What’s the best herbicide program for food-grade, non-GMO, identity preserved soybeans?
It’s a common question OMAFRA weed specialist Mike Cowbrough gets from growers and we have the answer on this edition of RealAgriculture Soybean School.
Cowbrough says there’s no magical herbicide that can handle all the challenges food-grade soybeans face during the growing season. But he does believe there are some general principles that can put growers in position to have good weed control every year.
The first rule of IP soybean weed control is always put down a soil-applied herbicide. The thing to remember is weeds that come up before or with the crop have the most impact on yield, notes Cowbrough. Soil-applied herbicides can eliminate that early-season competition.
Cowbrough adds that for a number of reasons, soil-applied herbicides don’t always deliver season-long control. That’s why it’s important to get out and scout fields three weeks after a pre-emerge herbicide application. “That’s when we tend to see that second flush of weeds or escapes and we can hit that with a post-emerge herbicide,” he says.
With a pre and post one-two punch, Cowbrough says growers can have great weed control throughout the season, minimize yield loss from weed competition and pocket that IP premium.
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