The number one way to manage herbicide resistant weeds is to avoid them in the first place, says Mike Saxton with Syngenta US. That said, we’d be completely remiss to say that Canada or the U.S. was in a position to avoid herbicide resistant weeds. Several species are already resistant, some of those to more than one Group of chemistries.
In this video, Saxton spells out why plants like palmer amaranth and mare’s tail develop resistance — sometimes quickly — and why it’s so difficult to contain once it does. Farmers, he says, need to get creative in their herbicide and crop management in order to head off and delay resistance as much as possible. For those farmers waiting for the next big herbicide or herbicide mix that will magically make all the resistance issues disappear, stop waiting. It’s not coming, and likely won’t ever, Saxton says. Instead, clean fields with no escapes, tank-mixes and crop rotation will all factor in to herbicide resistance management.
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