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PLAN LONG TERM INTEGRATED WEED CONTROL STRATEGIES NOW
Date added: 29/08/06 |
Arable producers preparing for next year’s Winter Wheat crops must do more to target herbicides at the most competitive weeds and maximise their use of cultural and agronomic control methods, says Dr David Ellerton of national agronomy group ProCam.
With serious concerns over growing resistance to herbicides, poor control in certain conditions and complications to fungicide and PGR spray programmes resulting from Spring herbicide applications, growers must adopt integrated crop management (ICM) weed control strategies as a matter of urgency.
Key priorities for next year should include adopting field and season specific policies which can be adapted to changing circumstances and minimising resistance by integrating cultural and chemical controls.
“Cultivation type should be matched to weed species, stale seedbeds should be sprayed off with glyphosate and growers should be prepared to drill later where necessary and use seed rates to utilise crop competition. At all costs, avoid resistant weeds going to seed,” Dr. Ellerton says.
Product efficacy should be maximised through ensuring the right products are applied in the correct doses in the correct conditions at the correct time, and a wide range of active ingredients with different modes of actions should be utilised.
“Everybody should now be keeping good field records and working with their agronomists to utilise as much information as possible to plan an integrated long-term strategy that will minimise both weed threats and the implications of growing resistance.”
“Crop producers must challenge their agronomists to monitor product performance and assess cost-effectiveness of applications and seek to identify causes of poor control. If they are not prepared to help with this, change agronomists – there’s too much at stake now. |
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