Before long, farmers will be sitting down at their kitchen tables or offices and scratching out their 2024 herbicide plans with their crop advisers, trusted retail reps, or chemical company agronomists. But right now, the combines are still running through the fields of corn and soybeans, with many of them running through some dense weed populations along with the crop.
Start Planning for 2024-Weed Management Now
It’s no secret that this year presented many challenges for controlling weeds, including a lack of activating rainfall for our residuals and hot/dry conditions when making our post-emergence applications. This is showing itself now with heavy populations of waterhemp, and it’s even common to hear about heavy waterhemp populations hiding in corn fields as well. Luckily, there is action that can be taken even before making our herbicide plans for next year.
📸: BASF employee/Featuring a field with heavy heavy waterhemp infiltration.
Conventional tillage practices are a mortal enemy of waterhemp. In fact, the increased adoption of reduced-till or no-till practices is one of the reasons that waterhemp became such a problem in the first place. Just go ask your dad or grandpa and see if they ever worried about waterhemp prior to the 1990s. The reason tillage is so helpful is because waterhemp emerges near the top ½ - ¼ inches of the soil profile, and burying the seeds well below this depth inhibits their ability to germinate and emerge. There is data that suggests that using a moldboard plow can decrease waterhemp density anywhere from 44 to 92%1, or that using a chisel plow can reduce waterhemp density by 28%2. That is potentially millions of plants that we are eliminating right out of the gate, especially in these very weedy fields, and a significant amount of pressure being taken off of our herbicide program next year. Now, tillage is not always an option for everyone, but there is another option to consider.
📸: BASF employee/Featuring a tractor plowing a cornfield.
Cover crops are another tool to complement our other weed control practices, and planting cover crops is an action that can be taken this fall if the weather still allows. Established cover crop stands present competition to waterhemp in the spring and can reduce waterhemp emergence. For example, a study by Iowa State University found that planting a cereal rye cover crop in the fall reduced waterhemp emergence the following spring by 30%3. While they won’t replace herbicides, they can be paired with residual herbicides to prevent emergence. This also takes off some of the selection pressure for our herbicides and can help preserve their effectiveness.
Even though we are months away from making our 2024 herbicide applications, there are still actions that we can take now to start controlling weeds next year. Given the difficulties that we had this year and the subsequent high weed densities that we are seeing now, this could be a very effective step to successful weed management.
Endnotes
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