March 25, 2015

25/03/2015: 'Cheap' weed control in grain sorghum - a warning

http://deltafarmpress.com/management/cheap-weed-control-grain-sorghum-warning
Palmer amaranth
It seems like quite a few farmers in Tennessee, USA who probably would have farmed a few more years if commodity prices had remained high, have had or are having farm sales. These farms will be picked up by new growers who will be farming this land for the first time, Larry Steckel writes for the Delta Farm Press.

From a weed management perspective, many of these growers will be going in blind. The best way to evaluate weed control is from the combine or cotton picker. It is hard to construct a good weed management strategy without this intelligence gathering.

   
The best one can do in these situations is figure Palmer amaranth will have to be managed with overlapping residuals and take the other weeds as they come.


Another first is that a large number of growers are planning to raise grain sorghum for the first time in a long time — or maybe the first time ever. Many plan to conduct their weed control in this crop as cheaply as possible. I do not blame anyone for this with commodity prices where they are.

The concern I have from this line of thinking is from a resistance management perspective. Cheap weed control in grain sorghum to me means going with atrazine and nothing else. Atrazine-resistant Palmer amaranth has been identified in many states including Georgia, Texas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Kansas. We cannot afford to lose atrazine’s effectiveness on Palmer amaranth.


Read more HERE.
 

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