5 Weed Management Tips to Protect Your Seed Decision
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You’ve made important seed decisions and investments for the growing season. Now, ensure you’re protecting that seed investment from tough, resistant weeds by being a good steward of the herbicide technology. Implementing a successful weed resistance management program will help continue the efficacy of the Enlist™ weed control system. Here are five weed management tips to follow this season:
Ask yourself: Which weeds were still present last year? This can help inform what did and didn’t work with your weed management program as you start putting together plans for the upcoming season. Planting seed with a flexible herbicide trait system such as the Enlist system, will give you plenty of options to develop a herbicide program approach fit for your acres.
To stay ahead of resistant weeds like waterhemp and Canada fleabane, start with a clean seedbed by using tillage, a burndown or both. Follow with a pre-emergence herbicide that features residual activity, such as Canopy PRO or Diligent herbicide. Then come back with a timely postemergence application or applications featuring two or more modes of action, such as Enlist Duo™ herbicide or Enlist™ 1 herbicide with either glyphosate or Liberty 200 SN.
To help delay weed resistance from developing, you should always use more than one mode of action and never use Enlist 1 herbicide alone. For broad-spectrum grass and broadleaf control, use a tank mix of Enlist 1 and glyphosate. To control acres with high pressure of waterhemp or kochia, a tank mix of Enlist 1 and Liberty 200 SN is a good way to ensure there are 2 effective modes of action working on these weeds
It’s important to use full, labeled herbicide rates to help prevent the onset of resistance. Skimping on herbicide rates results in less effective weed control and gives weeds a chance to survive. By following the labeled herbicide rate and making timely applications, you’ll be able to better control the most difficult weeds in your field.
The recommended herbicide rate for Enlist Duo herbicide it's 1.74 L/acre and for Enlist 1 herbicide is 0.73 L/acre. When tank-mixing with other herbicide partners, be sure to check the labels and use the labeled herbicide rates.
Weeds grow fast. When they’re less than 10 cm (4 inches), they have fewer growing points for herbicides to target and control.
Actively growing weeds are absorbing moisture and other nutrients from the soil and will ingest systemic herbicides, which is another reason spraying when weeds are small is important. Enlist herbicides are systemic herbicides, which means the herbicides are absorbed and kill the entire weed.
Achieve on-target applications by setting up your sprayer for success with recommended nozzle and pressure combinations. To help minimize spray drift potential, maintain the boom height specified by the nozzle manufacturer — usually 20 inches or less above the crop canopy. Use a nozzle and pressure combination that delivers a coarse to extremely coarse spray (ASABE S-572 Standard)
Along with using the right nozzles, pressure and boom height to optimize coverage, Enlist herbicides have better on-target results than traditional 2,4-D products. With the inherently low volatility of 2,4-D choline and reduced physical drift potential, you can confidently apply these herbicides. They are formulated with Colex-D™ technology to reduce driftable fines — those prone to move away from the target during application — without decreasing droplet size.
To further help keep weeds at bay and the efficacy of herbicide technology, develop an integrated weed management program with non-chemical weed control practices. You can do this by incorporating mechanical cultivation, rotating crops, and planting cover crops and weed-free crop seed.
You’ll also want to reduce weed seed production by managing weeds in and around the fields, during and after harvest. Don’t forget to thoroughly clean your equipment so you’re not carrying plant residue from fields with resistant weeds.
Enabling superior weed control starts with your seed and trait system selection, but it doesn’t stop there. Being good stewards of the herbicide technology and incorporating nonchemical weed control practices will help sustain the efficacy and weed control results of the herbicides. To learn more about preventing weed resistance, the Enlist Weed Control System offers best practices, tools and training to achieve optimum results and sustain the long-term performance of the Enlist system.