From seeding rates, to seeding date, crop rotation and more, managing herbicide resistant weeds is about so much more than just what you decide to spray your fields with. That’s because each decision that impacts weed pressure, also impacts weed control, and every time you go over your crops with a herbicide, you’re putting selection pressure on the weeds that are there.
In this third instalment of the When Weeds Won’t Die series, we launch off our discussion on farmer perceptions and resistance risks to talk with Neil Harker, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based at Lacombe, Alta., to begin building the management discussion of this important topic.
Follow this link to see this entire series on herbicide resistance management!
The first step in management of course, is confirming you have resistant weed populations in your fields. Do your neighbours have resistant populations, or do you know if your county or RM has resistant weeds? If so, it’s time to get sampling and testing to confirm, says Harker.
Even if all those tests are negative, however, that doesn’t mean you can take a laid back attitude to resistance management — prevention is key. Harker also answers the burning question many farmers have likely not yet asked — if you find herbicide resistant weeds in your field, can you ever get rid of them completely? You’ll hear that discussion in the audio below.
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Related:
- Ep. 2: The Not in My Backyard Principle and Farmer Perceptions on Herbicide Resistant Weeds
- Ep. 1: The different kinds of herbicide resistance and how it develops
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