Producers Blog

Most producers have heard the old adage “start clean, stay clean” when it comes to weed control. This is a relatively simple concept: start the year with no weeds and it should be easier to finish the year without weeds. However, in the twenty years of Roundup Ready® crops, this concept has significantly changed and has truly become a systems approach at weed control.

Key steps to achieving clean fields

Weed control, like many parts of farming, is a never-ending battle. Farmers need to learn from past mistakes and take their new knowledge forward to help win the war.

1. Scout fields and identify issues. This will help lead to success in the future.
2. Figure out the key weed species in each field. This will help fine tune what herbicides will best fit the system.
3. Customize a herbicide program on a field-by-field basis. This will lead to fewer weed problems. It may be simpler to run one herbicide program across the entire operation, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.
4. Residuals are key. A good pre-emerge herbicide will give you a jump on  early season weeds.  Follow up with a good tank-mix partner in-season that gives some residual. This should also help finish out the season without any weed issues.

Creating a herbicide program

Here are a things to think about when you’re creating your herbicide program:

• Layer herbicides often. This makes it easier to kill weeds when they are smaller (if they are ever even allowed to emerge).
• Make a fall application. This often gives you a head start on controlling winter annuals along with other hard-to-control weeds, like marestail, that will be emerged already in the fall.
• Leave rotation options open for corn or soybeans by using herbicides like metribuzin or Autumn™ Super in the fall.
• Control winter annuals. This will reduce the likelihood of early season pests, which can vector early season diseases as well.
• Use multiple modes of action. Even with new technology in soybeans, there is no standalone silver bullet. Using multiple modes of actions, including a good pre-emerge, followed by in-season applications with a residual product (like Warrant® or Outlook®) will help control hard-to-kill weeds.

In today’s economy where cash flow may indicate one crop being more profitable in the fall and the other being more profitable at planting, it is good to leave rotation options as open as possible.

Bottom line: tailor each field’s herbicide program to the species of weeds present. The chemical market is full of great pre-emerge products for both corn and soybeans. Some of these have pH restrictions, some do better against certain weeds and some may have interactions with certain seed treatments. All of these considerations are why it’s important to look at the system on a field-by-field basis. Keep in mind: some retailers push one chemical company’s products over another for various reasons, but it is important to know what products are easily available.

A note on tank mixes…

The 2017 growing season saw a major addition with the Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® system. It’s important to remember that not all tank mixes are approved at this time, but an up-to-date list is available at www.xtendimaxapplicationrequirements.com for Xtendimax® and also at www.engeniatankmix.com for Engenia®. A good tank-mix partner is pertinent for corn and soybeans with the amount of glyphosate-tolerant weeds as there currently are. Always following the labels for these products will help protect the industry from developing more herbicide tolerance in the future.

Using new technologies along with older systems should result in cleaner fields, which can result in bigger yields and easier harvest. For more information, talk with your local Producers Hybrids dealer or DSM and make sure you are utilizing our Agronomy team, as well. We’re here to help and would be happy to stop by and look at your fields with you.