As the continued dry weather in most areas hinders the activity of residual herbicides, the management of weed control plans will become “more important” this year.
This is according to Craig Chisholm, Field Technical Manager of Corteva Agriscience, who said that the lack of soil moisture will also slow the emergence of many key problem weeds until later in the season.
However, he warned that some plants may grow from the depths earlier, unencumbered by the dry and damaged herbicide layer.
Mr. Chisholm said that growers will have to choose a powerful post-emergence herbicide to deal with weeds when they appear.
Under normal conditions, starting with a clean field and then dealing with any late germination is usually the way forward.
He explained: “However, in this season, a separate post-emergence strategy will be required, and growers should wait for the active growth of weeds for the best results.”
Although the main concern for weeds in potato crops is yield, it may also increase the risk of fusarium wilt by covering the leaves or promoting a more favorable microclimate.
Later in the season, larger weeds can have a serious impact during harvest. If left unchecked, the biggest weeds will be entangled by the machine and slow down.
Titus, which contains the active ingredient sulfuron-methyl, has always been a valuable herbicide in the arsenal of potato growers, especially in the dry season, where pre-emergence activities can be adversely affected.
Titus can be used alone or together with a wetting agent to provide post-emergence activity for all potato varieties except seed crops.
In fields where growers fail to apply pre-emergence or where conditions are too dry, a mixture of Titus + metribuzin and wetting agent will broaden the range of weeds.
Before adding to the mixture, carefully check the tolerance of the variety to methazine.
Mr. Chisholm said: “Titus has always shown that it can effectively control sherlock, chopper, duckweed, hemp nettle, small nettle and voluntary rape. It is also active in the polygon genus and can inhibit couch grass.
“As a sulfonylurea herbicide, Titus is the most effective against active small weeds, so it should be applied to the weeds before the cotyledon four-leaf stage and the crop grows to 15cm to minimize weed shadows.
“It is suitable for all potato varieties except seed crops, and is compatible with metfozan products. It should always be used with adjuvants.”
If you have any questions about the content of this news, please contact the news editor Daniel Wild via email daniel.wild@farminguk.com, or call 01484 400666.
Get in touch with the purchase terms for purchase and delivery RSS feed Visitor log Cookie policy Customer service Site map
Copyright © 2020 FARMINGUK. Owned by Agrios Ltd. Advertising sales of RedHen Promotions Ltd.-01484 400666