GET ON TOP OF GRASS-WEEDS

Winter wheat is now drilled, with the exception of those crops going in behind roots, and most have emerged well. The warm moist autumn has lead to rapid growth of both crop and weeds. Post-emergence herbicide treatments are now a priority in crops that did not receive a pre or peri-emergence herbicide, whilst November treatments are suitable for those already treated.

Essential To Tackle Grass-weeds in the Autumn

• Black-grass is the Number 1 weed in cereals, being found on 85% of all arable farms. It is a very competitive weed, with just 12.5 plants/m² leading to a 5% drop in yield. With weed populations in excess of 500 plants/m², effective black-grass control will always be a priority.
• Resistant weeds are very widespread. Over 2000 farms in 31 different counties have confirmed black-grass resistance. Resistant rye-grass can be found on 324 farms in 28 counties and resistant wild-oats on 218 farms in 26 counties. It is vital that an active anti-resistance strategy is adopted across the farm.
• A successful grass-weed control programme must achieve at least 95% control as this is the minimum level at which the population can start to be reduced.
• It is essential that control measures start in the autumn, as delaying until spring will impact yield, as many Atlantis growers found out to their cost last year.

This Season's Challenges

• Most growers started their programme with a pre-or peri-emergence treatment of Crystal/Ice (flufenacet + pendimethalin), Liberator (flufenacet+ diflufenican), Avadex (triallate), Treflan (trifluralin) or Stomp (pendimethalin). Last year over 600,000 hectares of pre-emergence herbicides were used in wheat.
• These treatments should be followed up with an effective post-emergence, contact-acting graminicide such as Lexus, Hawk, Amazon or pendimethalin mixes together with the methylated rape seed oil, TOIL. Most growers will use Atlantis for the more difficult situations. (Trials in France and Germany have shown that ARMA is a highly suitable adjuvant to enhance the performance of this graminicide)
• This year PSD has restricted the use of sulphonylurea (ALS inhibiting) grass-weed herbicides to just one application per crop. This puts the pressure on to make sure that each and every treatment works to its best effect.
• With their spiky leaves, black-grass plants are difficult to hit and so it is important that each weed tiller receives sufficient herbicide dose and is well covered by the spray.

TOIL adds the necessary consistency and will elevate black-grass control levels by
an extra 4-5% - essential to achieve if growers are to get on top of this problem.