Before we talk about specific herbicides or weed issues, here is a big list of practices you can use to reduce the number of weeds you see in any of your fields.
You certainly don’t have to follow all these steps, but the more you do, the better chance your herbicides will give you 100% control.
- Plant in narrow rows at high population
- Have great drainage & excellent fertility
- Plant early and do everything possible to improve early vigor
- Do tillage when possible but avoid tillage prior to spraying systemic herbicides like Roundup so they have time to reach every single growing point in the weed you are trying to control
- Don’t ever let a weed go to seed
- Spray contact herbicides when the weather is warm and after the last spring frost, yet before the first fall frost
- Use cover crops or full-season cash crops to shade out weed competition
- Spray field borders with an additional pass very early in the growing season, as field borders are usually where weed populations are higher
- Apply contact herbicides when weeds are small and get great spray coverage
- Use the proper spray adjuvants, slow down when you are spraying, and use full, labeled herbicide rates
- The more EFFECTIVE herbicide modes of action you can use, the more weeds you’ll control and the less chance you’ll have for weed resistance on your farm