We don’t want to end up in the same situation we did about 13 years ago with the discovery of Glyphosate resistant palmer amaranth (pigweed).  With new herbicide technology and old we must be the ones to protect them.

Driving across multiple counties you can see cotton, soybeans and peanuts that look really good.  Many of the fields are super clean and free of any weeds.  Ample moisture allowed residual herbicides to be activated and timely topical applications have helped control what broke through.  Good growing conditions have allowed for canopy closure shading late emerging weeds.

The rainfall that is helping our crops grow is also helping weeds like pigweed that have not been controlled.  These are the weeds that we need to be diligent about removing.  Any pigweed in a field that has had any contact with a herbicide needs to be removed prior to flowering and seed maturity.  These pigweed, big and small, that have been contacted by herbicides are the pigweeds that have the potential to put us out of business.

We are very limited in our modes of action (MOA) for both residual and postemergent control of palmer amaranth.  If we lose any of these chemistry’s it means that we will have an even smaller pool of MOA’s to choose from.

The first way that we protect the technology and chemistry is to follow label and Extension recommendations on timing and application methods.  By doing all that we can do to use the product exactly like recommended we give ourselves the best chance of controlling target weeds.  The second way that we can protect it is to physically remove any escapes that we feel have been contacted by these herbicides.

As long as weed escapes are not allowed to go to seed we should be able to preserve the current technology that we rely on to remain profitable in agronomic crops.

 

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