By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A representative of Corteva Agriscience says farmers need to make and stick with a weed control plan for the coming season, maybe now more than ever.
Corteva Market Development Specialist Ron Geis says sporadic rains made 2023 challenging.
“The products that we applied at planting time sometimes didn’t get rained in,” Geis tells KFEQ. “You want to have those planting time herbicides rained into the soil so that as the weeds take that first water in, they take herbicide in with it and they get control before they even have a chance to get started.”
The experience last year should prompt farmers to really think through what to do going into a new planting season.
“So as we head in 2024, my advice to farmers is let’s make a good solid plan of a program approach to weed control,” Geis says.
Geis likens it to three cogs in a sprocket. The first is to start clean by wiping out weeds at planting time. The second: use planting-time residual weed control. And the third consists of post-emergence weed control.
“So think of the residual herbicide we put on at planting time is going to give you about 95% kill,” Geis says. “Well, what do we do about the extra five? That’s when we have to time our post-emerge application, when those 5% escapes are two to three inches tall, not figure on planning when those get to be a foot tall; we’ve missed our opportunity to control them through the foliage.”
Weed control likely takes on even more importance during dry conditions, according to Geis, because drought hampered weed control efforts this year.
The bottom line, according to Geis: prepare before planting.
“When it comes to weed control, make a good plan, stick with your plan, and if the plan doesn’t go perfect, clean up those escapes.”
Geis acknowledges we all need a little help from Mother Nature going into a new year.