News

Stick with your weed management plan

An Integrated Pest Management Specialist encourages growers to stick with their weed management plans despite planting delays.

Bruce Potter with the University of Minnesota says wet, cold weather in April kept farmers out of fields and prevented weeds from emerging.

“The lambs-quarters, ragweeds, and that sort of thing are (normally) coming up haven’t yet, so guys are going to go into this spring once it does warm up (and) those first flushes (of weeds) aren’t maybe going to be taken out by tillage like they normally are.”

He tells Brownfield getting seed in the ground is most important, but don’t slip on weed control.

“I would encourage people to make sure they get a pre on, particularly on soybeans.  We don’t have a lot of rescue options for things like waterhemp, so you’ve got to stick to the plan for now.  It’s not time to panic yet.”

Potter says insect and disease pressure will probably be more unpredictable too because of the prolonged winter.