomingensis] and Sandberg bluegrass [Poa secunda J Presl]), we investigated if HPP size affected early performance and protection from herbicide (imazapic), as well as how different sizes of HPPs compared to bare seed. For both species, smaller HPP sizes selected to match optimal seeding depths showed up to two‐fold higher emergence and aboveground biomass than larger pellets and still maintained protection from herbicide toxicity. Both species also showed 50–90% reductions in emergence and aboveground biomass due to incorporation into HPPs in general, resulting in only one species (bluegrass) showing the desired effect of HPPs: higher success than bare seed in the presence of herbicide. We suggest that additional experimentation to improve this promising technology is warranted.

中文翻译：

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用于原生植物恢复的除草剂保护荚技术：一种尺寸可能无法适应所有尺寸

出苗前的除草剂通常用于在种子恢复之前控制一年生外来植物，但是播种通常必须等到除草剂毒性减弱为止。新兴的除草剂保护豆荚（HPP）增强种子技术可通过保护豆荚内或含有活性炭的颗粒中所需的种子，同时播种和使用除草剂，从而实现单次进入并可能节省成本的野外恢复方法。这项技术已在最近的多个实验室和现场实验中显示出希望。但是，豆荚大小对功效的影响尚未得到正式研究，与该技术结合使用的重要小种子物种尚未经过测试或显示出不太令人满意的结果。蒿（Artemisia tridentata Nutt ssp。）怀俄明州]和桑德伯格蓝草[ Poa secunda]J Presl]），我们调查了HPP的大小是否影响早期性能和对除草剂的保护（伊马扎比），以及与裸种子相比，不同大小的HPP的影响。对于这两个物种，选择较小的HPP尺寸以匹配最佳播种深度，它们的出苗率和地上生物量要比较大的颗粒高出两倍，并且仍然保持了对除草剂毒性的保护作用。总体上，由于掺入HPPs，两种物种的出苗和地上生物量也减少了50-90％，导致只有一种物种（蓝草）显示出HPPs的理想效果：在除草剂的存在下，其成功率要高于裸种子。我们建议进行额外的实验以改进这一有前途的技术。