7 Tips to Manage Herbicide Supplies

Post-emergent herbicide supplies can be hard to find this year. To overcome this challenge, make a plan and consider a new approach to weed management.

You might end up using some products for the first time in years or ever. Or, you might need to lean more heavily on soil-applied pre-emergent products. 

“We can start out with a good foundation program,” says Christy Sprague, Michigan State University Extension weed specialist. “That will help us to not rely so heavily on those postemergent herbicides that are probably going to be in short supply this year.”

This season calls for staying flexible and coming up with a plan A, B or even C.

“We’re telling customers in the 21 days after planting to have residual post-application out there,” says Scott Stout, Co-Alliance’s protection and seed business manager. “We can’t rely on trying to clean it up like we have in the past. We’re still waiting for some of these key chemistries to come off the line.”

These specialists suggest spraying any breakthrough weeds early — while just 1" to 4" tall — to help keep weeds in check and maximize the effectiveness of the postemergent pass.

Here are management tips to consider implementing this spring:  

1. Layer your Approach to Herbicides 

Use a soil-applied herbicide around planting and prior to emergence. Add other active ingredients that can target specific problem weed species. Twenty days later, use a postemergence herbicide while weeds are small (shorter than 4").

2. Don’t Cut Rates 
Research shows dropping rates drives weed resistance. Even non-resistant weed escapes that go to seed can remain in the soil bank for years. 

3. Manage Without Herbicides
Some farmers might choose to implement a mechanical tillage pass rather than a spring burndown. Cover crops can be an option since they hold back weeds. Plant in narrower rows or at higher populations to reach canopy cover more quickly. Soybean populations that get too high, however, tend to see more lodging later in the season. 

4. Dial In Perfection
Take time to calibrate your sprayer, make appropriate adjuvant or surfactant selections and then work during appropriate humidity, sunlight intensities, temperatures and time of day. These strategies can make a world of difference in the effectiveness of a product.

5. Add More Water
It takes more time to use but increasing the amount of water sprayed per acre can improve coverage and efficiency. Make sure you’re using sufficient water, per the label, especially for systemic herbicides.

6. Understand Residuals and Rotation
Make sure you factor in chemistry residuals and soil carryover when using a diverse cropping rotation. Different soil types can affect residual performance in different ways. 

7. Focus on Plant Health
Maintaining early and midseason fertility and vigor helps plants grow more quickly and shade out weed competition. That means keeping an eye out for plant diseases and defoliating insects. Biostimulants or growth regulators can also be useful in pushing vegetative elongation and biomass growth.  
 

Read More: 16 Ways to Boost Results from Glyphosate