Reports of Palmer amaranth escaping dicamba and/or glufosinate have been common the last couple of days. Based on our recent research this is not a surprise as we have field and greenhouse studies showing that some Tennessee populations cannot be controlled with either herbicide (Figure 1).
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The use of precision agricultural technologies is rapidly advancing in row crop production. The latest of these technologies includes the introduction of ground sprayers that utilize AI technology for making targeted pesticide applications. The goal was to enable growers to reduce herbicide use while increasing crop production by precisely targeting weeds. Some questions have been raised about whether there are any additional benefits to this technology beyond reduced pesticide use.
Some of these sprayers are equipped with two separate tanks, each with its corresponding plumbing and boom. A single sprayer can utilize a dual boom system, where two pesticides can be sprayed simultaneously but not mixed. This allows a grower to make a broadcast application in one boom and use the targeted application boom to only turn on when a weed is detected. While you may see a decrease in pesticide use with the targeted application boom, you may also observe a beneficial effect when certain herbicides are sprayed separately, rather than being tank-mixed. Continue reading