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TAKE TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR WEED MANAGEMENT PLAN

07/18/2016
TAKE TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR WEED MANAGEMENT PLAN

It is that time of year again—the time between the busy spring rush and the fall harvest. There are still some critical decisions to make, such as fungicide and insecticide usage, but we are nearing the home stretch. Up to this point, we have planned, re-planned, and double checked re-plans to ensure optimum yield in our fields. Those plans were executed this spring and now most of the crop yield potential is out of our hands and Mother Nature is going to have to help finish our crop if we want maximum return on our investment. 

During this “lull”, a term I use lightly, is a good time to evaluate the decisions we made to get the crop to this point. Think about the hundreds, maybe thousands, of decisions that had to be made regarding seed choice, soil fertility, weed management, insect management, disease management, and data management, just to name a few. While I enjoy conversations about all of these components that influence our yield, my passion revolves around the management decisions related to weeds.

To evaluate our weed management decisions, the first step is to scout the fields. What worked and what didn’t? In my travels throughout Illinois, I definitely see some plans that worked like a well-oiled machine, while others left a little to be desired. In fact, I have been involved in discussions that involved the words “row cultivation” and “rope wick applicators” for management plans that didn’t quite get the job done. While these management tactics can be extremely successful under the right conditions, I had previously doubted farmers would be open to these options due to the slow pace and risk of crop injury that may occur. However, the increase in resistant weed biotypes throughout the state have necessitated out of the box strategies for weeds that get through our primary barriers for management.  

For those fields where we will be less than pleased with our weed control, we need to consider our herbicide options. The most important factor is to start clean and stay clean. This includes the use of preemergence herbicides that are effective on the weed species we are targeting. I always say the easiest weed to manage is one that never emerges and that is exactly how a preemergence herbicide works. Using multiple effective sites of action postemergence is also the key to managing weeds that are actively competing with our crop. Additionally, the use of overlapping residuals in that postemergence application will get us closer to crop canopy without weeds emerging.

Lastly, there are other means to control weeds besides solely relying on the use of herbicides.  Sound weed management plans will include multiple strategies that include cultural and mechanical means of weed control. This may include tillage prior to planting or narrowing our row spacing to better compete with weeds, just to name a few. Regardless, using cultural and mechanical methods for weed control in conjunction with a comprehensive chemical weed management program will increase our chances of having a weed-free field at the end of the season. If you need assistance in creating a total weed management plan, please contact your local FS crop specialist.

Originally published in FarmWeek. David Powell serves the FS System as GROWMARK’s weed science technical manager. He can be reached at [email protected].

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