Agricultural News
Early Weed Control in the Fall is Key to Wheat Yield Success the Next Spring
Tue, 15 Jul 2014 06:01:30 CDT
Continuous planting of wheat year after year poses some challenges when it comes to controlling pests, especially weeds. Todd Baughman is program support leader in Weed Science at Oklahoma State University's Institute for Agricultural Biosciences based in Ardmore. He says in planting the same crop year after year you end up developing weeds that closely resemble the crop being grown like brome, jointed goat grass and wild oats to name a few. Baughman and Farm Director Ron Hays talked this week about early season weed control and a new tool from Arysta for wheat producers, PRE-PARE. You can click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear their full conversation.
"You have a weed that very closely resembles the crop and trying to develop a program that will selectively not harm the crop, but control that weed makes it a real challenge when you don't have some sort of rotation in your program," said Baughman.
Until recently farmers haven't had many options in terms for weed control. One of the new tools farmers have access to is Arysta's ag chemical PRE-PARE. It's a preemergence
herbicide for grass control in wheat. Baughman says through research he has done at OSU they have found how best to utilize this herbicide. Click here for details about PRE- PARE from Arysta Life Sciences.
"The real key to grass control in wheat is getting out there early," Baughman. "Work we have done with a lot of herbicides has shown your most effective control is in the early part of the growing season."
Baughman says not only do you see better control, but also a real bump in yield. In high yielding situations he has seen yield increases of 20 - 30 bushels per acre. He has also seen how early season weed control is also effective on marginal wheat that will at least pay for the herbicide application.
In striving to increase yields its no easy feat in Oklahoma with early planting of wheat acres which contributes to weed pressure, along with having a lot of wheat grazed by cattle and the overall stress of the environment.
"That's another reason again why that early season weed control is real important to make that system work," Baughman said.
In going into planting, Baughman encourages growers to go plan ahead for problem fields by managing each field separately from planting through harvest. He recommends farmers develop a plan from the beginning and sticking with it.
"Timing is a big key to success with weed control, insect control, fertility, all of things that go into making a big crop, so having that plan ahead and enact that plan when we need to is a real key," Baughman said.
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