Controlling pigweed

[Nova]

At the farm this weekend and I see my red root pigweed has now spread to another plot. It's in my beans. What do you think of this plan. I wait until the beans start to turn brown, then go in and spray them with 2-4D to kill the pigweed? I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work, so I am asking you guys.

 

[FarmerDan]

Oh, I don't think so. Like a lot of summer annual weeds, red root pigweed starts from seed in the spring, grows, makes seed to establish the next generation of pigweed, and then gets killed at the first frost. Waiting until the beans turn brown is like shooting a terminal cancer patient days before the natural end. At the point you propose spraying, next year's seeds are probably already on the ground. Even if they aren't simply killing the plant accomplishes nothing (am I wrong?).

The whole premise of weed control is to get the bad plants when they are small, before they can establish competition for water and soil nutrients. Dead early, no seeds -- although they will come from somewhere else.

 

[Bill]

I'm with FarmerDan. By then they will have set "resistant" seed. Best to plan for next year. Rotate to something that will survive 2,4-D (if that will even kill it). Or switch to liberty link. I rotated two bean fields to clover so I could mow the pigweed. That helped but wasn't a cure. Liberty for me next year,, I've got some pigweed and cuckabur that are getting a surprise next summer.

 

[Nova]

Well see, that's why I asked the experts. Good points. I am rotating that plot into corn next year and going to use Halex GT instead of straight gly. Appreciate the help

 

[buckdeer1]

They have liberty corn and the herbicide interline kills it dead if you follow instructions

 

[Jake]

I remember you posting about this last year and me chiming in too about my place in iola.

My quick story. 1/2 acre plot of early july planted brassicas last year. Pigweed got outta control, went to seed and loggers came in end of summer and used the plot as a log landing. 20 times a empty truck went through plot. Week before Wisconsin gun season I rototilled everything under (tiller set a few inchs only) to level it all out.
This spring did a soil test again to see how things were and all was good (6.8 pH and nutrients looked good). Added a few bags of pellitzed lime and 0-0-60.

Planted rr beans (free from a friend) , oats, sunflowers,buckwheat, little lab lab and red clover.
Seen the pigweed was starting to show back up. I hit the whole plot with round up and crossbow (24-d and tri something). Smoked everything and pigweed was gone but the beans looked hurt where I went heavy on the spray. Thinking the crossbow hurt some beans. (Backpack sprayer)

Last week on half the plot I broadcasted some fertilizer, brassicas/ oats/rye seed and lightly tilled/cultipacked. Got a cultipacker behind my tiller and don't go deep and all done in one pass.

We will see how that half does and I will do the second half here soon. More oats and brassicas/radishes to help with compaction in certain areas.

Plan is throughout end of August come back and broadcast heavy more oats/rye radishes. Idea is to smother the plot with seeds.


But I feel confident in my plan and doing this year so far against the war on pigweeds. Better then what i did last year haha.

Plan b next year would be get the whole plot in clover/ alfalfa and keep it mowed. But will put some of it back into clover next year for sure.

 

[BuckSutherland]

At the farm this weekend and I see my red root pigweed has now spread to another plot. It's in my beans. What do you think of this plan. I wait until the beans start to turn brown, then go in and spray them with 2-4D to kill the pigweed? I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work, so I am asking you guys.

Get out there now and either start pulling them out by hand, with a hoe, a weed hook, or take a back pack sprayer and start frying them. Pigweed/waterhemp are quickly morphing and defeating all available chemistry. The best way to beat it WITH chemical is to put down a full rate of pre emerge with good residual. Then spay the second pass before the weeds get 4" tall and add another residual. Finally pray that your plots canopy before the next flush can take off.

If they are getting that bad for you I doubt you see good control with Halex GT next year.


Here is a picture of my beans from today. These are the new Roundup Ready 2 xtend soybeans from Monsanto. They can be spray with dicambia. I spent $70/acre between the chemicals and 2 custom apps to have them look this good. There is no way I would recommend Xtend soybeans to a bunch of guys doing food plots. If applied incorrectly this stuff could drift or volatilize and kill off fruit trees and other sensitive crops.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I'm with FarmerDan. By then they will have set "resistant" seed. Best to plan for next year. Rotate to something that will survive 2,4-D (if that will even kill it). Or switch to liberty link. I rotated two bean fields to clover so I could mow the pigweed. That helped but wasn't a cure. Liberty for me next year,, I've got some pigweed and cuckabur that are getting a surprise next summer.

Hope you know what your doing with Liberty. It can still work pretty good if used properly. Get a good pre-emerge down before your beans are up. Then when you spray liberty there are a few things to remember. Lots of water, high pressure so you blanket the weeds, spray from 10-4, and spray on a nice growing day.

 

[Bill]

Hope you know what your doing with Liberty. It can still work pretty good if used properly. Get a good pre-emerge down before your beans are up. Then when you spray liberty there are a few things to remember. Lots of water, high pressure so you blanket the weeds, spray from 10-4, and spray on a nice growing day.

Good info. I hadn't dug that deep in yet. The guys that sprayed my neighbor used the same sprayer as they use for gly. But it's one of those huge sprayers so its probably has all kinds of capabilities.

 

[buckdeer1]

With interline we use AMS and try to use close to 15 gallons per acre.I don't have the nozzles the big boys use so I drive slower when spraying interline to get good soaking.One you have to be permited for is paraquat,it's some nasty stuff and will burn your skin.Turns broadleafs crispy in less than 24 hrs