Herbicide Burndown Post from Beck's Hybrids' Joe Bolte

Here is an article on pre plant burndown from Joe Bolte at the Southern Illinois PFR location.

The fall of 2018 brought many challenges to the region, making it difficult for fall anhydrous applications or a fall burndown. The February issue of CropTalk had the first part of this series. We hope to give you insight on options for spring management if you did not finish your traditional fall fieldwork. The first article, available on the Beck's website, focused on considerations for applying spring anhydrous. This article will focus on how to maximize the efficacy of a spring burndown.

Managing Marestail in the Spring

Marestail has an extended germination period, meaning it can germinate in the fall or spring. Marestail that germinates in the fall overwinters as a rosette and bolts in the spring. Germination in the spring can happen very early, just as soil temperatures start to rise. Whether the plant germinates in the fall or spring, controlling marestail when it is small is the key. Rosettes are much easier to control compared to plants that have bolted.

This means an EARLY burndown is key. How early? Applications should be made as air temperatures start to rise and the plants are actively growing for the herbicide to be effective. A spring burndown not only controls marestail, but also allows you the opportunity to control early emerging summer annuals like giant ragweed.

What Are My Control Options in the Spring?

In the spring, there are very effective options when it comes to marestail control. Products such as Sharpen® result in very effective control of marestail and giant ragweed, though most populations are resistant to glyphosate. Tank-mixing Roundup PowerMAX® with Sharpen can help control winter annuals that are susceptible to glyphosate, such as shepherd’s-purse, henbit, purple deadnettle, penny cress, etc. Reducing vegetation can also help eliminate areas for cutworm moths to lay their eggs in early spring.

A burndown offers the opportunity to use other herbicide modes of action (MOAs) and sites of action (SOAs) that cannot be used in-season. Gramoxone® tank mixed with metribuzin can be very effective on smaller marestail plants. This also allows the opportunity to use a group 22 + 5 herbicide, which cannot be used in-season.

What about Growth Regulators?

Growth regulators are very effective on marestail, even after the plant has bolted. Products such as 2,4-D, tank mixed with glyphosate, are very effective on marestail, and giant ragweed. However, as Enlist E3™ soybeans become available, we need to start looking at other burndown options such as Sharpen, Gramoxone and metribuzin to avoid over-reliance on 2,4-D. Dicamba is also very effective on marestail and giant ragweed. However, another MOA should be used to avoid over-reliance on dicamba if Xtendimax® is applied in-season to Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans.

Does This Change My Pre-emergence Application?

Products like Gramoxone will not have any residual value, while products such as Sharpen and metribuzin can have residual activity depending on the rate. The burndown application needs to be applied early enough to control the marestail while it’s small. However, this leaves more time in between the burndown and pre-emergence application.

This may allow new flushes of weeds, reducing the efficacy of the pre-emergence application. Pre-emergence herbicides need to reach the soil surface to be effective. If planting is delayed, select burndown products that have residual value such as Sharpen and metribuzin. For the pre-emergence application, select products that have residual and post-emergence activity or, add a product with post-emergence activity. Remember, this is only intended to clean up a few escapes. If there is heavy weed pressure, a second burndown application is needed to ensure the preemergence herbicide reaches the soil.

Individual results may vary. Always read and follow label directions.

https://www.beckshybrids.com/Blog/ArtMID/841/userid/121/ArticleID/2181/CropTalk-Falls-Unfinished-Business-Part-Two-Herbicide-Burndown

Full Credits go to Joe Bolte with Beck's Hybrids

While we wait for dry soils, we can prepare for battle!

“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.” -Richard Marcinko

As we continue to patiently wait for go time, there are some little details that can be overlooked; especially on the planter. Another walk around the planter looking over the components can sometimes reveal an item not set correctly or a part that at second look needs replaced. Obviously, now is the time to sweat over this. Here are some items to look at on our equipment to make sure it eliminates unnecessary downtime.

Planter Details

• Tire Inflation: proper & consistent air pressure will keep seed at a consistent depth, reduce compaction, and extend the life of the tires. Maybe, the tires were inflated a few weeks ago for planting. Now is a good time to recheck the tires to see if one has a slow leak that could let you down on a dry sunny day.

• Level planter front to back: place a level on the bar front to back and level. Not level planters affect seed discs, angle of seed tube, and closing wheels. Don't eyeball it, I did that a few years ago until a business partner pointed out that the draft tubes point up. This gave me the deceptive visual that the bar was level when it was not.

• Check bushings on parallel arms: This is a big (& expensive) project and may be best to wait on till winter if possible. Precision Planter Solutions from our own state of Missouri has perfected a system of flange bushings that can greatly reduce the cost of this undertaking. Loose parallel arms cause chatter going through the field.

• Disc openers 14.5" or less replace. With the year like we have with short time to get things done, might be wise to consider 14 5/8" as the minimum. Hopefully, avoiding down time.

• Check down force: With ample moisture we will not want to use too much down force. Adjust this feature accordingly. This may be a setting to be fine tuned in the field.

• Make sure closing wheels run true to the trench. You can use a fiberglass field flag from your Beck's Hybrids dealer to place in the seed disc opener and lay it parallel out the back between the closing wheels. This will give you a visual on where to adjust the closing wheels left or right.

• Check Seed Meters: Ideally, place them on a stand by a professional. If that is not feasible, find a level pasture or grass to drive and check them with old seed in a bag from last year.

• Final tip: Before planting tie up several closing wheels with wire and check seed placment consistency in level pasture or short grass area. With seed drives off, plant in a dry area of a field ends and check for gauge wheel down force, seed trench depth, etc to make sure the settings and changes are correct.

Planter Monitor

• Field Boundaries & Names: Like the post says under Ag News on this website, make sure that all monitors on the operation share common field names and boundaries. Data can be corrupted from data that is not recorded into the same boundary.

• Operate the GPS system out in the yard and make sure you are able to utilize the full service you are paying for. If you are subscribed to RTK and the system you pull off of is not working right, it will be frustrating to be sitting without service on a beautiful dry day to plant.

• Go through the monitor firmware updates and make sure each device has a current and equal update. Out of date firmware can be a headache in intermittent communication to controllers on your equipment.

• Go over planting prescriptions if you are utilizing this. TOP Ag Services now offers this service to prep monitors and create scripts customized for your field. Make sure zones cover fields correctly and that default populations entered for each field. This will insure if there is a glitch, the planter will default to a planting rate instead of shutting off.

• Backup and upload any stray data to your FARMserver® account. Then, delete old data out of your planter monitor. This can improve the speed and performance of the display.

Tillage Equipment & Practice

• Tillage tool tongue level with draw bar: This will minimize wear on the equipment and will create a seedbed no deeper than necessary.

• Insure no air is in hydraulic lines: Cycle equipment several times to purge air. Air compresses and will cause a wing to sag if not purged with oil.

• Level implement Left to Right: This is important to insure an even seed bed. Lower implement on level ground until almost touching. Then, measure with tape measure at the bottom of the frame to the center pivot on the walking tandem or at the wheel spindle if single wheel is present. Make sure that gangs or shovels are equal distance from the ground. Is something bent or in need of adjustment if not equal? It is important ahead of spring rains to only work the depth needed to do the job. If one side of the tool is shallower than the other a deeper than necessary job gets done. This potentially will bury corn seed after pounding rain and cause uneven emergence.

• Tillage depth: depth like was mentioned should be only as deep as necessary to make implement level and do the job. If this is a weed removal pass then you will have to go deeper. If, this is a pass to create a seed bed only on clean soil then as shallow as possible and still be level creates a smoother seed bed for the corn seed.

• Gauge Wheels: If this is a part of your tool's settings, make sure they are set appropriately. They can make a big difference on an even seed bed.

Finally, as a closing thought. Is tillage the best tool at this point to control winter annuals? It might be. Or, is a sprayer that can get over the ground quicker and stop the build up of messy trash on top of the ground a better option. Then, chop it up with a high speed shallow pass of the tillage tool ahead of the planter? Not saying one way or the other. Just giving an extra thought on how to tackle some of the henbit that is taking off. Now, we have options. Later, this might be a problem that is harder to correct. The visual in population of henbit by tillage practice is striking. There would be an almost complete control, if this field had been sprayed with Basis Blend or an equal. You can see it below or by following this link: https://www.topagservices.com/videos-audio

Fertilizer got put on before all this rain by many. Now, we wait for the next battle! Get ready, for soon we ride!

If you need anything, don't hesitate to call. 417-684-5301 or wendell@topagservices.com