A Purdue University weed specialist says farmers could see an increase in marestail this spring.
Travis Legleiter says the mild winter creates the perfect conditions for the weed to survive. “This is the type of the weather that really does help marestail continue to grow,” he says. “That stuff that came up in the fall with our nice warm fall, that marestail is going to start growing fairly quickly for our producers with no-till acres especially.”
He says farmers will need to scout fields early on – especially those that didn’t have a burn-down applied last fall.
Legleiter tells Brownfield farmers need a clean field to maximize yield potential. “This year with marestail getting a jump start we need to make our burndown while the weed is still fairly small,” he says. “Either rosette stage or if it is starting to bolt – if we can get to it before six inches that’s where we really want to be.”
He says with tighter margins, farmers are looking for additional ways to reduce inputs. But, he says cutting back on weed control now could come at a cost down the road. “With weed control, if we’re not using our residual herbicides and using multiple sites of action that’s something in the long-run can come back to hurt us,” he says. “Basically in the way of herbicide resistance.”
In addition to marestail, Legleiter says farmers should also scout for giant ragweed, Palmer amaranth and waterhemp.
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com