There’s no question about how important it is to get crops off to a clean start.
“Anything we can do to help crops set better roots, take up more moisture, germinate faster and get out of the ground quicker will set up the crop for success for the rest of the year,” says Graham Collier, western technical manager with Nufarm. “And pre-seed burndown is an awesome time to get good control of weeds,”
But the spring is unpredictable which means you’ll likely also be looking to in-crop weed control options.
“Pre-seed can definitely take out the first flush of weeds, so that when we have to go back in for in-crop control we aren’t trying to deal with really large weeds,” says Darren Froats, Saskatchewan territory manager with Nufarm. “And that makes your in-crop herbicide options a lot more flexible.”
When you are looking at controlling weeds in cereals, know the ones you are trying to control. Make time for a pre-seed burndown because it really benefits in-crop weed control, and the management of winter annuals that germinated last fall. Pick the best product that will target the weeds and their staging.
Remember, it only takes one missed weed plant in a cereal crop to spread thousands more, and a bigger mess to deal with going forward.
If you miss a pre-seed burndown – or are after a second flush of weeds – in-crop control can take out tough weeds that could spread through the growing crop and lead to yield and quality losses. Getting in-crop weeds under control is critical when you consider how many seeds are produced by a single plant of some of the leading weeds across Canada. Left uncontrolled, those weed seeds add to a growing seed bank in the soil and can contribute to the development of herbicide-resistant plants.
Nufarm has a hard-hitting portfolio of cereal products to target all these weeds.
Want to know more? Ask a Nufarmer at 1.800.686.5444, visit Nufarm.ca and follow us @NufarmCA.
