About Your Fields 2-19-18
About Your Fields February 19, 2018
In this issue:
- Starting the Foundation of Your House- Pre-Emergent Weed Control
- Climate FieldView is at Akron
- News That Caught Our Eye
Starting the Foundation of Your House
Last week we introduced the idea that there were still a lot of decisions that you need to make to get ready for the 2018 crop. This week we will focus on pre-emergent herbicides, why you should use them, what to take into account when selecting them, and the different types available. When I think about the upcoming crop, I think of it as if I am building a house. You have prepared the ground to support your house by putting down a good fertilizer program and by seedbed preparation (whether it is with or without tillage). Now it is time to lay the foundation of your house, and that is the pre-emerge weed control program. In the past this step has not been as important as it is now. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s pre-emerge programs were all about holding the weeds back until post application time. The thinking there was that Glyphosate would take care of whatever weeds came up before the crop had a chance to canopy.
I know that for me as a retail agronomist it made my life much easier. Instead of going out and looking at what was actually in the field, all I had to do was get the timing right so I could spray the Glyphosate and have the crop canopy and shade the rows a few days later. I told my customers that the most important decision that we made was what brand of pre-emerge corn herbicide we would use that year. This wasn’t because one was better than the other, it just determined what brand of Glyphosate we would use in post for both corn and soybeans. I did spray some pre-emerge chemicals on soybeans, but only if there was a problem with giant ragweed or lambsquarters, otherwise I was happy to just have a clean field when it was planted. With the emergence of Waterhemp and the demise of the effectiveness of Glyphosate, pre-emerge chemicals have gone from an afterthought to a necessity.
What should you consider when setting up a pre-emerge weed pass? First and foremost, what are you trying to control? In the past what we were mainly concerned with was making sure grass did not interfere with the corn’s ability to get to V5 as quickly as possible. To achieve this goal, we started to use half or partial rates of products like Dual, Harness, Suretime and Frontier (now called Outlook). Each one of these products had a premix that contained Atrazine that was utilized often. One of the main considerations of which product you would use was how much water it took to activate the chemical. Dual took slightly more water to activate than the Acetochlor products like Harness and SureTime. Dimethenamid products like Outlook take the least amount of water to activate.
With the demise of the effectiveness of Glyphosate we started to add other products to the mix to help kill any early flushes of broadleaf weeds. One of the most important things that happened at this time was the introduction of the HPPD mode of action. Before, we had used products that were root or shoot inhibitors, which were an effective way to control grass. And if the grass was not killed we could use Glyphosate to kill it at post time. But as the effectiveness of Glyphosate on certain broadleaf weeds lessened, we needed to add something to the mix. That is where the HPPD mode of action came into being.
Chemicals in the HPPD class are what we call bleachers. They stop the plant from breaking down the essential amino acid Tryosine, which affects Chlorophyll production causing the plant to turn white – or the bleaching effect. If you want to learn more of what happens, click on this link: How HPPD's Work. Early products in this group were Callisto and Balance. Callisto started out as a post-emerge chemical, but it was mixed with Dual and Bicep to form the pre-emerge chemicals Lumax and Camix. When Balance was first introduced it was pre-emerge only and you had to watch the organic matter levels in your field, because damage could occur on sandy or light ground. The introduction of the HPPD class of chemicals gave us something to help manage waterhemp until we reached the post application time, where we had options to help control these problem weeds.
In soybeans, pre-emerge chemicals have become even more important with the demise of the effectiveness of Glyphosate on broadleaf weeds. With many growers switching to wider rows, the need for residual chemistry has grown to help control problem weeds. In fact, many of you have started to layer your residual chemistries through out the year, applying residuals at both pre and post applications. Once again, the reason we do this is to control waterhemp or other broadleaf weeds. In the past we used products like Treflan and Prowl, which were often called the Yellow’s. These products had plenty of downsides, as Treflan had to be worked in shortly after application and Prowl was a pain to handle. I imagine any of you who sprayed Prowl had a shirt or pair of pants that are still stained to this day a bright yellow.
These products were somewhat effective against certain broadleaf weeds, but today we have better options. One class of chemistry that has gained popularity in the past several years are the PPO’s, such as the Authority products. Often the PPO’s are mixed with another chemistry to handle other weeds that are a problem. This is why it is important to know what you are trying to control. If waterhemp is your main concern you can also use the Pryoxasulfone class of chemistry. Products in this class are Zidua, AnthemMaxx and Fierce. Zidua is what I would call a straight goods, meaning it has only one chemistry (Pryoxasulfone), while AnthemMaxx and Fierce are premixes containing other chemistries. Pryoxasulfone is a root and shoot inhibitor so you need to get it applied before anything germinates.
In summary, to get a firm foundation for your crop you need to use a residual pre-emerge herbicide in both corn and especially soybeans. It is important to get the crop off to a good start, as you cannot have competition from weeds. We need to remember that the most important part of a good residual pre-emerge program is water. If we don’t get rain the chemicals will not activate, and - for the root and shoot inhibitors - once the weed is germinated the chemical will not be effective. That is why we suggest layering different modes of actions to help effectively control your weeds. If you have any questions, please talk with any of the Agronomy team here at Akron. Here is a link to a good article about weed control for 2018 8 Weed Control Tips for 2018.
Climate FieldView is at Akron
Have you signed up for your farm up for Field View for the 2018 growing season? If not, come talk to us.   Akron Services is a bonifide Climate FieldView Dealer, so please contact us if you still need a subscription, or have questions regarding Climate FieldView. We can help you set up your account, and determine if any accessory hardware is needed to make sure your equipment is connected. For more information click on this link www.climate.com.
News that Caught Our Eye
As I was looking at different sites on the internet this week, a couple of articles caught my attention talking about a company called Ceres Imaging out of Oakland, California. In articles on both CNN Artificial Intelligence Helps Farmers and the Agri-News Early Warning System for Pests and Diseases websites it was discussed how farmer’s in Central Illinois have been using aerial imagery to detect early signs of pests or disease. Ceres will fly over fields and take high resolution images to help you see what is going on in your fields, helping you to make better decisions. The people quoted in both articles worked for Evergreen FS and they talked about how using this service made their farmer’s money by detecting disease and pests early, and helping make the decisions where to spend their money.
If this is something that interests you, please talk with one of the Agronomists here at Akron, as we have been working with a company called AirScout for the past 3 years providing just this kind of service. We can provide you with aerial images flown from a lower altitude (5,000 feet) rather than a satellite and give you a way to detect early signs of pests and disease. You can also use these images to make late season Nitrogen and plant health decisions.