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Cover crops part of weed control package

A weed scientist says resistance issues need more than chemical solutions. 

Christy Sprague with Michigan State University Extension tells Brownfield cultural practices, like planting cover crops, have their place in weed control.

“We do have some herbicide options, we have some traits that can help manage some of these weeds, but we don’t want to get on this chemical treadmill where all of a sudden we’ve developed resistance to something else.”

Sprague has been testing the effectiveness of cereal rye and winter wheat in addition to herbicides to suppress to marestail and other resistant weeds.

“It does reduce how it grows as well as the number of plants that come up.  From that standpoint, we’re dealing with fewer weeds to try to manage with herbicides so that’s a positive.”     

She strongly recommends growers don’t cut herbicides for the sake of reducing costs because the savings is often lost later from lower yields.

AUDIO: Interview with Christy Sprague during the Great Lakes Crop Summit in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.