Corn School: Tag-team weed control with tillage and pre-emerge herbicide

Perennials and winter annuals like dandelions, shepherd’s purse, and even chickweed can be tough to control at the best of times. So, what can make a perennial and winter annual weed control strategy more effective in corn?

Going back to a previous conversation between Rob Miller, agronomist at BASF, and Bernard Tobin about using tillage and herbicides together for weed control, Miller said that using tillage alone can create some tough situations.

“We know that a lot of tillage has occurred over the last couple months, and when it comes to weed control it can be an effective mode of action in terms of controlling weeds, but not the total solution, especially when we’re controlling perennial and winter annual weeds,” says Miller in this Corn School episode.

For example, the dandelion shown in the video had three passes of tillage, where the soil covered it up, and it wasn’t uprooted. It’s going to become tough to control with a herbicide because so much of the leaves are covered by soil, says Miller.

So, when it comes to using soil-applied herbicides, it’s going to be extremely difficult to get good uptake and therefore good control, cautions Miller.

“That’s why we always say, especially using a tillage implement, always apply the herbicide prior to conducting that tillage for more consistent weed control,” he says.

 

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