More in Crop Chemicals

As a farm journalist who has logged vast windshield time on Corn Belt blue highways every summer for umpteen years, something struck me different looking across bean fields in 2011. In a word: statues. Of tall, random and proud water hemp....More

A series of studies at Purdue University has shown that spray water pH and hardness can reduce the effectiveness of herbicides, making it vitally important for crop producers to test water sources. Hard water or water with pH values as low as 4 or as high as 9 have been shown to lower the efficacy of herbicides, including glyphosate, nicosulfuron and saflufenacil, says Bill Johnson, Purdue Extension weed scientist and professor of botany and plant pathology. An ideal pH value would be 6-7....More

You know the villains – waterhemp, marestail, pigweed and other pilferers of water and soil nutrients. They’re the plants you spend $50/acre to kill, yet zestfully return, especially if these prolific weed-seed producers like waterhemp are allowed to spread 300,000 herbicide-resistant seeds per plant at harvest....More

A population of common waterhemp has developed resistance to postemergent application of HPPD-inhibiting herbicides (e.g., Callisto, Laudis and Impact). This resistance occurred in a seed-corn production system where these HPPD-inhibiting herbicides were repeatedly used over the last five years....More

Producers contended with precipitation extremes in the 2011 growing season that could lead to herbicide carryover, says Aaron Hager, University of Illinois Extension weed specialist....More

2,4-D is coming back. What many might consider a “dinosaur” may be the best solution for growers fighting weed resistance today, says Dean Riechers, University of Illinois associate professor of weed physiology. “Farmers can’t imagine going back to 2,4-D or other auxin herbicides,” Riechers says. “But herbicide resistance is bad enough that companies are willing to bring it back. That illustrates how severe this problem is.”...More

A Purdue Extension weed specialist urges farmers to take necessary steps now to better control yield-reducing waterhemp next year as it spreads through Indiana with increasing resistance to glyphosate. Farmers need to learn more about waterhemp because it has shown greater resistance to the herbicide the past two to three years, Bill Johnson says. The weed has been present in some Indiana field surveys for about 10 years....More

You have a bumper corn crop that’s sold for $7/bu. and the combines are running. Your high-cost inputs, sweat and toil are rewarded. But testing shows the cream of a crop contains toxins and is illegal to sell. You may even have to bury it....More

Purdue University Weed Scientist Glenn Nice says farmers need to take precautions to prevent carryover of mesotrione, an active ingredient in several corn herbicides, into the following year's soybean crop....More

Ohio crop growers faced numerous challenges planting corn and soybeans this spring, and with the crop progressing through mid-July, they now face an interesting weed control scenario, as well....More

Farmers can take steps to manage and prevent Northern corn leaf blight, a yield-reducing foliar disease, says Kiersten Wise, a Purdue Extension crop specialist....More

Unless a corn crop is at risk of developing fungal diseases, a Purdue University study shows that farmers would be smart to skip fungicide treatments that promise increased yields....More