When To Time Your Fall Burndown?

November is typically a good month for fall burndown applications in the southern portion of the Midwest. Where rain has occurred over the past couple of months, fall-emerged weeds like chickweed, henbit, marestail, or mustard species have become commonly found in no-till fields.

Why Time Fall Burndown Right?

Choosing to address these weeds in the spring may have some unintended consequences. Dense mats of winter annual weeds can cause slower dry down in the spring prior to planting and also lead to soil temperatures staying cooler further into spring, leading to a delay in planting.

📸: BASF employee/Featuring a close up shot of dense mats of winter annual weeds that can cause slower dry down.

Using a fall herbicide can help remove these weeds before they become harder to control in the spring. Weeds like marestail become especially hard to control in the spring because of their larger taproot and growth habits in the spring months.

📸: BASF employee/Featuring emergence of marestail after fall burndown application.

Using Distinct® Herbicide for Fall Burndown

BASF offers Distinct® herbicide for fall herbicide applications in fields going to either corn or soybeans the following year. Distinct combines the power of two SOAs for improved knockdown of commonly found winter annual broadleaf weeds. A commonly used tank mix partner would be glyphosate for control of fall-emerged grasses and to assist with larger broadleaf weeds. The addition of 2,4-D is also common to add knockdown for emerged broadleaves. Distinct® herbicide is helpful for knockdown in tank mixes with fall-residual herbicides, including metribuzin and competitive ALS-containing herbicides. See the photo below where a sprayer skip occurred in the fall.

📸: BASF employee/Featuring an area where a sprayer skipped.

When to Apply Fall Burndown in the Southern Midwest

In the Southern Midwest, targeting your fall burndown between Halloween and Thanksgiving is typically a good window for optimal herbicide activity. This window is usually late enough that most winter annuals have started to emerge, yet early enough that knockdown products like Distinct® herbicide still have good weather for optimum weed control.

Always read and follow label directions. Grow Smart, and Distinct are registered trademarks of BASF. Copyright 2023 BASF Corporation. All rights reserved