If you’ve ever been frustrated by a weed’s seemingly amazing ability to survive and even thrive after being knocked back, cut down, or sprayed, this discussion is for you. You’re not imagining things — weeds really do have adaptations that make them harder to kill and allow them to spread faster and easier than desired… Read more »
Category: Herbicide Resistant Weeds
Group 14 resistant waterhemp confirmed in Ontario
It’s not necessarily the happiest of discoveries, but it’s a first-of-its-kind discovery, nonetheless. Work out of the University of Guelph has confirmed Group 14 resistance in waterhemp at multiple locations in Ontario. What’s more, Dr. Peter Sikkema’s research team, including graduate student Lauren Benoit, has also confirmed waterhemp with cross-resistance to Groups 2, 5, and… Read more »
Soybean School: Ontario growers better positioned to manage dicamba
In 2017, many U.S. growers struggled to manage dicamba use with increasing acres of dicamba-tolerant Xtend soybeans. The dicamba story in Ontario, however, was much different, as growers had few issues with managing the marriage of the herbicide and the new trait. In this edition of RealAgriculture Soybean School, OMAFRA weed specialist Mike Cowbrough explains… Read more »
New residual herbicide tackles resistant weeds
Canadian corn and soybean growers have a new tool to tackle resistant and tough-to-control weeds. Zidua SC, a new Group 15 herbicide from BASF, will be available in 2018. Deven Esqueda, BASF corn and soybeans crop manager, says the herbicide is labelled for use in herbicide-tolerant soybeans and field corn. With the active ingredient pyroxasulfone,… Read more »
Early adopters getting control of the most hated, difficult-to-control weeds
All farmers hate weeds. Especially weeds that are hard to kill. Weeds are yield-robbing nuisances that compete for valuable space in and out of the seed row. Some weeds are fairly easy to deal with and only create limited stress. But then there are those that seem to create havoc every year because they are so… Read more »
Herbicide Resistance: The Cost of Convenience
“If it doesn’t impact me, I don’t care…” I have attended many conferences across Canada and nothing gets farmers to fall asleep faster than speeches of the threat (actually, it’s reality) of herbicide resistance. For many farmers, it seems, they either don’t see this as something that impacts them or they don’t think it’s as serious an… Read more »
The Role of Soil-Applied Herbicides in Combating Resistance
This year, the organizers of the Crop Diagnostic School in Carman, Manitoba, decided to do something a little old-school. “We decided to demo soil-applied herbicides here at the farm this year for the Diagnostic School, in part because we’re seeing an increased use in the products,” Jeanette Gaultier explains in the following interview. Gaultier (who may or… Read more »
Soybean School: Glyphosate-Resistant Weeds on the Rise
If you’ve noticed more than a few fleabane “escapes” in recent years, you’re not alone. Glyphosate resistant Canada fleabane has spread across more than 700 kilometers of Ontario crop land in just five years. Despite its incredible distribution, Canada fleabane wasn’t the first glyphosate resistant weed found in Ontario, says Dr. Peter Sikkema, field crop… Read more »
Scientists Have Finally Agreed on a Definition for Superweeds. So What?
If you look up the term “superweed,” you’ll likely find a definition that includes “herbicide-resistance” and “accidental crossing” of genetically engineered plants and their “wild” counterparts. But, that could be changing, thanks in part to the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA). “Since superweed is now clearly part of the public vernacular, we decided to… Read more »
Ontario in Mid-April: Red-Tipped Wheat, the End of Maple Syrup Season, and Attacking Early flowering weeds
The pictures are rolling in and it appears that the wheat that did get in the ground last fall (or was it winter?) did actually make it. Maple syrup season has wrapped up, to mixed reviews on volume (but you can bet it still tastes great), but that also means it’s warming up — and a… Read more »
When Weeds Won’t Die — Ep. 4: How Well Do you Know Your Weeds?
How good is your weed identification? If you had to answer if a weed was a “late flushing” weed or a winter annual, could you answer? While no weed specialist expects every farmer to be a weed expert, knowing a few specific details about your enemy is actually quite helpful in the war on resistance…. Read more »
When Weeds Won’t Die — Ep. 3: Confirming Suspicions & Taking the Next Steps Towards Management
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… Read more »
Wheat School – Spotting Herbicide Resistant Wild Oats
Herbicide resistant wild oats are pretty easy to identify, says Neil Harker, a research scientist in weed ecology and crop management at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lacombe Research Centre. “You generally see them in patches. If you see [wild oats] in real straight lines, then you suspect a sprayer error, but if you just see them in… Read more »
For Effective and Sustainable Weed Control, Use the Big Sledgehammer Less Often
Why do we speed when we know it’s wrong? Why do we text while driving? Why smoke, when we know it’s bad? Why continue overusing traditional chemistry herbicide applications when we know they’re causing problems? That’s what Canadian weed scientists want to know. They’re getting frustrated with what seems to be farmers’ general unwillingness to… Read more »
New Xtend Trait Allows for Residual Weed Control for Soybeans
There are at least two reasons why having an added herbicide tolerance gene built-in to a soybean variety makes sense — one, to make up for early season non-competitiveness of the crop, and, two, because of the increasing risk of glyphosate-tolerant weeds. To that end, Monsanto recently rolled out its soybean XTend trait — dicamba… Read more »