by Mick Canevari, Brent Holtz, and Brad Hanson Current dry weather has preempted most normal winter weed germination and growth while prolonged periods of dry soil has caused some early weeds to desiccate and die.  In most tree and vine herbicide trials conducted so far this winter–the untreated controls look similar to herbicide treatments, very clean and without weeds.  What to do at this point poses some interesting questions.  Will it rain? Most of us are worrying more about irrigating our almond trees this summer than controlling weeds right now. If you have some weed growth that germinated with rain our one December rain, or with fall and winter irrigations, you may want to apply a post-emergent herbicide now in order to prevent hard to kill weeds from becoming established.  The warm weather could allow these weeds to establish and become more difficult to control, impacting the success of later herbicide applications by increasing trash on the berm and reducing coverage.