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Begin work now on next season’s weeds

Harvest is a good time to begin work on next year’s weed control.  Farmers can identify weed problems so they’re not a problem again next year, said Paul Johnson, weed science coordinator for the South Dakota State University Extension Service.

“At harvest time you can see what weeds escaped, and by the size of the weed should help you determine if it is weeds that weren’t controlled or weeds that came after your last control operation,” Johnson told Brownfield Ag News.

There was a lot of late weed emergence this past growing season after spraying was done, said Johnson.  Some of the same conditions that led to bumper corn and soybean crops this season have resulted in the late emergence and seeding of common waterhemp and velvetleaf.

“Both of them have the ability to germinate yet in August and produce viable seed in smaller plants,” he said, “and this year with a lot of good August rains, that happened in a lot of fields and it was really no fault of the [weed control] program.  It got caught because of the late rains.”

With more growers moving away from glyphosate products it’s important that labels are read to insure that current modes of action are effective against the weeds that are in the field, said Johnson.

Some weeds are controlled only if the herbicide products used have enough residual to keep them from being able to emerge and grow, he explained.

If there is an unknown weed found during harvest, it’s recommended that SDSU Extension be contacted.