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Back to the basics to fight waterhemp

Waterhemp is an increasingly difficult weed that’s costly for growers to try to control and a weed scientist says producers have to go back to the basics to fight it.

Kevin Bradley is with the University of Missouri Extension and tells Brownfield that waterhemp’s resistance to glyphosate is only one part of the problem because it is resistant to all other herbicides as well.  He says, “We’ve got to think about – kind of go back to the basics: Row spacing, plant population, tillage if it’s appropriate. A lot of these things combine into a lot of the best management practices.”

He says the problem with waterhemp is only going to grow and Midwest producers need to be ready,“I know the south has their own problem with a similar pigweed species but the Midwest is becoming the Waterhemp as THE driver weed throughout the Midwest.” He says it’s a big problem in Missouri.

Bradley tells Brownfield Ag News that controlling waterhemp will require more “proactive management, spraying much smaller weeds, and rotating herbicides with different modes of action.”

Bradley led a discussion about waterhemp management with producers at the recent MU Crop Management Conference and says they’ll be talking a lot more about it all over the state.

AUDIO: Kevin Bradley (15:00 mp3)

University of Missouri Extension – Managment of Waterhemp in corn and soybeans

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