New Webcast from Plant Management Network

The June 2, 2017 issue of the Plant Management Network (PMN) Newsletter provides a link to the following resource on a subject of increasing importance to Midsouth soybean producers.

With the increasing problem of herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds, there is an even greater need for an Integrated Weed Management (IWM) strategy for soybean production. In the latest “Focus on Soybean” webcast that was funded by the USB, Dr. Shawn Conley of the Univ. of Wisconsin discusses “Row Spacing and Seeding Rate and Effects on Weed Management”. In his presentation, Dr. Conley talks about the need to use all available agronomic and diversified herbicide weed management practices and tools to control troublesome HR weeds, particularly pigweed.

In the webcast, Dr. Conley reports results from research conducted across 7 states in 2013-2014. Two of the sites involved experiments conducted at Jackson Tenn. and Fayetteville Ark. using MG IV soybean varieties. The problem pigweed at these locations was Palmer amaranth. The following points from his presentation are highlighted.

•    The experiments included narrow (≤15 in.) and wide (≥30 in.) rows, 3 seeding rates (70, 130, and 190 thousand seeds/acre), and two weed control strategies (PRE fb POST, and POST-only–see webcast for specific herbicides used).

•    The most profound result from the research was the drastic reduction in both pigweed height and pigweed seeds/acre in the PRE fb POST herbicide treatment vs. the POST-only treatment.

•    The results from this regional research further underline the profound importance of an IWM program that should be built around a PRE fb POST herbicide strategy to manage a troublesome weed such as Palmer pigweed.

You are encouraged to watch this webcast (26 min., fully open access) to see the results of this research that provide impetus for considering all possible agronomic and herbicide avenues to manage troublesome HR weeds.

The PMN offers quality, science-based information about agronomic and horticultural crops that includes research articles, results from pesticide efficacy trials, and webcasts that are dedicated to issues related to crop production.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, June 2017, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net