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Moving Beyond Just Herbicides

Farm journalists from across the country received a short course in managing resistant weeds during the Syngenta Media Summit held Oct. 28 at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, N.C.

In a panel discussion at the summit, Dane Bowers and Gordon Vail, Syngenta’s technical product leads for herbicides; Tim Hambrick, area field crop agent for Forsyth, Stokes, and Surry Counties with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service; and Dorchester, Nebraska farmer Jayme Dick-Burkey all agreed that cover crops, hand pulling and tillage practices play critical roles in managing resistant weeds in addition to the use of herbicides.

The key points emphasized:

  • Start clean with tillage or an effective burndown plus a pre-emergence residual herbicide application. Catch weeds when they are small.
  • Always use a two-pass system. Follow a pre-emergence application with a properly timed post-emergence application. Apply at full rates with recommended adjuvants.
  • Use multiple modes of action with efficacy on target weeds.
  • Use diversified management programs such as cover crops, mechanical weed control and crop rotation.
  • Do not allow weeds to go to seed and add to the seed bank. Remove weed escapes early.
  • Utilize good agronomic practices: Narrow rows, increased plant populations and other practices that promote crop growth and competitive ability.

To read more of the Southeastfarmpress news story, please click here.