Harvest weed seed control isn’t necessarily new to the agriculture industry. Farmers in Australia have been using seed control units on the backs of their combines to reduce weed seed return to the soil for several years.
There are different methods to control weeds with a seed control unit — everything from cost-effective things like a chaff-lining tool which collects chaff to destroy later, to a higher-end unit like the new seed control unit from Redekop.
Trevor Thiessen, chief executive officer of Redekop, explains the mechanical mill product that kills weed seeds, in this interview filmed at the Western Canadian Crop Production Show (WCCPS).
“We can kill up to about 99 per cent of the weeds depending on the weed size and the type of weed that it is,” says Thiessen. “It’s also dependent on the moisture of the chaff, and the amount of chaff material going through the combine,” adding that if the weed can go through the mill, it can be destroyed.
Units are customized for different makes and models of combines and get mounted on the back.
Straw still goes through a chopper system to be spread as residue, but chaff drops down into inlets and goes through two different mills.
“If we can hit the seed that’s in the chaff four times, hard enough, just like if you hit me in the head hard enough four times you’d knock me silly, we’re knocking the seed silly,” says Thiessen.
Redekop recognizes that seed control units aren’t the end-all be-all to weed management as Thiessen explains that other tools are needed, but it is a strong tool to combat herbicide resistant weeds such as kochia or other weeds that have viable seed present at harvest.
See the full conversation below for more details:
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