Overcome Back-to-Back Wheat Challenges
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Growing continuous wheat can amplify weed control issues. To control troublesome weeds in this type of cropping system, growers need a season-long program that includes multiple modes of action.
Plan Ahead for Weeds
“If you’ve got back-to-back wheat, you’ve got cheatgrass and kochia,” says Jack Peterson, a consultant at Barber Chemical in Onida, South Dakota.
If farmers are using a preplant herbicide for cheatgrass control, Peterson says, it is important to plan ahead for kochia control.
“We are treating with glyphosate to get rid of cheatgrass ahead of planting,” he says. “The kochia are coming up earlier. We’ve got to be careful not to just injure the kochia and leave them wounded in the wheat, so we come back with WideMatch or PerfectMatch to clean the field up.”
Consider All Factors
When making a herbicide recommendation for weed control in wheat, Peterson says he carefully considers the grower’s crop rotation plans, cover crop plans and whether continuous wheat production is in the mix.
That is where the diverse portfolio of cereals herbicides offered by Corteva Agriscience comes into play, with WideMatch®, PerfectMatch® and OpenSky® herbicides all playing a role in a season-long weed control program.
“Corteva’s wheat herbicide portfolio is large enough that it lets us select which product works best for each customer,” Peterson says. “We can pick the best product for their needs, whether it be OpenSky for the rotational freedom that they need or a different product for Canada thistle control.”
Peterson calls OpenSky a one-pass solution.
“OpenSky helps with our customers’ bottom line. They have confidence that they’re going to apply the chemistry once and it’s going to do the job,” he says. “Farmers don’t have time to make two passes. They don’t have the time to spray cheatgrass and then come back for broadleaves.”
The two primary benefits of OpenSky, Peterson says, are rotational flexibility and efficacy on growers’ toughest weeds.
“OpenSky has a really good fit for us, especially if we have a grower that’s planting a cover crop shortly after wheat harvest,” he says. “OpenSky also does a great job of controlling our toughest weeds in our winter wheat and spring wheat, including cheatgrass and kochia.”
OpenSky® is one of the few grass control herbicides with limited rotational restrictions. In comparison, Peterson says, many other grass control herbicides for use in wheat do not allow for rotation to crops such as corn or sunflowers.
Fight Herbicide Resistance
While the ability to rotate crops is important to growers, so too is the need to rotate modes of action to minimize resistance development.
With two decades of experience as a crop consultant, Peterson has seen herbicide resistance increasingly become an issue in wheat production.
“Over the last three or four years, resistance to herbicides, such as glyphosate, is becoming more of a problem,” he says. “For us, kochia is the hardest weed to control because of resistance. Within the next couple of years, pigweed will be there, also.”
Both weeds are manageable, he says, if growers rotate herbicides with different modes of action. Peterson advises his grower-customers to limit the use of crop protection products with the same active ingredients year after year in consecutive wheat crops.
Corteva Agriscience cereals herbicides feature a combination of unique chemistries, helping farmers achieve effective weed control while implementing best management practices to reduce herbicide resistance.
™ ® OpenSky, PerfectMatch and WideMatch are not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Always read and follow label directions.
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