Spraying Gly question

[biglakeba$$]

Is there any issue/advantage to spraying gly early in the day when there is dew/heavy dew in the fields?

A friend of mine said he heard its the best time to spray. I am not sure why.
Or is there any disadvantage?

It wouldnt seem to me that the dew would matter in a negative way because you are applying a water mixed solution already. But what do I know? :)

 

[MoLandOwner]

Dew is fine as long as it is not heavy enough to cause the chemical to bead up and run off the target weeds. No advantage that I know of to having dew on the plant that I know of.

 

[Terrific_tom]

One advantage of early morning spraying is that most of the time there is less wind. I always spray in the early am and have never had a problem. My brother is a bee keeper and says it is better for the bees.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Thats the main reason for the discussion I was having with a friend of mine. That mornings are best for the wind typically, but what are the downsides of the dew part of the equation.

 

[bueller]

Thats the main reason for the discussion I was having with a friend of mine. That mornings are best for the wind typically, but what are the downsides of the dew part of the equation.

I would not feel comfortable spraying a light mist of gly onto vegetation covered in dew. The dew in an open field should be gone fairly early in the morning allowing one to spray before the wind really gets going. That's when I like to spray, 9-10am.

 

[Honker]

I've read a study that there was no negative impact of spraying gly on dew covered plants. I think in some cases is was even possible that the kill was better. Don't ask me where I read that.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Over the years I have seen plenty of spraying jobs and I see what works terrific and what works terrible, and what works OK.

Terrible
1. Spraying right before dark
2. Spraying and then getting rained on within the hour
3. Spraying with 30+ mph wind

OK
1. Spraying in the morning (you dont want to spray with a heavy dew AT ALL!) a very light dew is ok, but wait if you can
2. Spraying with some wind

Best
1. Spraying mid day, high humidity, warm temps, dry plants, little wind and the sun is out and spraying weeds that havent been injured by tillage or something. You want to spray them when they are at the peak growing and health stage so they suck the chemical in.


I dont think a 10MPH wind is gonna hurt much of anything. Gly isnt like dicamba that can actually volatilize and drift off the plant and move with the wind across the woods.

My advice is to wait until its dry and use a little crop oil to get it to stick. Weeds will be gone in a hurry.

So to answer your question, NO, a morning dew is absolutely NOT the best time to spray.

 

[mnjohn]

I was a custom applicator for a number of years, we sprayed when we could. Mornings seemed to be the best dew or not. Plants cells are open and tring to take advantage of the moisture on the leaves. We would use as little as 5 gallons per acre of water with no issues. We had more problems with spray clinging to dust particles than not sticking to the dew. Crop injury was alot less spraying in the morning. If you are going for quick burn ,midday hot mix with high gallons per acre will do the trick.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Just wondering how long ago you were spraying John?? Things have really changed over the last 5 or so years.

With Round up resistant weeds now its VERY important to hit them with as many variables in your favor as possible. I live and farm in McLeod county and you cant even touch giant ragweed and waterhemp with just straight gly. I also think we have Palmer Amaranth exploding here from all of the diaries importing cotton seed from the south.

I agree that a lot of times you spray when you can. That being extremely true this year, but the slips, misses and sloppy applications and half rates of the last 15 years have pretty much rendered glyphosate useless against everything but grass around here. I refuse to plant soybeans on my ground until they come out with the enlist or extend beans (dicamba). We still have plenty of bullets in the gun to kill weeds growing corn.

Here is a pic I took late May. On just about every property line in the area giant rag is exploding. Just keeps coming back stronger each year. Was only about 6" tall then. Today its close to 3 feet in some spots. It is thriving with the weather we have. I hope to get it spray early next week if we can miss out on the rain.

 

[MoLandOwner]

I was a custom applicator for a number of years, we sprayed when we could. Mornings seemed to be the best dew or not. Plants cells are open and tring to take advantage of the moisture on the leaves. We would use as little as 5 gallons per acre of water with no issues. We had more problems with spray clinging to dust particles than not sticking to the dew. Crop injury was alot less spraying in the morning. If you are going for quick burn ,midday hot mix with high gallons per acre will do the trick.

I agree, most commercial sprayers blow the dew off the plant, so mornings are not a problem. 5 gal/acre works good with heavy dew, or med to heavy dew. Plants take chemical in better in the mornings, so spraying then is usually not a problem. Mid day is almost always best, but when does that ever happen without big wind?

 

[MoLandOwner]

In central MN....maybe 5 days a year :eek: I've not experienced wind like we get around here before. On my old place I could spray mid-day a few days a week it seemed. The wind isn't all bad though...sure helps to keep the skeeters and deer flies at bay

Funny you say that about the wind. I think the winds have been more and more in recent years now that I think about.

 

[mnjohn]

"wondering how long ago you were spraying John?? Things have really changed over the last 5 or so years. "

It has been awhile, but I know the challenges you guys are facing with glyphosate resistant weeds. Pursuit was the big chemical back in my day sprayed thousands of gallons of it. Weeds also became resistant and that was the end. Have many farmers gone back to pre-emergant herbicides? Does raptor take down the giant ragweed?

 

[BuckSutherland]

There are still some guys that dont put down pre emerge, but it is an absolute MUST. More modes of action the better you are. The last time I had soybeans (2012) I put down some treflan pre, came back with Flexstar GT 3.5 and it roasted everything in the field (including my beans-which I personally like). About 4 days after the ragweed turned black it started to shoot a new growth right out of the dead part of the plant. Still had to come back and spray round up in early august while we were trying to clean up the aphids. That was the last time I grew soys and it has gotten exponential worse since then. It cost a small fortune to put down the pre-emerge that works and a good post package. Then you better put it all on in perfect order and perfect conditions. I will snap some pictures when I am out next week of fields with pre, fields with nothing. I dont know anyone that uses raptor. I think that is more for conventional.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

You guys having good morning luck spraying gly must be doing something different (using better equipment, maybe) than me. I've had too many disappointing results to even consider spraying before 11 AM any longer, unless there is virtually no dew at all. I'd rather deal with wind in most situations (provided we aren't talking really high winds). It takes more chemicals, but I can typically overlap a bit more and at least get results I'm happy with...Same experience with cleth for me.

That said, I know a lot of the feed mills spray early and have as good or better kills than I do on my best days. So, I have to believe there is something to the equipment/combo of chemicals they're using. I've picked several of their brains on the combos they use and believe it's the equipment, but I could be wrong.

 

[MoLandOwner]

You guys having good morning luck spraying gly must be doing something different (using better equipment, maybe) than me. I've had too many disappointing results to even consider spraying before 11 AM any longer, unless there is virtually no dew at all. I'd rather deal with wind in most situations (provided we aren't talking really high winds). It takes more chemicals, but I can typically overlap a bit more and at least get results I'm happy with...Same experience with cleth for me.

That said, I know a lot of the feed mills spray early and have as good or better kills than I do on my best days. So, I have to believe there is something to the equipment/combo of chemicals they're using. I've picked several of their brains on the combos they use and believe it's the equipment, but I could be wrong.

Most coop's are not spraying straight glyphosate.......... like most food plotters do!