Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
September 29, 2015
- Harvest is an ideal time to evaluate herbicide effectiveness.
- Wet weather likely contributed to postemergence herbicide application delays.
- To tackle resistance issues in the field, Missouri grower Jimmy Daniels switched to SureStart® II herbicide
As growers across the Corn Belt prepare for harvest and scout their fields, they may see an increased level of weed pressure due to summer rains, which may have delayed postemergence herbicide applications.
Harvest is an ideal time to examine a weed control program — assess weed infestation and evaluate herbicide efficacy. For Midwest growers who were unable to make postemergence applications because of heavy rain during peak growing season, it’s an ideal time to evaluate and think about using a preemergence herbicide program next spring.
Evaluating a herbicide program is fundamental to managing resistance and preventing the same weed problems from occurring
next year no matter what the weather brings, says Luke Peters, 
corn herbicides product manager, Dow AgroSciences.
“Implementing a resistance management strategy is no longer an option; it’s a necessity,” Peters says. “The first step in building a strategy is evaluating your current program at the end of the growing season to determine what worked in your field. This will help growers craft an improved weed control program for next year that mitigates resistance issues.”
These tips can help evaluate herbicide programs and maximize weed control next year:
- Adjust. Switch to a program approach that uses multiple modes of action, which is vital to control herbicide-resistant weeds.
Glyphosate resistance was the main reason lifelong Missouri grower Jimmy Daniels started using a preemergence herbicide. Daniels, who farms 1,500 corn and soybean acres, has seen waterhemp become increasingly difficult to control over the years. As a result, he started using SureStart® II herbicide to tackle the resistant weed populations in his cornfields.
“Waterhemp and the giant ragweed are becoming more of an issue all the time,” Daniels says. “Waterhemp’s got a really bad resistance problem to glyphosate, so that’s one reason we’re using SureStart [II].”
- Scout often. Scouting fields during harvest will help determine which uncontrolled weeds compete with crops for essential nutrients during peak growth stages, Peters says. A field’s weed spectrum at harvest is a good indication of which weed problems will be lurking at planting next spring.
- Consider a residual herbicide. Residual herbicides are increasingly important to control early season weeds and make control easier later in the season. Since switching to SureStart II, a residual herbicide, Daniels says, his fields went from being heavily weed-infested to clean during the growing season.
“To have a clean field at the end of the year is a great thing,” he says.
Understanding and evaluating weed pressure are the first steps in planning for a strong start to 2016. For more information, visit GetMoreTime.com or contact your local Dow AgroSciences sales representative.
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