Weed Management

Weed control is a principal concern for vegetable growers. The adoption of sustainable agricultural techniques can reduce land managers' dependency on expensive or harmful chemicals, but may also result in increased weed presence. Weed control is not just a matter of preventing weed emergence or killing weeds that arise during the growing season. A good management strategy should include reducing the size of the existing weed seedbank. Adopting techniques that reduce the weed seedbank is a necessary step toward long term weed management solutions.

For our organic vegetable growers in the Mid-Atlantic the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s State Organic Program issued a STOP USE notice for W.O.W. (WHACK OUT WEEDS!) and ECOMIGHT-PRO products,manufactured by EcoMight LLC.

Offing Cover Crops for Weed Suppression: Featuring the Roller Crimper and Other Mechanical Contraptions

Organic vegetable growers have a hard time managing weeds, as there are no reliable Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) chemicals for controlling grass or broad leaf weeds. Most of the time growers depend on tillage for weed control, but excess tillage can lead to destruction of soil structure and the loss of carbon from the soil. No-tilling cover crops is a possibility, but has several problems, most notably being unreliable as a season-long weed control method.

Weed management in vegetable cropping systems typically consists of crop rotation, manual weeding, weed mats, herbicides, and cultivation. Herbicide options in conventional and organically grown vegetables are limited because of infrequent registration of new herbicides and product loss due to regulatory actions. Further, vegetable crops are sensitive to many herbicides and this limits the number of products that can be safely applied.

Common Groundsel: Identification and Management in Nursery and Landscape Settings

The shortage of glyphosate (Roundup, Gly Star, etc.) and glufosinate (Liberty, Interline, etc.) herbicides are forcing farmers to seek other options for burndown and postemergence spray. No one anticipated this shortage and very little research has been done to address this issue. Many of us had to dust off our notes from the early 1990’s, the time before cheap glyphosate was available. One thing is certain, alternative weed control options will require more targeted management. The key is to plan ahead, select herbicides based on the weeds in the field, and make timely applications. Your mindset needs to be that you are not substituting a herbicide for glyphosate, rather you are using a different herbicide that has its own set of recommendations and limitations. Author: Kurt Vollmer, Univeristy of Maryland Extension Weed Management Specialist, and Mark Van Gessel, University of Delaware Weed Management Specialist; Title: Suggestions for Dealing With Herbicide Shortages for 2022

An examination of the efficacy of iron-based herbicides. These selective, broadleaf herbicides contain the active ingredient chelated iron.

Agronomy News-August 2022, Volume 13, Issue 4. Topics in this issue are Small Grain Variety Trials, Palmer Amaranth Control in Organic Systems, Possible Changes to Atrazine Use, Japanese Stiltgrass Identification and Control, Sampling for Nematodes in Soybeans, Sprayer and Pesticide Twilight Meeting, Broiler Grower Settlements, New Rules for Processing Food Wastes and Residuals, Webinar: Solar On The Farm, Pasture and Grazing Workshops, Grain Market Report, Weather Outlook, and Regional Crop Reports.