More in Herbicides

"The smaller the weed, the better," says University of Illinois Associate Professor of Weed Science Aaron Hager. Proper timing of the application of postemergence herbicides provides the corn crop with the best opportunity to express its full genetic yield potential. Allowing weeds to compete with the crop for too long reduces its seed yield. Yield losses can accumulate very rapidly, and the associated costs can far exceed the cost of an integrated weed management program that includes a properly timed application of a postemergence herbicide....More

Interest in using multiple modes of herbicide action in weed management programs is increasing, according to Aaron Hager, University of Illinois associate professor of weed science. However, each component of a herbicide premix or tankmix with multiple modes of action is not necessarily effective for every weed or under all application conditions....More

A new model predicts that atrazine, plus its breakdown product deethylatrazine, has less than a 10% chance of exceeding the U.S. EPA's standard for public drinking-water supplies in shallow groundwater in about 95% of the nation’s agricultural areas. Atrazine is a commonly used herbicide for weed control in corn and sorghum production....More

Ohio State University research on marestail management has shown that a systems approach, involving a combination of herbicide applications, provides the most consistently effective control and reduction in marestail population over time. Given that essentially all of the marestail populations in the state are glyphosate-resistant by now, and something like 25% of these are also resistant to ALS inhibitors (Classic, FirstRate), POST applications are often the least important application in a marestail control program....More

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

Your herbicide plans for 2012 should not include glyphosate use alone, because the weeds are winning. Weed scientists continue to see glyphosate’s effectiveness falter....More

Dallas Peterson’s weed-research plots rival the rankest weed-ravaged fields anywhere. And head-high pigweed offers examples of what can happen to corn and soybeans fields if the yield-punishing plants aren’t controlled early....More

Purdue University researchers have discovered a fine-tuning mechanism involved in plant root growth that has them questioning whether a popular herbicide may have unintended consequences, causing some plants to need more water or nutrients....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