Hi everyone, One of the best things about the PBS board is that we are encouraged to debate about topics surrounding geophytes. Sometimes we stray from that and it's OK, but let's remember to keep our public text as public voices and treat each other as if we were facing each other in person. Please check your text before sending it out to make sure you're typing what you really want to say so that it doesn't sound offensive. The other great thing about the internet format is that if you're not interested in a conversation, it's so easy to hit the delete button. Russ, I disagree that we have to sit here in silence about issues that affect us. If we remain silent, that means what we oppose has won. Even if what we say doesn't make a big difference now, it could be a small stone that starts an avalanche. How could we expect to spread the words to others unless we speak about it in public? While limited use of pesticides in gardens can help, it's the big farming industry that's is the major contributors to the relevant pollution. Switching to organic farming is a practical approach and I do wish that organic farming was well subsidized like it is with the meat industry. Organic produce would then not be as expensive as it is. It just seems so wrong to have meat being cheaper than veggies. Christian, the answer to your question is simple to answer. Just dig out some soil where you think there may have been a crop of C. hirsuta from the previous year. Mix the soil well and divide that in half and put them into two containers. Spray one container with glyphosate and the other one with water. Soon the seeds will sprout and you will have an answer as to whether glyphosate induces germination. Although to show real statistical significance, you will need more than 10 pots of each treatment. Glyphosate works by inhibiting enzymes involved in breaking down and making of sugars in plants, thus slowly starving the plant to death. I'm not sure how this is functional in inducing germination. One other explanation is that it is able to inhibit other enzymes as well, and these enzymes may be enzymes that keep C. hirsuta seeds in dormancy. Nhu President, PBS