Couple of things that everyone should think about when spraying

[bigbluetruck]

I was going to add this on catscratchs post but I thought everyone should see it.

When it comes to spraying, I believe everyone should get a weed guide from their local extension office. There is a tin of info in there about chemicals and weed control in general. I know Nebraska puts one out every year that's really good.

Next, Roundup or glyphosate alone IS NOT enough, any time you're spraying a non selective herbicide, it needs a second, DIFFERENT mode of action. 2-4d is probably one of the best but it does have a small window of residual, usually between 7-30 days depending on the rate used.

Another thing is to download a spraying app like Tank mix calculator, it takes all the guess work out.

And finally, it would be a very good idea to make friends with your local co-op or sprayer company, whoever does alot of ag spraying in your area. They can always help you with a question, help you fix a problem, or just a good source of quality chemicals. And if you're asking him questions you better be buying from them too, it's just common courtesy, we probably talk to ours once a week or so.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Lewi B]

Thanks for posting that information. Was going to ask where you acquired the weed treatment publication.

 

[Jason Broom]

That's good information, even though most of us are not planting on a scale where we really need to worry about it a whole lot. There are a lot of things we can learn from farmers, but many of them do not apply to food plots. For example, I've never used anything but glyphosate and my plots have never suffered for it. If gly "needs" some kind of 2nd active ingredient to be effective, I can't tell it from my efforts. All I've ever used is a little AMS to help the gly do its thing. Other than that, intelligent plantings and well-timed mowings are all I've ever needed.

 

[Tap]

That's good information, even though most of us are not planting on a scale where we really need to worry about it a whole lot. There are a lot of things we can learn from farmers, but many of them do not apply to food plots. For example, I've never used anything but glyphosate and my plots have never suffered for it. If gly "needs" some kind of 2nd active ingredient to be effective, I can't tell it from my efforts. All I've ever used is a little AMS to help the gly do its thing. Other than that, intelligent plantings and well-timed mowings are all I've ever needed.

Do you have Canada Thistle?

 

[Jason Broom]

Do you have Canada Thistle?

I DID have thistle, although I'm told it was Russian. It was dominating a failed brassica plot, but mowing a couple of times, before it set seed, took care of it. I'm not going to say there isn't any in the plot, but what little there is doesn't bother me or the deer. I also want to state that I'm not opposed to other chemicals, I just haven't experienced a need for them. If I wasn't getting acceptable results, I would not hesitate to use 2-4D, or whatever it takes to stay ahead of weeds. Maybe I've just been lucky, or maybe I have lower expectations than most, since I live quite a ways from the properties. If I was looking at them every week, I might use more spraying to keep them looking good? I can't honestly say I would expect them to be any more beneficial or effective, for the added effort.

 

[bigbluetruck]

Dont get me wrong, glyphosate does still work, and work pretty well for the most part, as long as your using the correct rate. It depends on what youre spraying, and it really helps to know. Some things like marestail is almost gly resistant from the start, hence catscratches problem. It comes down to creating resistance, say you covered a field with roundup, and you killed 90%, but the rest lived, you just started it on the path to resistance. My theory is, if youre spraying something, it better all be dead. Where weve gotten ourselves into trouble is trying to cut rates or allowing escapes.

 

[catscratch]

Thanks for the thread. Lots of notes taken. I too have been successful with just gly but now that the pigweeds and marestail are starting to show up from nearby ag fields I'm going to have to step up my game. Better understanding and better planning are going to be needed to keep the situation from getting out of hand.