With planting just around the corner, there are a few management considerations of cover crops that are being used for weed control. There is no single best way to manage all cover crops prior to any given cash crop. Tailoring the cover crop to best fit your cash crop can make a difference in the ultimate success of your weed control program. Continue reading
With the Xtend technology now available, hopefully everybody is gearing up with the correct nozzles and application knowledge needed to be successful. Although there are other application requirements in place with the new Xtendimax™ (www.xtendimaxapplicationrequirements.com) and Engenia™ (www.engeniatankmix.com) herbicide labels, the single most important thing you can do to steward this technology is equip your sprayer with the correct nozzles. Continue reading
Where is the horseweed (marestail)? That has been a common question this March. I have no data to say exactly but I can speculate. My thought is that the main event that has limited its germination was the very dry fall and indeed winter of 2016 and 2017. Continue reading
There is growing discussion and interest in the use of cover crops, mostly commonly in soybean but also in corn and cotton. Some of the benefits seem pretty intuitive and include improved control of erosion and the buildup of organic matter. Another obvious benefit is NRCS programs which pay growers to plant specified cover crops. Dr. Larry Steckel and his students have also shown benefits of cover crops in reducing the emergence of Palmer pigweed and some other weeds. However, having said all that, there are some concerns and unknowns about how cover crops might affect populations of soil and seedling pests. Continue reading
The fifth blog on stewardship of XtendiMax and Engenia on Xtend crops will revisit nozzles. Just this past Friday the EPA approved the use of 20 other nozzles and/or orifice sizes besides the TTI 11004 for XtendiMax. The additional nozzles on the list are good with respect to having more options but keep in mind that the nozzles are only approved if used at the designated operating pressures listed on that website. Continue reading
The fourth blog on stewardship of XtendiMax and Engenia on Xtend crops will revisit nozzles. Dr. Bob Wolf, a leading expert on nozzles, wrote me after he read my last blog and stated that his research would suggest that the ideal pressure range to run TTI11004 nozzles on is between 45 and 60 PSI. I had suggested 30 to 60 psi. Continue reading
The third blog on stewardship of XtendiMax and Engenia on Xtend crops will focus on application as affected by wind speed. The supplemental labels for XtendiMax and Engenia use in Xtend crops read the same with respect to what wind speed these herbicides can be applied. The labels indicate that the optimum wind speed window to apply either herbicide is between 3 and 10 mph. Continue reading
The second blog on stewardship of XtendiMax and Engenia on Xtend crops will focus on nozzles. There is only one labeled nozzle and one orifice size that can be used to apply XtendiMax or Engenia over Xtend crops. That nozzle is Spraying Systems Turbo Tee Jet air Induction 04 (TTI11004) nozzle. Continue reading