A grower can go from drought to planting in a blink of an eye. In this "Insights From the Field," Monte Kubas, territory sales manager for central and southwest North Dakota and South Dakota, says late spring snow and rain has pushed through, alleviating a long period of drought in his area.
"In southwest North Dakota, we've been fortunate to have quite a bit of moisture this spring ... about 10 days ago, we had, 20 to 36 inches of heavy, wet snow," he reported on April 28, 2022. "So that's really changed our moisture situation. Some areas went from maybe not enough [moisture] last year to right now 'let's just get the snow burned off here,' and guys are chomping at the bit to get in the field."
Drought Deals Double Weed Pressures
"Because of the drought, there were a lot of weeds that went uncontrolled," Kubas says. "So, a lot of those fields maybe weren't as clean last year as a lot of guys would like."
During a drought, growers might choose to delay herbicide applications to conserve input costs, waiting to capture the next weed flush or have ideal spraying conditions. However, when you leave weeds unchecked one year, the following year you pay for it.
1. Get a good burndown.
"In my particular geography where there are a lot of growers who do pre-plant burndown prior to planting wheat, PRE-PARE® is one of our residual products that does really good [at controlling] the wild oats and green foxtail," Kubas says. "Once all this snow recedes, and we start seeing some warmer temperatures, we're going to see a lot of those weeds start to pop. So having a good, clean start to the growing season with wheat or any other crop is going to require a good burndown for sure."
PRE-PARE herbicide can be used in both spring wheat and winter wheat production systems.
2. Hit back at grass pressures.
"Grass pressures are a year-after-year battle for wheat acres," he explains. "Application timing for a product like EVEREST® herbicide is important because there's some residual control there. We're not only controlling what's up at the time of application but also controlling some of those flushes that may come later after that application has been made."
3. Watch for mid-season broadleaf pressures.
While grass weed control is often wheat growers' first concern, Kubas adds to be mindful of broadleaf pressures coming into play after a drought year. When that happens, a combination product like BATALIUM® herbicide might be a better fit.
"With the drought, there might be some broadleaf weeds that snuck through some of the applications that growers made last year," he says. "Kochia seems to be getting tougher to control. Sometimes growers are using products or a mix of products that only one of them is going to control that kochia. UPL's BATALIUM, which is a premix grass and broadleaf product, has three active ingredients in there, and two of them, bromoxynil and fluroxypr, are both very effective on kochia. So anytime you can get two or three active ingredients with two different modes of action, that's always going to be going to be beneficial to help prevent resistance over time."
4. Rotating Acres? Learn more about herbicide layering.
If growers are in a crop rotation and planning to go into wheat next season, Kubas advises them to consider using pre-emergent residual herbicides, like PREVIEW™ 2.1 SC herbicide in soybeans, this year to help manage the weed seed bank. Using products with multiple modes of action in a full season-long program will help control varying weed emergence patterns.
UPL Is a Resource for Growers
When facing a changing environment, from drought to plentiful moisture, Kubas advises growers to reach out to their retailers, consultants and UPL sales and technical service representatives.
"Plan early," Kubas concludes. "Just because a product application was the right thing last year doesn't make it the right thing this year. You might have a little bit of a different weed spectrum from year to year and in a field. Scout those fields, evaluating which weeds are out there and picking the correct products for the problem weeds that you have — that is how growers will save money on inputs but also have a good crop year."
