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Dry conditions responsible for most weed control concerns

A weed extension specialist says dry conditions at the start of the season made a lot of control efforts less effective this year.

Christy Sprague with Michigan State University tells Brownfield some weed issues this season can tie all the way back to last fall.

“We did have some areas in the state where some herbicide carryover showed up that we typically don’t see just because there wasn’t the moisture there to help break down some of the herbicides that were applied the year before,” she explains.

Sprague says soil-applied products were also less effective this spring with the dry conditions. 

There’s been a lot of post-emergency applications that went on this year to try to clean up some of those failures by the pre-herbicides,” she says.

She says fortunately good canopy cover is helping with weed control at this point with the exception being areas that are now too wet after three solid weeks of rain in some parts of Michigan.

This past week, MSU hosted its annual Weed Tour and Sprague says the plots will continue to be marked for the next month if farmers are interested in self-tours of current trials.