With a significant number of fields going unplanted in 2019, controlling weeds in those fields for 2020 will be a difficult challenge for growers.
Weeds were allowed to flourish on prevent plant acres and that spells troubled for 2020.
We are going to be returning a lot of weed seeds back into the soil. Driving across my territory in Indiana and Illinois, I have seen a lot of fields with very tall weeds,” said Nick Hustedde of FMC. “A lot of those waterhemp plants are going to seed.”
He added that growers will likely be battling these weeds for the next 3 years, if not longer.
His recommendation is to start with a fall weed control program as soon as possible.
“A burndown of glyphosate and 2,4-D or glyphosate and dicamba,” said Hustedde. “Then go with an Authority XL if you’re going to beans next year or an Authority MTZ if you are going to corn.”
Hustedde says another option could be cover crops.
“Not only is it good for our soil health, but cover crops will help suppress some of those winter annual weeds,” he said.
See your FMC representative for more recommendations.
